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Mabel Alvarez'Artist Self Portrait with Unicorn and Fawn', California Transcendentalist WomanCirca 1955
Circa 1955
About the Item
Painted by Mabel Alvarez (American, 1891-1983) and stamped verso with certification of authenticity.
Displayed in a custom, white-gold leafed and burnished, wave-ribbed, gessoed wood frame.
Framed dimensions: 16.25" H x 16" W x 1.5" D
A delicate study of the artist shown standing and facing the viewer before a landscape with an angelic figure, a fawn and a unicorn. Combining Post-Impressionism and Synchromism into a uniquely personal expression of Transcendentalism, Mabel Alvarez became one of California's most respected exponents of Modernism.
From early childhood, Alvarez was blessed with both the talent and the financial security to devote herself to her art without the need to compromise her stylistic development. In 1915, she enrolled in the leading art school in Los Angeles, William Cahill's School for Illustration and Painting. Her charcoal portrait of a woman was used for many years on the cover of the art school's promotional brochure. An early supporter and champion of her work was Arthur Millier, the influential art critic of the Los Angeles Times in the 1920s and 30s. In 1931, while living in Los Angeles, Alvarez met Morgan Russell, co-founder of the Synchromist art movement. A student of both Matisse and Cezanne, he became Mabel's teacher for the remaining 20 years of his life, and his joyous sense of color and rhythmic form and structure became incorporated into her work.
Over the course of a long career, Alvarez was the recipient of numerous prizes, medals and juried awards. Her mural for the Pan-California Exposition in San Diego resulted in her first gold medal. She continued to exhibit with success nationwide including at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Los Angeles County Museum and, in 1999, was one of the group of American artists showcased in Paris by the U.S. State Department. In August of 1999, a special retrospective of her work, titled "A Radiant Thread," was held at the Adamson-Duvannes Galleries in Los Angeles.
Reference:
Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America, Peter Hastings Falk, Sound View Press 1999, Vol. 1, p. 95-96; Mallett’s Index of Artists, Daniel Trowbridge Mallett, Peter Smith: New York 1948 Edition, R.R. Bowker Company 1935, p. 8; "American Art Review"; David Forbes, Encounters With Paradise; et al.
- Creator:Mabel Alvarez (1891 - 1985, American)
- Creation Year:Circa 1955
- Dimensions:Height: 10 in (25.4 cm)Width: 9.75 in (24.77 cm)Depth: 1.2 in (3.05 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:painting: minor toning; frame: minor marks; this painting will be shipped without glass.
- Gallery Location:Santa Cruz, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU3441244443
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