Madame Eggplant

View Similar Items

Yana Beylinson - "Lattice", Oil painting

Yana Beylinson - "Lanterns", Oil Painting

Samantha Buller - "Happiness is Bliss" Oil Painting

Lu Haskew - Colors of May

Lu Haskew - Mostly White

Lu Haskew - Abundance

Lu Haskew - Thoughts of Home

Lu Haskew - Old Iron Kettle with Apples

Lu Haskew - Bright as Yellow

Lu Haskew - Copper and Carnations

Lu Haskew - Raku Pot with Grapes

Lu Haskew - Yellow Glads

Want more images or videos?

Request additional images or videos from the seller

1 of 10

Maryann Lucas
Madame Eggplant
2017

About the Item

Local Sag Harbor artist, Maryann Lucas, a self-trained contemporary known for her regal still-life paintings, decided to garner 19th century inspiration in her depiction of an eggplant. While examining some of the masterpieces of the past in an online course lead by artist, Dennis Perrin, Lucas was presented with the question: “What was it that made certain well-known paintings, “great.”” Was it, composition, color, light, drawing skill, brushstroke, or subject matter, that was predominately responsible for a works’ success. Lucas concluded that in the case of John Singer Sargent’s Madame X, it was composition via the use of line that contributed most to the painting’s success. From this conclusion, Lucas decided to put this theory to the test and see if the dark form of an eggplant could strike a pose, equal to that of Madame X. The first test, was to find the right eggplant; shapely with a pointed stem to imitate Madame X’s sharp nose. The next challenge was to get it to stand up straight. “A few toothpicks, some duct tape and a lot of patience did the trick” exclaims Lucas. “Against a monochromatic backdrop, I painted Madame Eggplant, concentrating on the seductive curve of deep rich darks, and their dramatic culmination at the sharp stem in full light.” Sargent’s Madame X cuts through a monochromatic backdrop with a strong confident woman in an alluring black gown. Lucas’s Madame Eggplant pops out of a grey backdrop, gleaming in rich hues of black, purple, and blue along the perennial’s illumined ample curves. The Eggplant is again personified not only in its upright posture and feminine buxomness, but the green-cap where body meets vine can insist one to be reminded of Madame X’s dramatic ‘V’ neckline of her gown. Moreover, the high contrast between X’s pale white skin and velvety black bodice creates a glaring focal point; a silky-smooth collar bone resting beneath a luxurious gown. Lucas’s Eggplant fosters a similar focal point in that its depiction is not silky smooth, advancing instead of receding from the smooth black body. Instead, it is thickly painted, with strong lines accentuating the vines original encroachment of the eggplants figure. Conclusively, our Gallery is impassioned by an artist’s ability to leverage great paintings of the past to create groundbreaking contemporary art. Maryann Lucas’s adopts Sargent’s tradition of composition and his palette, yet her concept and overall execution is exceedingly sharpened to 21st Century tastes. Lucas’s elevation of a single, mundane object to almost heroic status, is a mark of modernism. The irony of comparing an eggplant to Madame X is specific to Lucas’s great sense of humor. Artist Biography_______________________________________________ Maryann Lucas lives and works in Sag Harbor. She is primarily self-taught but has also received instruction and support from wonderful and generous members of the East End artistic community. Working exclusively in oils, Lucas sets out almost daily to create plein aire landscapes and seascapes. In her studio, she works directly from life and captures the beauty of natural light as it transforms ordinary objects into visual delights. Lucas wants her work to celebrate all that is well with this world and brilliant in this life, despite its pockets of darkness. For me, she says, I know I am in the Presence of something beautiful, when it steals my breath, silences my mind, pushes out everything else and draws me in. I trust That. I use That to guide my hands as I arrange a still life or scan a landscape to determine where to set down my easel. Ultimately, That is what drives me to paint. Becoming evermore skilled as an oil painter is another of Lucas goals. To that end she remains teachable, finding it refreshing and vital for her own growth to paint with others. She has studied with favorite artists including Michael Klein, Dennis Perrin, Ben Fenske, Melissa Franklin, and Ramiro Sanchez, and the late Jack Riggio, a prominent local artist from Southampton, NY. Lucas has taken classes at the Victor DAmico Art Institute in Amagansett, NY and The Art Students League in New York, NY. She earned her B.A. from Georgetown University and her masters from Columbia Universitys Graduate School of Journalism.

Creator:
Maryann Lucas (1959, American)
Creation Year:
2017
Dimensions:
Height: 12 in (30.48 cm)Width: 9 in (22.86 cm)
Medium:
Canvas,Oil
Movement & Style:
American Impressionist
Period:
21st Century
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Sag Harbor, NY
Reference Number:
Seller: LUC-0043591stDibs: LU38931731443