Skip to main content

Two Female Nudes on Purple Drape

Artist
Philip Pearlstein, American, 1924–2022
Date
1964
Material
Oil on canvas
Classification
Paintings
Current Location
Not on view
Dimensions
60 x 75 7/8 in. (152.4 x 192.7 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Adam Aronson
Rights
© Philip Pearlstein
Object Number
205:1987
NOTES
In this painting Philip Pearlstein rendered two nude models posing against a beige wall and a floor covered in purple fabric. Although the face of the seated model is bent toward the woman lying on the drape, the two do not interact. Pearlstein claimed, “I have never been interested in contact between models because that immediately suggests a story line.” Instead Pearlstein captures details of the models’ bodies as well as the textures and light effects of their surroundings in a matter-of-fact representational style.
- still in 1983
Collection of the artist [1]

- 1987
Mr. and Mrs. Adam Aronson, St. Louis, MO

1987-
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by Mr. and Mrs. Adam Aronson [2]

Notes:
[1] Russell Bowman, Philip Pearlstein: The Complete Paintings (New York: Alpine Fine Arts Collection, 1983), 317.

[2] Letter dated January 4, 1988 from Michael Shapiro, Chief Curator, to Mr. and Mrs. Adam Aronson thanking them for the gift of "Two Female Nudes on a Purple Drape" [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Acquisitions and Loans Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, November 18, 1987.