In 1949, Emerson Woelffer and his wife Dina spent six months in a remote town in the Campeche region of Mexico. The artist worked in isolation and with great freedom there, painting on canvases that he nailed to the walls of a rented house. In this example, various abstract shapes float over a vivid green background. Their repetitive and vertical forms create a dynamic rhythm across the canvas. With longer looking, however, these seemingly random designs appear to suggest hybrid and imaginary figures. They sprout short limbs and pointy horns, with big heads that balance on thin bodies. While reflecting on his paintings from Mexico, the artist stated that “the figure always remained. … There is always a subject matter.” As its title suggests, Inner Circle may represent an abstracted group portrait of the artist’s close friends.
Details
- Artist Name: Emerson Woelffer (American, 1914-2003)
- Title: Inner Circle
- Date: 1949
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 47 x 35 in. (119.3 x 88.9 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, Gift of Casey Wasserman
- Accession Number: P.2023.1
- Copyright: © Estate of Emerson Woelffer
Object Information
Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, sold 1996 to;
Casey Wasserman, Los Angeles, gift 2023 to;
Norton Simon Museum.
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