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Thelma Appel
Justice

2009

About the Item

Thelma Appel Justice, 2009 Oil on Canvas Hand signed, titled and dated on the back of the canvas Frame Included: held in the artist's original frame. Can be hung as is, or re-framed For anyone involved in the business of Justice (lawyers, judges, victims, litigants) or for those seeking earthly and divine justice, this gorgeous, thoughtfully and intricately designed painting - a unique acrylic on canvas painting by the renowned artist Thelma Appel, is for you. If you have come upon this work - it could be a message of luck and blessings from the universe. Measurements: Frame: 52 x 42 x 2 inches Artwork: 50 x 40 inches This work is part of Thelma Appel's original series of large paintings based upon the Major Arcana of the Tarot Deck, representing archetypes of human experience and characters - from a Kabbalistic perspective. Here, Appel re-imagines the "JUSTICE" card of the Tarot. When this card appears in a reading, it reassures the person asking that things will resolve themselves in a fair and equitable manner; balance is restored. Whereas the traditional Tarot deck depicts Justice as a woman on a throne with a sword in one hand (sometimes raised and ready to strike) and the iconic scales on the other, Appel's JUSTICE reveals three pairs of humans in the foreground, below, and above, engaging in different kinds of duets. They are artists (dancers), and there's also a depiction of racial justice, as a black and white couple interact harmoniously at the base of a large scale - the scale of justice. Two people above are walking a thin tightrope -- another, literal balancing act. The mixed race dancers at the center are balanced on the hilt of the Sword of Justice — which is positioned between the Scales Of Justice. The figures in Appel's JUSTICE all balance and support each other in symmetry and harmony. The entire scene is illuminated by five pointed stars; it is an inspired journey. But in the background of this stunning tableau, if you meditate closely on the painting, you will see a portrait of a powerful, other-worldly female figure, almost larger than life, with large bright eyes, wearing a turban, sharply observing everything, as if she herself were keeping all the other elements in balance, in some mystical powerful way. This powerful woman recalls the lone female figure on her throne in the classic Rider Waite Tarot deck Except notably, Appel has removed the sword from the scene; this woman does not need a sword to dispense justice; she has her eyes. Indeed - the same can be said of both the artist and the viewer: it is our great sense of vision that can help restore balance and harmony to our world. Appel also adds an hourglass to the scene, suggesting the issue of temporality -- an image that also features strongly in her painting of the JUDGMENT card, which, just as in traditional Tarot, is also closely connected with JUSTICE. The hourglass reminds us that Justice will eventually be done, but all in good time. (As Martin Luther King famously said, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards Justice.") Even the hourglass in this painting is in perfect balance, as it is at once half empty and half full. The Tarot as a divination tool speaks of cycles, and the hourglass, like the wheel of fortune, reminds us that our fate is not static. In the context of the JUSTICE card, it speaks of equity, fairness - sometimes even a literal court victory - all in good time. Combining her formal background in illustration, abstraction, landscape, figuration, and her interest in mysticism, spirituality and Kabbalah - Appel creates a uniquely original interpretation of the ages old Tarot deck. Thelma Appel is a well-respected landscape painter who has been working and teaching for more than five decades. Now in her late 80s, her work is being re-discovered by a new generation of collectors and curators. More about Thelma Appel A co-founder of the Bennington College Summer Painting Workshop, Thelma Appel is a representational and abstract painter who has been working and teaching for more than six decades. Most recently, she was subject of a 50-year career survey (October, 2019 -February 2020) at the Brattleboro Museum in Vermont, entitled Thelma Appel: Abstract/Observed curated by Mara Williams, and she exhibited at the Mattatuck Museum in Connecticut which acquired one of her fabric collages for their permanent collection. Thelma Appel was raised in Darjeeling, India and educated in London, England, at St. Martin's School of Art (now Central St. Martins) and Hornsey College of Art before emigrating to the United States in the 1960s. Her work has been exhibited in numerous venues, including the Bennington Museum, the Berkshire Museum in North Adams, Mass., the Children's Museum of the Arts in New York City, the Mattatuck Museum, the Brattleboro Museum, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Robert Hull Fleming Museum at the University of Vermont and the University of Pennsylvania Fine Arts Gallery. In 1974 she was awarded a YADDO Fellowship, and in 1975, Thelma Appel, along with the painter Carol Haerer, co-founded the Bennington College Summer Painting Workshop, where many distinguished painters of the day, both abstract and representational, conducted master classes. Among them were Neil Welliver, John Button, Alice Neel, Larry Poons, Friedel Dzubas, Stanley Boxer, Elizabeth Murray and Doug Ohlson – a program that continued until 1980. She has also taught drawing at Parsons School of Design, painting at Southern Vermont College and at the University of Connecticut. Appel’s work has been presented at Art on Paper, Texas Contemporary, Market Art & Design and Art New York art fairs and has been exhibited at Alpha 137 Gallery in New York, Sager Reeves Gallery in Missouri and the Chashama Foundation in New York City.
  • Creator:
    Thelma Appel (1940, American)
  • Creation Year:
    2009
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 52 in (132.08 cm)Width: 42 in (106.68 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    Excellent studio condition. This work is held in the artist's original simple wood frame but can kept as is and re-painted, or re-framed.
  • Gallery Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1745212833572
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