By Charles Culver
Located in Detroit, MI
Flowers were one of Culver's favorite subject. This stunning portrait of a red flower draws the viewer into its very center as powerfully as any flower portrait by Georgia O'Keeffe. It is the idyllic flower that can be described as in the romantic style wherein the subject depicted is a more desired or dramatic version of what actually is. It is signed and dated by the artist on the lower left. This piece has been professionally reframed with acid-free matting and museum glass.
In a 1952 Detroit Free Press article, entitled “Artist Explains His Work,” Culver was asked why he painted the way he did. He stated: “I try to ‘see’ though not too exactly; I try to think though not too ponderously; I feel emotion yet I try not to become overwrought. I interpret rather than describe, and design rather than depict. I work with values, not light and shade; hence, when I am successful, I achieve substance rather than three-dimensional form, and this satisfies me as being wholly sufficient. In my work I wish to be serious without becoming a bore, exuberant without being frivolous, humorous without being silly. I believe that good paintings are conceived, not contrived; and I am interested in art much more than in pictures.”
Charles Culver...
Category
1950s Romantic Still-life Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Watercolor
