 | Raymond Agler Fine Arts |
|
Home |
|
Marguerite Pearson (1898-1978). Solitude. browse these categories for related items... All Items: Fine Art:Paintings:Oil:N. America:American: Pre 1930: item # 653608 Please refer to our stock # 2468A when inquiring.
Raymond Agler Fine Arts 16 Pleasant Street Gloucester, Massachusetts 01930 978-281-5048 Guest Book $9,500. |
|
|
| Oil on canvas, 17 x 21 inches, 24 1/2 x 28 1/2 with frame, signed lower right "M.S. Pearson, '27". Physical handicap has been the starting point of many artistic careers: the itinerant portraitist, Joseph Whiting Stock (1815-1855) and Gloucester's own painter of the sea, Fitz Henry Lane (1804-1865) come to mind. In Marguerite Pearson's case, misfortune came at a vulnerable time for a young woman. Contracting polio at age sixteen, she lost the use of her legs and had to abandon her ambition of becoming a concert pianist. Resident then in Somerville, Massachusetts, she determined to make a life (and a living) for herself, enrolling in art classes at the Boston Museum School. Once there, she gravitated to the influence of one of Boston's foremost painter-teachers, Edmund C. Tarbell (1862-1938). Her first one-woman show in 1924 was praised by the Boston Globe critic: "...the works of a rare genius...destined to achieve unusual distinction in the art world." And so she did. Settling permanently in the art community of Rockport on Cape Ann in 1942, she became known for her interior scenes featuring women, often playing musical instruments. The early work offered here, a classic "Boston School" portrait, clearly exhibits the influence of Tarbell. The sitter is posed in half-shadow against the type of exotic fabric that the Boston painters delighted in. The simplicity of the composition masks the complexity of the chiaroscuro effects, while the intimate atmosphere would seem to indicate that the sitter might be a close friend. Pearson's adherence to the "Boston School" was recognized by Tarbell in a 1931 letter, sent to her after viewing her inaugural exhibition at the Guild of Boston Artists: "We are glad that you still stick to the Boston tradition, and we look to you to uphold it..." (unpublished ms., Vose Galleries, Boston). | ||
| ||||||