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"Girl in the Woods" 1971, color lithograph on cream Arches, 724x565mm; 28 1/2" x 22 1/4", full margins. Signed and numbered in pencil, lower margin. Printed by Bank Street Atelier, with the blind stamp, lower right. Published by Brooke Alexander and M. Knoedler and Co., New York. A very good impression [Ludman 22].
Fairfield Porter (1907-1975) was a self taught modernist-realist artist and art critic, who was one of the first to acclaim the work of Willem de Kooning. He studied under Arthur Pope at Harvard and later under Thomas Hart Benton and at the Art Student's League in New York City. His art was influenced by the Nabis artists Bonnard and Vuillard and the Abstract Expressionist Willem de Kooning.
Porter's style remained independent of Abstract Expressionism's influence consisting of a matter-of-fact simplicity emphasizing quality of color and pictorial context. One does not see classic chiaroscuro values in Porter's work. It was uniquely characteristic of his work to dwell on the harmonies in the natural world suspending the physical to emphasize the play of light on color. His form of realism subordinates tonal values to the planes of the picture, as we see in "Girl in the Woods". The Bonnard and Vuillard influences are apparent in the scenes of life surrounding Porter's work of the landscape, interiors and home. The ordinary becomes extraordinary under his bold coloring, rooting in reality and yet verging on the abstract without settling into melancholic mood. Porter's art is classically modern, being "concrete in detail and abstract as a whole".
"Girl in the Woods" is in a 43 1/2" x 35" Larson-Juhl black frame with a gold over umber wash bevel. The 8-ply khaki colored outer and 8-ply black shadow inner rag mats are acid and lignin free and protected with Acrylite-AR OP3 (UV) by CYRO .......... $5500.00
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