Chinese Pipe and Tulips (Primary Title)
Stanton MacDonald-Wright, American, 1890 - 1973 (Artist)
Born in Charlottesville, Virginia, Stanton MacDonald-Wright is credited with cofounding Synchromism (meaning “with color”), an international movement inspired by late 19th-century color theories and a close study of the art of Paul Cézanne. During the World War I era, MacDonald-Wright moved from playing a substantive role in New York’s modernist circles – influencing the work of Georgia O’Keeffe among others – to being a leading representative of West Coast modernism.
Chinese Pipe and Tulips dates from MacDonald-Wright’s residency in California, where he had relocated in 1918. The picture reveals not only the artist’s color philosophy but his interest in balancing influence of East and West. MacDonald-Wright had begun studying Chinese around this time, and the elegantly painted character for “spring” on the back of this canvas underlines his notion of art as a form of “spiritual awakening.”
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