The Flower and the Sword

Evelyn StatsingerWW-1947-044513

1947·Pen and black ink with brown crayon on cream wove paper·78.5 × 92.5 cm (30 15/16 × 36 7/16 in.)

<p>A 1949 graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in arts education, Statsinger became known for oversized drawings such as this one reflecting disparate cultures, both ancient and modern. Like many of her Monster Roster peers, Statsinger showed her work in the Exhibition Momentum, an alternative salon for postwar Chicago artists whose work wasn’t included in the annual Art Institute exhibitions of local artists. In 1952, however, the museum mounted a solo presentation of her drawings. <em>The Flower and the Sword</em> recalls the forms of medieval art, especially the Bayeux Tapestry, an object that especially engaged Statsinger.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1947
Medium: Pen and black ink with brown crayon on cream wove paper
Dimensions: 78.5 × 92.5 cm (30 15/16 × 36 7/16 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Evelyn Statsinger

Artist

Evelyn Statsinger

Painting

Evelyn Statsinger (1927–2016) was a multidisciplinary American artist. Born and raised in Brooklyn, she moved to Chicago in the mid-1940s and remained there for the rest of her life. Statsinger earned her BA in art education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 1949 after short stints at the Art Students League and the University of Toledo. While still a student at SAIC she found early success in the Exhibition Momentum salons—a series of exhibitions that took place from 1948 through 1957 and included artist Josef Albers, architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and art critic Clement Greenburg, among others, on its three-person jury. This helped lead to her first solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1952. Often identified with the Monster Roster group, Statsinger features prominently in exhibitions and publications devoted to art in Chicago. Her work is included in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Brooklyn, NY, USA

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