"This catalog accompanies the exhibition 'The art of Doris Lee' on view at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, PA, September 26, 2021-January 9, 2022; Figge Art Museum, Davenport, IA, February 5-May 8, 2022; Vero Beach Museum of Art, Vero Beach, FL, June 5-September 18, 2022; Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, TN, October 30, 2022-January 15, 2023"--Colophon. Includes bibliographical references (pages 232-233) and index.
Contents:
Doris Emrick Lee chronology / Amy Torbert. Doris Lee's senses of humor and history / John Fagg -- Doris Lee in Woodstock / Tom Wolf -- Into the commercial realm / Barbara L. Jones -- The art of Doris Lee -- Doris Emrick Lee chronology / Amy Torbert.
Summary:
Simple Pleasures' presents the first major critical assessment of works by the artist Doris Lee (1904-1983). Lee was one of the most recognized artists in America during the 1930s and 40s, and was a leading figure in the Woodstock Artist's Colony. Her oeuvre reveals a remarkable ability to merge the reduction of abstraction with the appeal of the everyday. In so doing, she offers one of the very rare examples of a coherent visual identity that successfully bridged the various artistic "camps" that formed with the shift in the art world in the post-World War II era. 'Simple Pleasures' explores the initial national recognition in the 1930s within the context of American Scene painting, and traces the artist's thematic interest in the simple objects and scenes of the everyday through her career. It also examines the influence of the rise in abstraction during the late 1940s and 1950s, and the particular way in which this abstraction found resonance with Lee's long-held interest in, and collections of, folk and non-western art. During this post-war period, Lee, like many of her American Scene colleagues, found lucrative work in the heyday of commercial advertising. Lee's commercial commissions for patrons such as American Tobacco Company, Life magazine, Abbott Laboratories, and Associated American Artists are especially compelling in both their populist accessibility and in their deceptively sophisticated abstraction. Sixty-five works by the artist span the 1930s through the 1960s and are comprised of paintings, drawings, prints, and commissioned commercial designs in fabric and pottery. Included are advertisements by companies that commissioned images from Lee, and photographs that contextualize the artist's work within the Woodstock artist's community.00Exhibition: Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, USA (26.09.2021-09.01.2022).
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.