Chrysanthemums (Primary Title)
Charles Ethan Porter, American, 1847 - 1923 (Artist)
In 1868 Charles Ethan Porter became one of the first African American students admitted to New York’s National Academy of Design. During a formative trip to Paris in 1882, he studied firsthand Henri Fantin-Latour’s lush, intimate floral still lifes, which had a significant influence on Porter’s mature style. Chrysanthemums displays Porter’s close observation of his subject, depicting over a dozen flowers in various stages of bloom. The Asian chrysanthemum flower became wildly popular among European and American gardeners in the 1880s as a consequence of the Western world’s growing interest in Japanese culture. Similar to the nearby Quince Blossoms by Charles Caryl Coleman (90.29), a Japanese fan suggests the role played by exported goods and art in defining the cosmopolitanism of the Aesthetic movement.
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