17 1/4 x 20 1/8 inches (framed)
There is something so compelling about a beautiful still life. It draws you in, makes you feel you are there and encourages appreciation for how important small things like an arrangement of flowers or beautiful objects are. Still Lifes are also a celebration of domesticity. This exhibition, Still Life: A Moment in Time, features work by Elizabeth Blackadder, Sir Jacob Epstein, Jane Freilicher and Merle Nacht and is on view from Wednesday, August 10th through Saturday, October 29th.
Elizabeth Blackadder’s watercolors of cats amongst flowers made her Scotland’s favorite woman artist. Combining her interest in plants and flowers with her affection for cats, Blackadder creates sublime works that capture everyone’s hearts including Cats Fred and Rosie Amongst Helleborus and Lenten Rose (c. 1982-1989). The artist’s masterful watercolor technique elevates her works and earned her a one-woman show at the National Gallery of Scotland in 2011. Among the many honors that Blackadder was accorded was her election to England’s Royal Academy and the Royal Scottish Academy; a first for a woman artist. In 1982 Blackadder was awarded the Order of the British Empire and in 2003 she became a Dame of the British Empire in recognition for her contributions to art.
The energetic, impasto brushwork found in Sir Jacob Epstein’s closeup of sunflowers hints at Van Gogh’s same subject matter, but the work is uniquely “Epstein”. This renowned Modern British artist is best known for his monumental sculpture, but he did spend six years in the 1930’s painting only flowers. In his biography he writes, “I lived and painted flowers. My rooms were piled with flowers and this was a wonderful and colourful period”.
Lilacs is one of Jane Freilicher’s largest and most important still lifes. Freilicher often used a similar format in her domestic paintings; a jar, a pitcher, or a vase of flowers set in front of a window of either her West Village apartment with views of the Hudson River or the view from her Hampton home looking over fields to the distant water. Lilacs bloom for such a short time, but the memory of their color and scent lingers. Freilicher captures that.
Merle Nacht’s two still life paintings, Blue and White Bowl and Golden Delicious are simultaneously familiar and unexpected. Nacht references a Far Eastern aesthetic and compositional techniques in Blue and White Bowl while the bright orangey-red apples inGolden Delicious and the exquisite blues of the plate recall Matisse’s work. The black background in both works share much with Matisse’s Jazz cutouts from the end of his life. It is not surprising to learn that for twelve years Nacht drew many of the black and white drawings interspersed throughout the pages of The New Yorker magazine as well as creating five color magazine covers.