American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists Featuring the Papageorge Family Collection

Exhibited

"Thirty-Sixth Annual Exhibition," Architectural League of New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, April 3-30, 1921.
Grace Horne Galleries, Boston, Massachusetts, 1923.
National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, New York, New York, 1924 (Honorable Mention).
Grand Central Art Galleries, Inc., New York, New York, 1930.
National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, New York, New York, 1934 (Edith Penman Memorial Prize).
The Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire, 1935.
"Emma Fordyce MacRae 1887-1974," Richard York Gallery, New York, New York, 1983 (per exhibition label verso).

Note

Best known for her portraits, Emma Fordyce MacRae also produced a number of still life paintings, which are characterized by the same attention to color harmony and texture. The present work emphasizes a particular strong sense of pattern, as it features three groups of cosmos bouquets set against a shimmering tapestry, which invades the entire picture plane by folding underneath each vase. Set in a distinct palette of pinks, hot purples, lime-greens, turquoise and browns, which condenses the space, Cosmos Decoration brings foreground and background together, and presents a bold modern sensibility that speaks to MacRae’s discerning eye. About another still life by the artist, a critic once wrote: “it keeps sufficiently on the side of the pure representation to please flower painters, but it rises into the realm of abstract design none the less [sic]”–a bold statement which could very well apply to the present composition.

Proceeds from the sale of this painting will go directly to Alzheimer's Research UK, Britain's leading dementia research charity, to fund further research into Alzheimer's and dementia-related diseases.