Lee Loring (American, 1912 – 1962) 
Untitled - Figure with long flowing clothes and totally dark face being watched by bird
watercolor paintings on paper 
Unsigned - in pencil inside mount G1994.16.32 Condition - abrasions and wear to paintings; sheets mounted to paperboard substrates; wear to edges and corners. Dimensions 8.25" W x 14.25" H Lee Loring: A Southern Sophisticate In a period which bracketed World War II, Lee Loring forged a career and an approach to image-making which was at once strikingly independent in the context of American art and at the same time dependent on 20th century European intellectual thought and its well documented effect on artistic creativity in this period.  In retrospect, Loring's work can be essentially divided into three distinct periods whose on-going development was interrupted by his death in 1962 at age sixty. When Loring left his native Mobile, Alabama and abandoned his family's hopes for him of a business career, he sought to establish his new identity through European travels and the study of painting in Rome and Paris.  By 1937 he had developed his first individual statements and had his first important exhibition in Paris at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune.  These sophisticated and colorful compositions of flowers were inspired through firsthand experiences with the exotic natural world of the West Indies, which he frequented in these years.  They are his first attempts to translate his feelings into visual form using flowers as the metaphoric form, a Symbolist's approach. In the Paris exhibition, titles consisting of old French songs were used to accompany the paintings to amplify associative possibilities.  Loring wrote little directly about his work but once noted, ". . .I have used flowers not just as flowers, but as symbols to portray elements of life in relationship to their background and use in a given epoch or country."  This statement provides a key element in the understanding of his art for this initial period and really throughout his career.  It was an attitude - cuRAYtor Art
CuRAYtor

Lee Loring (American, 1912 – 1962) 
Untitled – Figure with long flowing clothes and totally dark face being watched by bird
watercolor paintings on paper 
Unsigned – in pencil inside mount G1994.16.32 Condition – abrasions and wear to paintings; sheets mounted to paperboard substrates; wear to edges and corners. Dimensions 8.25″ W x 14.25″ H Lee Loring: A Southern Sophisticate In a period which bracketed World War II, Lee Loring forged a career and an approach to image-making which was at once strikingly independent in the context of American art and at the same time dependent on 20th century European intellectual thought and its well documented effect on artistic creativity in this period.  In retrospect, Loring’s work can be essentially divided into three distinct periods whose on-going development was interrupted by his death in 1962 at age sixty. When Loring left his native Mobile, Alabama and abandoned his family’s hopes for him of a business career, he sought to establish his new identity through European travels and the study of painting in Rome and Paris.  By 1937 he had developed his first individual statements and had his first important exhibition in Paris at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune.  These sophisticated and colorful compositions of flowers were inspired through firsthand experiences with the exotic natural world of the West Indies, which he frequented in these years.  They are his first attempts to translate his feelings into visual form using flowers as the metaphoric form, a Symbolist’s approach. In the Paris exhibition, titles consisting of old French songs were used to accompany the paintings to amplify associative possibilities.  Loring wrote little directly about his work but once noted, “. . .I have used flowers not just as flowers, but as symbols to portray elements of life in relationship to their background and use in a given epoch or country.”  This statement provides a key element in the understanding of his art for this initial period and really throughout his career.  It was an attitude

Lee Loring (American, 1912 – 1962) 
Untitled – Figure with long flowing clothes and totally dark face being watched by bird
watercolor paintings on paper 
Unsigned – in pencil inside mount G1994.16.32 Condition – abrasions and wear to paintings; sheets mounted to paperboard substrates; wear to edges and corners. Dimensions 8.25″ W x 14.25″ H Lee Loring: A Southern Sophisticate In a period which bracketed World War II, Lee Loring forged a career and an approach to image-making which was at once strikingly independent in the context of American art and at the same time dependent on 20th century European intellectual thought and its well documented effect on artistic creativity in this period.  In retrospect, Loring’s work can be essentially divided into three distinct periods whose on-going development was interrupted by his death in 1962 at age sixty. When Loring left his native Mobile, Alabama and abandoned his family’s hopes for him of a business career, he sought to establish his new identity through European travels and the study of painting in Rome and Paris.  By 1937 he had developed his first individual statements and had his first important exhibition in Paris at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune.  These sophisticated and colorful compositions of flowers were inspired through firsthand experiences with the exotic natural world of the West Indies, which he frequented in these years.  They are his first attempts to translate his feelings into visual form using flowers as the metaphoric form, a Symbolist’s approach. In the Paris exhibition, titles consisting of old French songs were used to accompany the paintings to amplify associative possibilities.  Loring wrote little directly about his work but once noted, “. . .I have used flowers not just as flowers, but as symbols to portray elements of life in relationship to their background and use in a given epoch or country.”  This statement provides a key element in the understanding of his art for this initial period and really throughout his career.  It was an attitude

Lee Loring (American, 1912 – 1962) 
Untitled – Figure with long flowing clothes and totally dark face being watched by bird
watercolor paintings on paper 
Unsigned – in pencil inside mount G1994.16.32 Condition – abrasions and wear to paintings; sheets mounted to paperboard substrates; wear to edges and corners. Dimensions 8.25″ W x 14.25″ H Lee Loring: A Southern Sophisticate In a period which bracketed World War II, Lee Loring forged a career and an approach to image-making which was at once strikingly independent in the context of American art and at the same time dependent on 20th century European intellectual thought and its well documented effect on artistic creativity in this period.  In retrospect, Loring’s work can be essentially divided into three distinct periods whose on-going development was interrupted by his death in 1962 at age sixty. When Loring left his native Mobile, Alabama and abandoned his family’s hopes for him of a business career, he sought to establish his new identity through European travels and the study of painting in Rome and Paris.  By 1937 he had developed his first individual statements and had his first important exhibition in Paris at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune.  These sophisticated and colorful compositions of flowers were inspired through firsthand experiences with the exotic natural world of the West Indies, which he frequented in these years.  They are his first attempts to translate his feelings into visual form using flowers as the metaphoric form, a Symbolist’s approach. In the Paris exhibition, titles consisting of old French songs were used to accompany the paintings to amplify associative possibilities.  Loring wrote little directly about his work but once noted, “. . .I have used flowers not just as flowers, but as symbols to portray elements of life in relationship to their background and use in a given epoch or country.”  This statement provides a key element in the understanding of his art for this initial period and really throughout his career.  It was an attitude

Return to collections

Artist: Lee Loring
ID No: 2542
Date Purchased:
Ranking No:
Price Paid: 37
Est Current Value: 250
Place Purchased:
Critera: FF08

IMG_1060.jpg