Gouaches (1961-1966)
We read everything on pre-Cortez times that we could find. Prescott's history of the conquest of Mexico and Peru; Bernal Diaz del Castillo, who described so quaintly and so graphically the country and the people and the details of the coming of the Spaniards, as one of Cortez' men; more recent writers on the culture of the Aztecs, the Mayans, the Incas. Also general mythology such as the Golden Bough, poetry such as The White Pony, an anthology of Chinese poetry from 1100 B.C. through 1921. All this fired Ary's imagination, and what with improved physical condition, greater peace of mind, and new stimuli to inspire him, Ary's incredibly rich imagination began to reassert itself. Now, he fantasized, he had discovered through excavating among ancient ruins, a "palace of the prince" and everything that poured forth as he sat in the arm-chair in the corner of the verandah was something he carried away from the walls of this ancient palace. So in 1960 he began a series of gouaches, which in creativeness, in spontaneity, in line and form are perhaps the culmination, or at least the beginning of the culmination of his entire career as a non-representational painter. Ary felt that himself, "I am a new Ary" he would say. He even decided that this new Ary should have his name on the paintings rather than the old Stillman whose depression he had fought off. So one will find that practically all of the gouaches and many of the later canvases bear the name "Ary." Later on, after we left Mexico, he drifted back into signing "Stillman" again.
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Leyenda #3
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Leyenda #5
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Linear Vibrations
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Lonely Journey
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Lyric Forms
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Masks
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Masquerade
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Mechanical
(two panels)
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Mechanical World
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Mediaeval Print
1961,
gouache on paper,
18 x 13 1/2 in.,
[Museum Collection]
Memory of
Prehistoric (dark)
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Memory of
Prehistoric (light)
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Memory of
Prehistoric (color)
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Monkeys
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Movement on
the Street
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Mystic
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Noon
1963,
gouache on paper,
18 x 14 in.,
[Museum Collection]
Palace Decoration in
Red, Yellow and Blue
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
13 x 18 in.,
[Museum Collection]
Persian Character
of Flying Images
1964,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Persian Design
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Persian Saga
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Primitive Symbols
on Wall of Temple
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Procession
1966,
gouache on paper,
13 x 19 1/2 in.,
[Private Collection]
Ritual
1962,
gouache on paper,
26 x 20 in.,
[Museum Collection]
Sacrifice
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Sea Horses
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
19 x 14 in.,
[Museum Collection]
Spirit of a
Past Century
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Spirits
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Spirits of
the Underworld
c.1961-1966,
gouache on paper,
[Foundation Collection]
Stained Glass
1962,
gouache on paper,
[Private Collection]
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