Past

Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry

May 5 – Sep. 24, 2017

Through over 50 paintings and drawings, this exhibition offers an important survey of the work of the modernist painter, designer, and poet Florine Stettheimer.

The artist Florine Stettheimer (1871–1944) is an icon of Jazz Age New York. Born to a wealthy Jewish family in Rochester, she studied at the Art Students League in New York City and then in Europe, where she encountered two profound influences: the Symbolist painters and poets and, on the eve of the Great War, the Ballets Russes. Returning to Manhattan, she hosted an elite salon together with her sisters Carrie and Ettie and their mother, Rosetta, attracting many of the leading lights of the artistic vanguard. Her circle included Alfred Stieglitz, Carl Van Vechten, Georgia O’Keeffe, Elie Nadelman, Gaston Lachaise, and many others. Among her intimate friends was Marcel Duchamp.

Through over 50 paintings and drawings, a selection of costume and theater designs, photographs and ephemera, as well as critically acclaimed poems, the Jewish Museum will offer a timely reconsideration of this important American artist, revealing Stettheimer’s singular and often satiric vision and significant role in American modern art. The exhibition highlights the artist’s distinctly personal style of painting, Stettheimer’s position amidst New York’s artistic elite and avant-gardes, and her continued influence on artistic practice today.

NEW YORK

At last grown young
with noise
and color
and light
and jazz
dance marathons and poultry shows
soulsavings and rodeos
gabfeasts and beauty contests
sky towers and bridal bowers
speakeasy bars and motor cars
columnists and movie stars

—Florine Stettheimer

#FlorineStettheimer

Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry is organized by the Jewish Museum, New York and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, and curated by Stephen Brown, Neubauer Family Foundation Associate Curator, the Jewish Museum, and Georgiana Uhlyarik, Associate Curator, Canadian Art, the Art Gallery of Ontario. The exhibition was designed by Galia Solomonoff and Alejandro Stein of SAS/Solomonoff Architecture Studio.

In the Press
“The show conveys the strength of Stettheimer’s work, at a moment when color and figuration are popular among younger painters, a great many of them women; when a lot of art is moving forward by reconsidering the past; and when gender, which Stettheimer modulated endlessly, is increasingly seen as fluid.”
— The New York Times

“In her paintings, as in her homes, Stettheimer gathered the best and the quirkiest spirits and energies—the collective genius—of her epoch, gave them a whirl, and sent them spinning into the future. See the show. Become her latest interesting guest.”
— The New Yorker

“extraordinarily gorgeous, inventive, kaleidoscopic paintings at the Jewish Museum”
— New York Magazine

“Thank you to the Jewish Museum for bringing Florine Stettheimer into this moment.”
— WNYC

Exhibition Wall Text and Labels

Kids Gallery Guide

Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry is made possible through support from the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Weissman Family, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Estate of Stella Gordon Meierfeld.

Additional support is provided by The Skirball Fund for American Jewish Life Exhibitions, the Neubauer Family Foundation, the Joan Rosenbaum Exhibition Fund, and Ealan and Melinda Wingate.

Florine Stettheimer, photograph by Peter A. Juley & Son, c. 1917-20. Image provided by Peter A. Juley & Son Collection, Photograph Archives, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

Exhibition highlights

Florine Stettheimer, Self-Portrait with Palette (Painter and Faun), undated. Oil on canvas. 60 x 71⅞ in. (152.4 x 182.6 cm). Art Properties, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University in the City of New York. Gift of the Estate of Ettie Stettheimer, 1967
Florine Stettheimer, Asbury Park South, 1920. Oil on canvas, 50 × 60 in. (127 × 152.4 cm). Collection of halley k harrisburg and Michael Rosenfeld, New York
Florine Stettheimer, Self-Portrait with Paradise Birds (Self-Portrait in Front of Chinese Screen). Oil on canvas, 39½ x 31¾ in. (100.3 x 80.7 cm). Art Properties, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University in the City of New York, New York. Gift of the Estate of Ettie Stettheimer, 1967
Florine Stettheimer, Portrait of Myself, 1923. Oil on canvas laid on board, 40⅜ x 26⅜ in. (102.6 x 67 cm). Art Properties, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University in the City of New York, New York. Gift of the Estate of Ettie Stettheimer, 1967
Florine Stettheimer, Family Portrait I, 1915. Oil on canvas, 40 x 62¼ in. (101.6 x 158.1 cm). Art Properties, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University in the City of New York, New York. Gift of the Estate of Ettie Stettheimer, 1967
Florine Stettheimer, Family Portrait II, 1933. Oil on canvas 46¼ x 64⅝ in. (117.4 x 164 cm). Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Miss Ettie Stettheimer, 1956. Image provided by The Museum of Modern Art / SCALA / Art Resource, New York
Florine Stettheimer, "Euridice and her Snake." Orphée of the Quat-z-arts, 1912. Oil, beads, and metal lace on canvas, 18⅝ x 15⅛ in. (47.3 x 38.4 cm). Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Miss Ettie Stettheimer, 1947. Image provided by The Museum of Modern Art / SCALA / Art Resource, New York
Florine Stettheimer, “Procession: Orpheus…”. Orphée of the Quat-z-arts, 1912. Oil, fabric, and beads on canvas, 17⅛ x 35⅛ in. (43.5 x 89.2 cm). Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Miss Ettie Stettheimer, 1947. Image provided by The Museum of Modern Art / SCALA / Art Resource, New York
Florine Stettheimer, Portrait of Louis Bouché, 1923. Oil on canvas, 28 x 18 in. (71.1 x 45.7 cm). Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, New York. Gift of the Baker / Pisano Collection
Florine Stettheimer, Picnic at Bedford Hills, 1918. Oil on canvas, 40 5/16 x 50¼ in. (102.4 x 127.6 cm). Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Gift of Ettie Stettheimer, 1950.21
Florine Stettheimer, Birthday Bouquet (Flowers with Snake), 1932. Oil on canvas. 30 x 26⅛ in. (76.2 x 66.4 cm). The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Kansas City, Missouri. Gift of Mrs. R. Kirk Askew Jr. in memory of R. Kirk Askew Jr., F79-65
Florine Stettheimer, Christmas, 1930-1940. Oil on canvas. 60 1/16 x 40 in. (152.6 x 101.6 cm). Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Gift of the Estate of Ettie Stettheimer
Florine Stettheimer, Heat, 1919. Oil on canvas. 50 x 36½ in. (127 x 92.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Estate of Ettie Stettheimer, 1957
Florine Stettheimer, Portrait of My Sister, Carrie W. Stettheimer, 1923. Oil on canvas, mounted on hardboard. 37⅞ x 26 in. (96.2 x 66 cm). Art Properties, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University in the City of New York. Gift of the Estate of Ettie Stettheimer, 1967
Florine Stettheimer, Portrait of My Sister, Ettie Stettheimer, 1923. Oil on canvas, mounted on hardboard. 40⅜ x 26¼ in. (102.2 x 66.8 cm). Art Properties, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University in the City of New York. Gift of the Estate of Ettie Stettheimer, 1967
Florine Stettheimer, Spring Sale at Bendel’s, 1921. Oil on canvas. 50 x 40 in. (127 x 101.6 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Miss Ettie Stettheimer
Florine Stettheimer, Portrait of Louis Bouché, 1923. Oil on canvas. 28 x 18 in. (71.1 x 45.7 cm). Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, New York. Gift of the Baker / Pisano Collection
Florine Stettheimer, Henry McBride, Art Critic. Oil on canvas. 30 x 26 in. (76.2 x 66 cm). Gift of Ettie Stettheimer, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts. Image provided by Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts
Florine Stettheimer, Portrait of Marcel Duchamp, 1923-1926. Oil on canvas. 25¼ x 25¼ in. (64.1 x 64.1 cm). Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts. Gift of the Estate of Ettie and Florine Stettheimer. Image provided by Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts. Photograph by David Stansbury
Florine Stettheimer, Beauty Contest: To the Memory of P.T. Barnum, 1924. Oil on canvas, 50 x 60½ in. (127 x 152.4 cm). Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut. Gift of Ettie Stettheimer, 1947
Florine Stettheimer, A Model (Nude Self-Portrait), 1915. Oil on canvas. 48¼ x 68¼ in. (122.5 x 173.4 cm). Art Properties, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University in the City of New York. Gift of the Estate of Ettie Stettheimer, 1967

Installation Views

Installation view of the exhibition Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry. May 5 – September 24, 2017. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry. May 5 – September 24, 2017. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry. May 5 – September 24, 2017. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry. May 5 – September 24, 2017. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry. May 5 – September 24, 2017. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Exhibition view of Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry at The Jewish Museum, NY
Installation view of the exhibition Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry. May 5 – September 24, 2017. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry. May 5 – September 24, 2017. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry. May 5 – September 24, 2017. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry. May 5 – September 24, 2017. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry. May 5 – September 24, 2017. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry. May 5 – September 24, 2017. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry. May 5 – September 24, 2017. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry. May 5 – September 24, 2017. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry. May 5 – September 24, 2017. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry. May 5 – September 24, 2017. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry. May 5 – September 24, 2017. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella