Arthur B. Carles
American, 1882–1952
Calla Lilies
INV-1938
Arthur B. Carles
American, 1882–19521922–25
Calla Lilies
Arthur B. Carles American, 1882–1952 →Modernismoil on canvaspainting
Date
1922–25
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
76.2 × 61 cm (30 × 24 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Quinn E. Delaney and Vance American Art funds; through prior gift of the Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection Fund; Mr. and Mrs. Frederick G. Wacker Jr. Endowment Fund; purchased with funds provided by Julie and Brian Simmons
In 1922, Arthur B. Carles began a series of calla lily paintings, using the flowers’ stark shapes as the basis for formal experiments into color and surface. Calla lilies were of particular interest to Carles’s fellow modernists such as Georgia O’Keeffe, Charles Demuth, and Marsden Hartley because of their sexual connotations, which these artists frequently exaggerated or exploited. Carles’s Calla Lilies does not appear to carry any erotic overtones but instead is restrained in color and almost classically composed. Carles played with the effects of light and shadow on the curving shapes of the blossoms, contrasting the firmly modeled white flowers with the more loosely painted background. These juxtapositions expressed his fascination with the play of space in his compositions, and he likened the deliberate intervals between the flowers to the rhythmic qualities of music.
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