~FLORINE STETTHEIMER . . FORTUNE TELLING CARDS / JEWISH MUSEUM
Her painter’s palette – held the KEY !!
& the Grim reaper . . got the / LAST LAUGH !!
‘FLORINE STETTHEIMER: Painting Poetry’
MAY 5 – SEPT 24, 2017
JEWISH MUSEUM, 1109 FIFTH AVE, NYC
see: FLORINE STETTHEIMER – JEWISH MUSEUM
one of the most delightful surprises . . among a small treasure trove of . . DELIGHTS !!
came early on – in this jewel box of – an exhibit !!
in the introductory table / display case,
‘Twelve hand-painted fortune-telling cards from a set of twenty-five, c. 1885’ – (!!)
Watercolor on card
Florine Stettheimer papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Columbia University in the City of New York.
“FLORINE . . was fourteen, when she painted these cards, probably for a family pastime.
The figures include a mixture of traditional Tarot images (time, death) and some
that suggest the artist’s own future: a young woman and an artist’s palette . . .”
~Jewish Museum display text
I’m thinking: you will take a trip ? / where am – I going . . in life ?
turns out, she lived with her two sisters and their mother – her whole life !!
but they were not hermits – they had an incredible & brilliant salon revolving around them – all the time & they decamped to Europe frequently.
though, she definitely was wondering . . about BOYS !!
but . . that was not to be, or . . the full story – hasn’t been told !!
her painter’s palette . . .
held the key . . to her life !!
the grim reaper !!
the ultimate – outsider !!
but, not always – the last word. nor, the last card.
turn it upside down, and it means: CHANGE !!
I found out, that she – FLORINE !!
asked for her artworks to be burned !! after her death. oh no.
she was so disappointed by the mainstream art world – oh lord, nothing much has changed !!
thankfully, one of her sisters saved the work and dispersed it among several prestigious library & university collections, and thus it has been saved – & – surely, slowly but surely . . . the times have finally caught up with her.
in truth, far from being a “lightweight feminine artist with a whimsical bent” – she was a true AMERICAN VISIONARY.
a magic realist. a symbolist. a surrealist. an observer.
a classic: insider-outsider !! of her time, and yet – way ahead.
this exhibit is a revelation: don’t miss it.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH