Laurence at the Piano
Artist
Fairfield Porter
(1907 - 1975)
Date1953
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions40 x 30 in. (42 1/4 x 32 1/4 x 1 3/4 in.)
ClassificationsOil Painting
Credit LineGeneral Purchase Fund
Terms
Object number1990.07
Description"Laurence at the Piano" epitomizes Porter's approach to in just as he found them, as he himself said, "a reference to reality is the easiest thing, you just take what's there." (1) He felt a reluctance to interfere with the way the world presented itself. (2) Yet he achieved a melding of subject matter, a sense of the sitter's presence with formal and compositional concerns. The environmental elements in the painting the piano, the doorway, the adjacent room assume the same importance as the figure. It is in the handling of the paint itself that Porter found "the life of the painting, its wholeness and its vitality." (3)In 1953, when this portrait was painted, Laurence, the middle of Porter's three sons, was seventeen and preparing for college. Having a natural gift for the piano, Laurence was often found in this pose at home in Southampton. The view from the front hall where the piano was located extends into the living room where a partially visible Audubon print hangs above the fireplace. Porter often painted family members involved in quiet pursuits in their everyday surroundings. While he did infuse this scene with a degree of depth of meaning, he did not resort to unnecessary sentimentality. This characteristic of Porter's portraits is sometimes interpreted as a certain detachment, but "Laurence at the Piano" does convey a subtle sense of domestic intimacy without idealization. The influence of Abstract Expressionism is apparent in the sensual enjoyment Porter felt in the manipulation of the paint. The gestural mode inherent in the active brushstrokes imparts a sense of spontaneity and immediacy to the person and the setting depicted in "Laurence at the Piano".
JL
Bibliography:
Rackstraw Downes, ed., "Fairfield Porter: Art in Its Own Terms: Selected Criticism, 1935-1975" (New York: Taplinger, 1979); Joan Ludman, "Fairfield Porter: A Catalogue Raisonné of His Prints" (Westbury, N.Y: Highland House, 1981); John Ashbery et al., "Fairfield Porter (1907-1975): Realist Painter in an Age of Abstraction" (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1982); John T. Spike, "Fairfield Porter: An American Classic" (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1992); William C. Agee et al., "Fairfield Porter: An American Painter" (Southampton, N.Y: Parrish Art Museum, 1993).
NOTES:
1 . Porter, interview with Paul Cummings, transcript, June 6, 1968, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., p. 80.
2. Brian O'Doherty, "The Figurative Fifties: New York Figurative Expressionism" (New York: Rizzoli, 1988), p. 130.
3. William C. Agee, "Fairfield Porter from the Permanent Collection of the Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York", exhib. cat. (Southampton, N.Y.: Parrish Art Museum, 1996).
On View
On view
