HOVSEP PUSHMAN (American, 1877-1966). Enchanted Communion, #589. Oil on panel. 25-1/2 x 25 inches (64.8 x 63.5 cm). Sign...

Description

HOVSEP PUSHMAN (American, 1877-1966)
Enchanted Communion, #589
Oil on panel
25-1/2 x 25 inches (64.8 x 63.5 cm)
Signed lower left: Pushman

This lot will be included in Lucy Ishkanian's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the complete works of Hovsep Pushman.

PROVENANCE:
Armand Pushman Estate.

Concurrent with the fashion of collecting Oriental export ware in late 19th-century America was the development of Orientalist painting, which featured either Asian objects or Asian-inspired design elements. The Armenian-born Hovsep Pushman, who trained at the Art Institute in Chicago and the Académie Julian in Paris before settling in New York in 1919, established the standard for Orientalist still-life and figure painting during the 1920s through '40s. His paintings typically include a wide range of Asian objects glowing duskily, as if illuminated by candlelight: Tang Dynasty horses, Buddha statues, porcelain bowls and vases, jade snuff bottles, Chinese illuminated manuscripts, even silk wall hangings. An aficionado of Chinese culture and philosophy, Pushman intended his paintings to function symbolically, and he often paired them with mystical or spiritual readings. Works like Enchanted Communion and Twilight Tales foreground the exotic artifacts, impeccable technique, and mysterious mood that made his still lifes so desirable. Indeed, during his 1932 one-man show at New York's Grand Central Art Galleries, Pushman, lauded by critics and collectors alike, managed to sell all sixteen of his exhibited paintings by the end of opening day.

As beautiful and evocative as his still lifes are his Orientalist portraits of women. In paintings like Reflections #1 and Reflections #2, Pushman drapes the sitter in a silk kimono. These and other works, such as Grace, also invoke the Japanese print, with their bold outlines and cropped forms.

The Detroit Institute of Arts; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Montclair Art Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa; and Seattle Art Museum count among the numerous museums nationwide featuring Pushman's work.



More information about HOVSEP PUSHMAN. See also: Pushman, Hovsep, Pushman, Hovsep T, Pushman, Hovsep T., Hovsep Pushman Artist.



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