Lot Essay
Towards the end of his career John White Alexander returned to the subject of women and flowers, a theme that had captured his imagination over a decade earlier when he had been living in Europe. An image of a tall, slender woman carrying a bowl of flowers, Onteora of circa 1912 exemplifies the artist's reinvestigation of the subject.
Alexander first became known for paintings of women and flowers when he exhibited Spring Flowers in the salon of 1896. This work depicted a seated woman in a yellow dress breathing in the fragrance of flowers arranged in a vase on a table. The artist repeated the subject in several other canvases from the period. These works, as well as Onteora, are evocative rather than descriptive and reflect the artist's familiarity with contemporary aesthetic issues.
Around 1910 Alexander returned to the theme of women and flowers that he had found so successful. Although living in New York, during this time the artist and his wife spent summers in the Catskills at Onteora, a colony of painters, writers, musicians and other performing artists. There Alexander explored compositions that included dramatically lighted interiors such as Onteora. Mary Anne Goley has suggested that Alexander's interest in lighting effects may be the result of his friendship with the actress Maude Adams. While in the Catskills Alexander designed theater sets and lighting for Adams, and the use of gauze curtains and the warm, rich lighting in the background may have informed some of the artist's late works, including Onteora.
Alexander first became known for paintings of women and flowers when he exhibited Spring Flowers in the salon of 1896. This work depicted a seated woman in a yellow dress breathing in the fragrance of flowers arranged in a vase on a table. The artist repeated the subject in several other canvases from the period. These works, as well as Onteora, are evocative rather than descriptive and reflect the artist's familiarity with contemporary aesthetic issues.
Around 1910 Alexander returned to the theme of women and flowers that he had found so successful. Although living in New York, during this time the artist and his wife spent summers in the Catskills at Onteora, a colony of painters, writers, musicians and other performing artists. There Alexander explored compositions that included dramatically lighted interiors such as Onteora. Mary Anne Goley has suggested that Alexander's interest in lighting effects may be the result of his friendship with the actress Maude Adams. While in the Catskills Alexander designed theater sets and lighting for Adams, and the use of gauze curtains and the warm, rich lighting in the background may have informed some of the artist's late works, including Onteora.