Esther Phillips Folk Art Acrylic Painting with Farmstead and Grazing Cows

Item Details

Esther Phillips (Pittsburgh/New York, 1902 – 1983)
Untitled (farm landscape with cows)
Oil painting on paper
Unsigned

Esther Phillips left Pittsburgh in the late 1930s to pursue a bohemian lifestyle in Greenwich Village. A member of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, she immersed herself into local artistic circles, and among her artist friends were modernists Milton Weiss (American, 1912-1995) and Franz Kline (American, 1910-1962). Phillips’ work was often executed in watercolors at a quick pace, exhibiting the influence of Fauvism, Cubism, and artists such as Stuart Davis, Arthur Dove, and Georgia O’Keeffe. Frequent subjects include abstracted cityscapes, townscapes, and asylum scenes that feature vibrant colors, simple shapes, and overall flatness. Her work has been exhibited posthumously at multiple galleries such as the Carson Street Gallery, the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, and the Borelli-Edwards Gallery, among others.

• Item not examined outside of mounting

Condition

- scuffs and abrasions to surface of painting; abrasion with paint loss to lower right corner of sheet; surface irregularities and inclusions; tears to backing paper to verso of frame; nicks and abrasions to frame.

Dimensions

- measures frame; sight measures 19.25" W x 12.25" H.

Item #

ITMGM69033