FLORINE STETTHEIMER; Painting Poetry: at The Jewish Museum: Review By Polly Guerin

Picnic at Bedford Hills 1918

Jazz Age Manhattan's influential American painter, designer and poet, Florine Stettheimer's sharp satirical wit, places her centrally in the modern dialogue of  high and mass culture. Her whimsicality and pictorial depiction of society gives us pause to be enchanted, and why not, her work continues to provoke comment and curiosity. Florine gives us a peak through the magnifier at a life well lived and well loved. She was an astute commentator on her social milieu and the American scene, including icons of New York City.
     Then, too, the leading lights of the artistic vanguard were attracted to her.  One dandy, in particular, Marcel Duchamp, the flamboyant epicurean was an intimate friend, and frequent visitor, but her circle also included Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keefe, Elie Nadelman, Gaston Lachaise, and many others. Image Left: Picnic at Bedford Hills, 1918, oil on canvas. Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Gift of Ettie Stettheimer, 1950.
     

Asbury Park 1920

By 1918,  Florine had articulated her unique style, typified in the painting Picnic at Bedford Hills. The figures are painted in a miniaturized, self-consciously naive manner that seemingly draws from folk art.  In other paintings she chronicled urban life---beauty contests, parties, the revelries of celebrities, gatherings, skyscrapers, Wall Street and consumer culture. Ahead of her time she anticipated many of the interests that would later animate Pop Art. Even Andy Warhol loved her art. Her oeuvre became a source of inspiration for some of the most fascinating artists working today.  At the height of her creative powers, the Manhattan salon she hosted with her sisters Carrie and Ettie,  attracted the best of the cognoscenti in society and the art world.
       Enchanting and  engaging your unique sensitivities deserve to view and first major U.S. exhibition in over 20 years focuses on Florine Stettheimer (1871-1944) at THE JEWISH MUSEUM, May 5, 2017 and remains on view through September 24, 2017. FLORINE STETTHEIMER: PAINTING POETRY showcases over 50 paintings and drawings in addition to costume and theater designs, photographs, and ephemera. Image Right: Stettheimer's satirical wit shines in Asbury Park South 1920. Against a golden background the lively movement of black and white beach goers intermingle on the New Jersey beach, when in reality, Asbury Park was a segregated beach. Here, Stettheimer depicts members of her inner circle including Duchamp in a pink suit, leading the actress Favia Marinoff. Carl Van Vechten is in the stand above it all, quietly examining the view of people, flirting, playing and promenading in their finest. Look deeper, Florine stands near the center of the archway, under a green umbrella. Oil on canvas. Collection of halley k harrisburg and Michael Rosenfeld, New York.     

     

Florine;s Unrealized Ballet 

In addition to her work as a painter, She was active as a and set designer and her vision for a ballet of her own. The exhibition includes many of Stettheimer's sketches, maquettes and sculptures of the designed for her unrealized ballet, Orpheus of the Four Acts. 

       Image Left: Procession Orpheus "Orphee of the Quat-z-ars, 1912, oil, fabric, and beads on canvas. Museum of Modern At, New York, Gift of Miss Ettie Stettheimer. Art Resources, New York.      A poet, too; at one time she offered an explanation of her strange, intoxicating, beguiling works in a poem, published after her death. She wrote: "For a long time, I gave myself, To the arrested moment, To the moment of quiet expectation, I painted the trance moment, The promise moment, The moment in the balance, In mellow golden tones, Then I saw, Time, Noise, Color, outside me, around me, knocking me, Jarring me, Hurling me, Rousing me, Sailing, singing, Forcing me in joy to paint them."
      Ta Ta Darlings!!! I can still visualize Florine in one of her stylish silk pajamas entering through the cellophane curtains in her studio high above Bryant Park. Take in the view and make a date to see Painting Poetry and awaken your child-like wonder.  Fan mail welcome at
pollytalknyc@gmail.com. Visit Polly's Web Site: www.pollytalk.com and in the left-hand column click on the Blog that resonates with your interest for a direct link to visionary men, women determined to succeed, poetryfromtheheart, and the fashion  historian.