Still Life with Flowers
Artist
Maurer, Alfred
(American, 1868 - 1932)
Date1909-1910
OriginUnited States of America
MediumOil on board
Dimensions21 1/2 × 18 in. (54.6 × 45.7 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineGift of Carolyn K. and Richard F. Barry III
Object number2017.27
Label TextAlfred Henry Maurer (American, 1886–1932)
Still Life with Flowers
Oil on board, 1909–1910
Gift of Carolyn K. and Richard F. Barry III
The son of a prominent lithographer for the print firm Currier & Ives, Alfred Maurer attended the prestigious National Academy of Design in New York, finding success with a realist style akin to James McNeill Whistler, before moving to Paris. There, he moved in the expatriate circle of American artists around Robert Henri in Montparnasse. While his paintings were well received in both Paris and New York, Maurer abandoned this style in 1906 to become one of the first Americans to adopt a riotous Fauve palette and "primitive" forms. In taking this trajectory, emphasizing painterly qualities and strong color over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism, he also embraced a quiet poetry in this early, and uniquely American, work.
Maurer was one of the innovative American artists represented in the New York gallery of Alfred Stieglitz. By 1905, Stieglitz had opened his first gallery, one that would have several iterations under different names. Aside from European artists—Matisse, Picasso, Brancusi, Kandinsky, Picabia—Stieglitz introduced works by his American friends John Marin, Marsden Hartley, and Arthur Dove to the American public.
Status
On view
