Journey to the Sun
Florine STETTHEIMER
(American, 1871-1944)
Journey to the Sun
Dateca. 1927
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionsoverall: 58 × 33 1/4 in. (147.3 × 84.5 cm)
ClassificationPAINTINGS
Credit LineSBMA, Gift of the Estate of Ettie Stettheimer
Object number1958.15
Subject(s)
- flower
- flowers
- Sun
- insect
Collection
- 20th century American
- American
Sub-Collection(s)
- American
On View
On viewLabel TextThe unforgettable and always original Florine Stettheimer recently enjoyed the attention of a retrospective exhibition at the Jewish Museum in New York; a fitting repetition of the same honor that her close friend, Marcel Duchamp, helped to organize at the Museum of Modern Art right after her death at the age of 73. Interestingly, although she continued to paint throughout her lifetime, she chose never to exhibit her work in public after its tepid reception in a solo show held at Knoedler Gallery in 1916. Instead, her paintings were bestowed upon friends and family as gifts, or made for her own personal pleasure alone. That is likely the case in the instance of this flower picture, which may be one of the series that she produced upon the occasion of her birthday. She called these pictures “eyegays,” a reference to their visual rather than olfactory interest, as in the small bouquets of flowers known as nosegays. The fantastical ascent of these fading flowers, powered by angels’ wings and led by a dragonfly is typical of Stettheimer’s whimsy, as is the faux naiveté of its childlike execution. Famously, Stettheimer was named by Andy Warhol as his favorite artist -- a choice one well understands given their shared understated sophistication.
