Guide to the Wildflowers
Date1949
Mediumoil on linen
DimensionsFramed: 31 × 40 3/4 × 1 1/2 inches (78.7 × 103.5 × 3.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mr. Balcomb Greene.
Object number1975.1
On View
Not on viewTerms
c.1805 - 1830
Copyright© Terryn and Balcomb Greene Foundation.
The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextWhile working in Paris, Gertrude Glass Greene was exposed to Russian and European-based abstract art movements—such as Constructivism and Neo-plasticism—that would forever influence her art practice in the United States. She was one of the first Americans to experiment with mixed-media abstract constructions, objects that combined elements of painting and sculpture. Moreover, she was one of the founding members, alongside her husband, the artist Balcombe Greene, of the American Abstract Artists organization in 1936, which promoted this novel style.
Guide to the Wildflowers, a medley of shapes and colors, recalls Greene’s lifelong investment in abstract forms. Made in the final stages of her career, these looser shapes and sections of visible brushstrokes are perhaps indicative of the artist’s evolution from pure geometric abstraction toward an expressionistic and painterly approach.
Text written for the exhibition Complex Uncertainties: Artists in Postwar America, October 24, 2020 – May 3, 2021.