Lilacs

Label

Charles Ethan Porter was a Black artist from Connecticut best known for his still-life paintings. He studied at the National Academy of Design in New York before traveling to Paris in the early 1880s. Lilacs was painted at the height of Porter’s career, just after his return from Paris.

Daubs of white paint lift off the flowers rising from the thinly painted background, a method that emphasizes their three dimensionality. Porter’s approach embraced the impressionist style of artists like Edouard Manet. However, the table’s edges run parallel to the flowers draped across it, revealing Porter’s academic training in this mathematical balancing of the composition.

From the 2024 exhibition Beyond the Bouquet: Arranging Flowers in American Art, curated by Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art

Exhibition History

Beyond the Bouquet: Arranging Flowers in American Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 18, 2024 - late 2025.

Provenance

Private collection, Hillsborough County, Florida; “Old Master to 20th Century Paintings, Carpets, and Antiques", Richard Steadman Estate Services, St. Petersburg, Florida, lot 55, July 23, 2022; sold to Thomas Colville Fine Art, Guilford, Connecticut; sold to present collection, 2024.

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