Artwork Title: Portrait of Carl Van Vechten

Portrait of Carl Van Vechten, 1922

Florine Stettheimer

Her decision to document her new American life necessitated a style that incorporated recognizable figuration and specific locations. In designing the format for her new style, Stettheimer turned for inspiration to the creative freedom, rich materials and patterns, and strong female perspectives that characterized Sergei Diaghilev’s innovative Ballets Russes productions.... Except for her portraits, Stettheimer’s paintings are composed as sensorial stage settings with animated movement, thick, tactile paint, pure colors reflecting moods and temperatures, and implications of noise and music. Her figures appear to move dynamically like dancers across the space, their feet often shaped as though en pointe.... Her elaborate compositions are filled with organic curves, rococo furnishings, and floral displays, all intended to look “feminine." http://hyperallergic.com/329408/florine-stettheimer-feminist-provocateur/
Uploaded on Oct 16, 2016 by Suzan Hamer

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