Magnolia
Circa 1976
Watercolor
22 x 28 inches
Other Information
Framed: 25 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches
Inscription: Signed lower right
Provenance: Private Collection, Carmel, Indiana.
Literature: Illustrated in the book "Flowers of Friendship" p. 46, Plate XII (color), 1977.
Note: This image was also the source of a commercially printed lithograph sold by Nature House of Griggsville, Illinois, in the 1970s. Beautifully framed in top archival material.
From the artist's husband Fred: "This painting was done in Huntsville, Alabama where Maryrose and I, along with our children, spent a working vacation. We were shown the old section of the city by a lifelong resident who made an avocation of the study of early American architecture and knew the histories of the old homes and families.
She had been responsible for the restoration of a stately antebellum mansion in the area. It was on the grounds of this gracious old home that we found the magnolia tree we had been searching for.
With a patio umbrella to protect her from the southern sun, Maryrose made her sketch and painted the parts of the flower that are transient and would be difficult to catch in a cut specimen. She showed the various stages of bloom from the tight bud to spent blossom.
The first day a flower opens, the stamens are light colored and are held closely in a precise arrangement. As the flower ages, the stamens darken and fall away away from the pistil, often spilling down onto the cupped petals. Before the petals wither and fall, they assume a parchment-like color and texture so interesting that we felt they should be part of the painting.
Throughout our short stay in Huntsville we were continually made aware that southern hospitality is no myth. The people we came in contact with were so warm, friendly, and helpful that by the time our stay was ended, we felt we were leaving a comfortable, familiar home that we would like very much to return to someday, rather than a strange area we were only visiting."
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