Rebecca Salsbury James
Untitled Mexican Gourd Pitcher with Pink Rose , c. 1920s
reverse oil on glass
16.75 x 21.75 inches
Signed on reverse of original backing, lower left Rebecca Salsbury (Strand) James, Taos NM
Copyright The Artist
Sold
The subject matter represents a master of the demanding technique, in which pictures are literally created backward, with fine surface details laid down first and then layered over with background...
The subject matter represents a master of the demanding technique, in which pictures are literally created backward, with fine surface details laid down first and then layered over with background colors behind a gleaming glass surface. James tended to use flat, almost decorative areas of color on her glass canvas to represent flowers, landscapes and religious images.The subject is a luminous pink rose in full bloom set into curved white vase against a blue background.The light, the air, the landscape, the Hispanic culture, and her connection to the pioneer modernists, fueled a distinctly personal Rebecca James style that was both sophisticated and naive, and infused with a spirit of New Mexico.
Provenance
Bill James, New MexicoRebecca James, New Mexico
Robert M. Ellis & Barbara Ellis, New Mexico
Written on the reverse in the artist's hand are two dedications "for my darling Bill to celebrate another happy Christmas 1936, Taos NM, with a second dedication in April 1968, "for Bob and Barbara Ellis with affection and esteem, Rebecca Salsbury James."
These dedications reflect the provenance, with the first to the artist's husband-to-be, Bill James, and secondly, to Robert M. and Barbara Ellis, gifted directly by the artist in 1968. (Robert M. Ellis was the first director of The Harwood Museum.) The work has remained in the collection of the Ellis family since then.
1
of
2