The Stillman-Lack Foundation. Dedicated to promoting the art of Ary Stillman
  AboutArtworkHistoryGalleries and MuseumsScholarshipsNewsSearchmenu tab end
 

Interactive Timeline
of Ary's Artwork

Representational

Palestine
Watercolors

Morocco
Drawings

Early Abstracts

New York Folio

Drawings

Prints

Early Mexican

Gouaches

Houston-
Cuernavaca

Leyendas

  Artwork  
 

G O U A C H E S  ( 1 9 6 1  -  1 9 6 6 )

Excerpted from Reminiscences, by Frances Stillman, 1988

We read everything on pre-Cortez times that we could find. Prescott's history of the conquest of Mexico and Peru; Bernal Diaz del Castillo, who described so quaintly and so graphically the country and the people and the details of the coming of the Spaniards, as one of Cortez' men; more recent writers on the culture of the Aztecs, the Mayans, the Incas. Also general mythology such as the Golden Bough, poetry such as The White Pony, an anthology of Chinese poetry from 1100 B.C. through 1921. All this fired Ary's imagination, and what with improved physical condition, greater peace of mind, and new stimuli to inspire him, Ary's incredibly rich imagination began to reassert itself. Now, he fantasized, he had discovered through excavating among ancient ruins, a "palace of the prince" and everything that poured forth as he sat in the arm-chair in the corner of the verandah was something he carried away from the walls of this ancient palace. So in 1960 he began a series of gouaches, which in creativeness, in spontaneity, in line and form are perhaps the culmination, or at least the beginning of the culmination of his entire career as a non-representational painter. Ary felt that himself, "I am a new Ary" he would say. He even decided that this new Ary should have his name on the paintings rather than the old Stillman whose depression he had fought off. So one will find that practically all of the gouaches and many of the later canvases bear the name "Ary." Later on, after we left Mexico, he drifted back into signing "Stillman" again.

Click on images to enlarge

Variations on a Chinese Theme
Mechanical 1   Mechanical 2
Mechanical World
Variations on a
Chinese Theme
Mechanical
Two Panels
Mechanical World

Illustration Archaic Design In the Beginning
Archaic Illustration
to Bible
Archaic Design In The Beginning

In the Beginning #5 In the Beginning #3 Persian Character of Flying Images
In The Beginning #5 In The Beginning #3 Persian Character of
Flying Images

Persian Design Design for a Mural Indian Motif #2
Persian Design Design For a Mural Indian Motif #2

Spirits of the Underworld The Three Spirits Spirits
Spirits of the
Underworld
The Three Spirits Spirits

Decoration from the Palace "Man and Woman"
  Decoration From
The Palace
Decoration From
The Palace,
"Man and Woman"

Young Prince Decoration from a Temple Temple Decoration in Bronze and Turquoise
Decoration From
The Palace
of the Young Prince
Decoration from
a Temple
Temple Decoration in
Bronze and Turquoise

Decorative Design in Persian Spirit Decorative Panel in Chinese Spirit From an Aztec Temple
Decorative Design
in Persian Spirit
Decorative Panel
in Chinese Spirit
From an Aztec
Temple

Primitive Symbols on Wall of Temple Bird Motif, Weaving from Temple Composition on Snake Theme
Primitive Symbols on
Wall of Temple
Bird Motif,
Weaving from Temple
Composition on
Snake Theme

Ancient Recording From the Book of Record Memory of Prehistoric (dark)
Ancient Recording From the Book
of Record
Memory of
Prehistoric (dark)

Memory of Prehistoric (light) Memory of Prehistoric (color) Monkeys
Memory of
Prehistoric (light)
Memory of
Prehistoric (color)
Monkeys

Carousel Structural Black Magic #3
Carousel Structural Black Magic #3

Fantasy Fantasy Unnamed
Fantasy Fantasy Unnamed

Unnamed Unnamed Unnamed
Unnamed Unnamed Unnamed

See more Gouache paintings in Private Collections.



<Early Mexican Back To Top Gouaches Part 2 or
Houston-Cuernavaca>



 
   
   
 

© 2008 The Stillman-Lack Foundation, All text and images on this site may not be published, broadcast, or distributed in any form without the prior written permission of The Stillman-Lack Foundation.