Oil on canvas; triptychexpand_more
The Mary Ingebrand-Pohlad Endowment for Twentieth Century Paintings and the William Hood Dunwoody Fundexpand_more 2019.24a-c
In this large complex painting, Martha Edelheit has depicted a wide array of content, even joyful, nude models relaxing on a richly brushed rose and violet-colored background. In the foreground we see the artist’s drawing table set with flowers and oil pastels. The setting is her studio, and while we get to marvel at the colorful spectacle of nudes, Edelheit shows herself working, back to the scene, reflected in a mirror. She is depicted in gray, while the imaginative scene behind her seethes with rich color, textures, and writhing energy. This painting challenged expectations about how, what, and at what scale a female painter could paint when it was first shown in 1966. Its rumination on female sexuality and her studio life remains a major statement of the 1960s that presages artwork that would follow several years later in a more widespread and varied manner in the Feminist Art Movement.
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