The Cup of Death (Primary Title)
Elihu Vedder, American, 1836 - 1923 (Artist)
So when the Angel of the darker Drink At last shall find you by the river-brink, And, offering his Cup, invite your Soul Forth to your Lips to quaff—you shall not shrink.
The above passage from the forty-ninth quatrain of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám inspired this haunting image by Elihu Vedder of ultimate acceptance. The painting derives from Vedder’s 1884 masterwork—fifty-six illustrations for a deluxe edition of Edward FitzGerald’s translation of the 12th-century Persian text. Vedder’s illustrations to the translated text, which speculates on the mysteries of existence and death, struck a chord with abroad American public traumatized by the Civil War, shaken by the scientific theories of Darwin, and further challenged by foreign immigration, massive industrialization, and growing social discord.
Paris 1889: American Artists at the Universal Exposition, The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., September 29 – December 31, 1989; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, January 26 – April 15, 1990; Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN, May 6 – July 15, 1990
A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting 1760 - 1910, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, Mass., September 7 – November 13, 1983; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., December 6, 1983 – February 12, 1984; Grand Palais, Paris, France, March 16 – June 11, 1984
American Painting and Symbolist Aesthetics, 1885 - 1917, Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York, NY, October 24 – December 8, 1979
Perceptions and Evocations: The Art of Elihu Vedder, National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, D.C., October 13, 1978 – February 4, 1979; Brooklyn Museum, NY, April 28 – July 8, 1979
Doll and Richards Gallery, Boston, MA, March 18 – April 1887
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