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Venus At Her Mirror, Chastity Looking On. Allegorical Mid Century Oil On Canvas

Venus At Her Mirror, Chastity Looking On. Allegorical Mid Century Oil On Canvas

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Eugene McCown
Venus At Her Mirror, Chastity Looking On. Allegorical Mid Century Oil On Canvas
1941

$10,592.09List Price

About the Item

American Mid 20th Century large scale allegorical oil on canvas of Venus at her mirror with Cupid, signed MacCown and dated 1941. A modern interpretation of the painting by Velázquez from the 17th Century more famously known as The Rokeby Venus. In that painting Velázquez created an oil painting that depicts the Goddess of Love staring into a mirror held by her son Cupid, God of both romantic and erotic love, as well as beauty. Although her gaze into the mirror is one of self-admiration, it is also eerily directed at the viewer, a possible indication that Velázquez intended this painting to signify reflection. Our painting also reflects erotic and romantic love but with even more symbolism, the unicorn in the background which normally represents chastity and the seashell representing love and fertility. William Eugene McCown was born in El Dorado Springs (Mo, Cedar county), and from an early age was taught how to sketch and play the piano with great success. At the Central High school of Kansas City, he met Virgil Thomson (the future composer and critic) who was to become a life-long friend. When he had completed two years of journalism at the University of Missouri, McCown went to New York to paint at the Art Students League and at Woodstock, where he studied with Andrew Dasburg and Eugene Speicher. For six months, in 1920, he traveled through the West Indies as a painter. In May 1920, his first productions (landscapes and portraits) were exhibited in Caracas. On his return to New York, McCown mingled in the local artistic circles. His fearless temper and homosexuality as well as the rise of puritanism and Prohibition may explain why McCown worked his way to France on a freighter in 1921. McCown's ability to play the popular jazz of the age on the piano, his talent as a painter and his unabashed charm soon made him very popular in Paris. After only a couple of months in France, he was engaged as a jazz pianist at Le Boeuf sur le Toit, the most famous nightclub of the roaring twenties in Paris. There he mingled with the most elegant bohemian crowd, such as André Gide, Cole Porter, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Winnaretta Singer, Isadora Duncan. He also met with French poet Jean Cocteau, whom, it was rumoured, he had an affair with, and British heiress and political activist Nancy Cunard. Thanks to Cunard's money, he was never penniless and travelled extensively. It is unclear whether McCown and Cunard were lovers, but he was certainly her protégé for many years and painted about seven portraits of her. During the winter of 1923, he began a love affair with the French journalist René Crevel. Along with Cocteau and Raymond Mortimer, Crevel did a lot to help McCown in his new career as a painter. In 1925, McCown's first Parisian show at the Effort Moderne, Léonce Rosenberg's gallery, was a success. Within a week all the paintings and drawings were sold and many reviews in French, American and British newspapers praised his “highly poetic work” as well as "the cleanness of line and the delicacy of detail". Clive Bell, Waldemar George and Maurice Raynal would promote his art. In the early 1920s, McCown's paintings depict men in various stages of intimacy. His style is mainly influenced by Picasso, Henri Rousseau and the Quattrocento Italians. After this exhibition, McCown became the toast of the town. He was known for his wit and promiscuity. McCown indulged himself in pleasures such as drugs and alcohol. Crevel would distance himself and write a cruel portrait of his former lover in his novel La Mort difficile, where one can easily recognize McCown in Arthur Bruggle. Several exhibitions were yet to be organized in Paris and New York between 1929 and 1932. But now his name was mostly known for the wild parties he gave in his brand-new Art Deco studio designed by André Lurçat (a student of Robert Mallet-Stevens) and his many lovers (including Glenway Wescott, Hart Crane whom he helped get out of prison in July 1929, Raymond Mortimer, Paul Mooney, Richard Wyndham, Patrick Balfour…). After the 1929 stock market crash, many rich Americans sailed back to the US and McCown lost important supporters. In 1933 he had no choice but to return to New York City. On his return to New York, McCown was only 35 years old. He tried to return to his beloved Europe. In 1943, his love for France made him join the American intelligence services. He was assigned a position of translator in London. Unfortunately, his physical and moral condition caused him to be discharged a few months after. In 1950, Doubleday published his roman à clef The Siege of Innocence, in which he describes the path of a young American artist of great beauty victim of the concupiscence of his companions. His works are represented in major collections in the USA and worldwide.

Creator:
Eugene McCown (1898 - 1966, American)
Creation Year:
1941
Dimensions:
Height: 37 in (93.98 cm)Width: 43 in (109.22 cm)Depth: 1.5 in (3.81 cm)
Medium:
Canvas,Oil
Movement & Style:
American Modern
Period:
Mid-20th Century
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Cotignac, FR
Reference Number:
Seller: LG/MacCown1stDibs: LU1430210321852

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