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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
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Variations on a
Chinese Theme |
Mechanical
Two Panels |
Mechanical World |
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Archaic Illustration
to Bible |
Archaic Design |
In The Beginning |
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| In The Beginning #5 |
In The Beginning #3 |
Persian Character of
Flying Images |
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| Persian Design |
Design For a Mural |
Indian Motif #2 |
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Spirits of the
Underworld |
The Three Spirits |
Spirits |
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Decoration From
The Palace |
Decoration From
The Palace,
"Man and Woman" |
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Decoration From
The Palace
of the Young Prince |
Decoration from
a Temple |
Temple Decoration in
Bronze and Turquoise |
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Decorative Design
in Persian Spirit |
Decorative Panel
in Chinese Spirit |
From an Aztec
Temple |
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Primitive Symbols on
Wall of Temple |
Bird Motif,
Weaving from Temple |
Composition on
Snake Theme |
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| Ancient Recording |
From the Book
of Record |
Memory of
Prehistoric (dark) |
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Memory of
Prehistoric (light) |
Memory of
Prehistoric (color) |
Monkeys |
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| Carousel |
Structural |
Black Magic #3 |
See more Gouache paintings in Private
Collections.
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