The Art of Advent: Day 4
Behind door number 4 is our first ‘Festive Favourite’ by Gabriella Sotiriou. The ‘Festive Favourites’ will showcase some of our team's most beloved seasonal artworks for you all to enjoy (maybe as much as we do). In today’s article Gabriella writes all about the wonderfully whimsical Christmas by Florine Stettheimer - her favourite artist and a gorgeous Christmas scene. We hope you enjoy reading about why Gabriella loves this painting quite so much…
Christmas by Florine Stettheimer, 1930-40
Florine Stettheimer was a painter, poet and designer in Jazz Age New York and is one of my favourite artists of all time. I’ve just finished my dissertation on her work and here I am, not one week later writing about her again. But this time it’s getting a festive spin. Christmas is a work that I didn’t get to squeeze into my dissertation but it might be one of Stettheimer’s works that I find most beautiful. Or maybe it’s just because I adore Christmas time. Either way, this painting is a wonderfully colourful scene of Christmas in New York city.
The centre of the painting is all about the huge Christmas tree that has actually become entirely yellow from the amount of lights strung through its branches. Red, blue and green garlands and baubles decorate the tree. It dominates the middle of a skating rink where small figures skate around under the lights of the tree. A small string of what look like bears skate in formation to the left of the rink.
The top of the painting shows a pink tinted cityscape, as Stettheimer depicts Manhattan in the light of the blazing red winter sun as it sets for the evening. Buildings such as a bank and ice cream stand are bathed in the rose-tinted light created by the setting sun.
The lower section of the painting shows an amalgamation of strange figures who do not seem to have a natural place within this setting but this is something that Stettheimer loved to. She often featured a handful of people together in a single composition with seemingly little reason. Here she includes her sister, Henrietta, wearing a rich burgundy fur coat, glancing at the viewer over her shoulder and holding a long stemmed red rose. She stands next to a large white plinth on which a dark green bust of Alexander von Humbolt, a German scientist and explorer rests. A fine dusting of snow covers the top of his head. At the bottom of the plinth is a wreath of green leaves and pink flowers, tied with yellow ribbons. To the bottom right is a large brown horse and an elongated willowy police officer leans against him, wearing white gloves and crossing his arms. He looks out across the skating rink, smiling at those enjoying themselves.
The large bronze statue is actually a monument to William Shakespeare. He stands tall, looking down at the scene from atop a pink plinth. Between Ettie and the policemen are more ambiguous figures - a Native American in an amazing feathered headdress supports the foot of a tiny woman wearing a large white and black spotted fur coat. She also wears a feathered headdress but made of large yellow and orange feathers. There is also a woman whom we see only from the back, wearing a purple coat with white fur collar and a pink hat. Her children, one wearing a red snowsuit staring up at the large horse, the other wearing white and pink, run around the snow covered park.
I love this painting because of the bold colours that it uses to create the sense of joy of those figures within the scene. It conveys a great sense of Christmas cheer even though it does not rely on typical ‘Christmas’ motifs. Stettheimer’s works always contain so many seemingly random details that I feel as though I could look at a single painting for hours, even days. Without fail, Florine always paints a scene that I would give anything to step right into. I’m sure that like me, you all would love to be skating around on that perfect rink under the blazing lights of the Christmas tree in snowy New York city.