Two Female Models in Bamboo Chairs with Mirror

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Two Female Models in Bamboo Chairs with Mirror

Artist Philip Pearlstein (American, 1924 - 2022)

Date1981

DimensionsH: 72 3/16 in. (183.4 cm); W: 72 1/8 in. (183.2 cm)

MediumOil on canvas.

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1982.121

Not on View

Label Text". . . I have learned to look at what is in front of me without idealizing it. That has become a consuming experience in itself, and ultimately that may be the aspect of my work that will continue to irritate. Most of us really don’t want to see things as they are." A parquet floor, bamboo chairs, and silk kimonos receive the same careful scrutiny as the hair and skin of nude models in Philip Pearlstein’s paintings. In a larger-than-life, close-up view of a studio setting, Pearlstein energized the composition with both a reflected image and a strong bisecting diagonal. While his painting technique is meticulously realistic, he draws upon a thorough knowledge of abstract composition in arranging his subjects.Published ReferencesPhilip Pearlstein, New Paintings, Allan Frumkin Gallery, New York, 1982, n.p., illus.

Smith, Paul, "Philip Pearlstein's New Paintings," Arts Magazine, April, 1982, pp. 80-81, illus.

"Revival of Realism," Newsweek, June, 1982, pp. 64-70; illus. p. 65.

(Advertisement for exhibition) Arts Magazine, vol. 58, no. 1, Sept., 1983, repr. p. 49.

Strand, Mark, ed., Art of the Real: Nine American Figurative Painters, New York, 1983, repr. (col.), p. 107.

Liebmann, Lisa, "Philip Pearlstein" [review], Artforum, vol. 22, no. 3, Nov. 1983, p. 75.

Storr, Robert, "Pearlstein Today: Upping the Ante," Art in America, vol. 72, no. 2, Feb. 1984, repr. (col.) p. 90.

"The Toledo Museum of Art; Philip Pearlstein: A Retrospective," Dialogue, vol. 7, no. 2, Mar./Apr., 1984, repr. p. 76.

Betti, Claudia, Drawing: A Contemporary Approach, 2nd ed. New York, 1986, p. 222, fig. 321.

Vyverberg, Henry, The Living Tradition, 2nd ed., San Diego, 1988, pp. 546, 547, fig. 20-34.

Cole, Bruce and Adelheid Gealt, Art of the Western World: from Ancient Greece to Post-Modernism, New York, Summit Books, 1989, p. 325-326, repr. (col.) p. 327. Turner, Jane, ed., The Dictionary of Art, New York, 1996, vol. 24 , p. 306, repr. vol. 23, p. 297.

Pietropaolo, Francesca ed., Robert Storr: Writings on Art, 1980-2005, London, HENI Publishing, 2020, repr. (col.) p. 50.

Exhibition HistoryMilwaukee Art Museum; Brooklyn Museum; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; Toledo Museum of Art; Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, Philip Pearlstein: A Retrospective, 1983, no. 111, repr. (col.).

Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, The Figure Revealed: Contemporary American Figurative Paintings and Drawings, 2008, repr. p. 47 (col.).