Image: Nora Speyer, “Daisies,” 1968, oil on canvas, 50” x 50”.
By John Paul Stapleton
The Provincetown Art Association and Museum is currently host to an exhibit displaying the works of husband and wife, Nora Speyer and Sideo Fromboluti (1920-2014).
Art historian Mary Abell curated this exhibit which is the first to focus solely on the work of the two artists. Included are works on paper and oil paintings created between 1975 and 2008 that show the similar styles the couple worked in and the influence they’ve had on each other’s work. While being Wellfleet artists, the couple had much involvement with the Provincetown arts community by appearing in exhibits and having been founding members of the Long Point Gallery.
The standouts of the exhibit are the oil paintings the both created that make heavy use of texture. Fromboluti’s paintings in the exhibition are of more realistic scenes such as landscapes, flowers and common objects.
His biggest piece in the show is a triptych titled “Summer Rain.” The three canvases give a blurred view of the edge of a pond during the rain making use of light purples, grays and blues for the reflection of the stormy sky in the water. The browns and greens that make up the land get darker and more texturized as they meet the water appropriately showing the eroded edge of the dirt. At this edge in the center canvas, three stripes resembling that of tree trunks without their leaves being included in the frame are standing and reflected in the water, refracting their more parallel alignment.
For the most part, Speyer’s work in the exhibition has darker themes, but that doesn’t stop her from putting those darker themes onto subjects Fromboluti would work in.
In her painting “Daisies,” Speyer paints an arrangement of daisies that seem to grow out of nowhere. They are arranged across the center of the canvas, some more abstract than the others, some missing petals, but all coming out of a textured mass of reds and tans that resembles ripped flesh in color and texture. This representation of flowers in such a morbid light shows the overlap in styles of the artists.
Speyer’s imagery gets more sinister in her painting “Nightmare VI.” The scene is that of a woman sleeping naked in her bed grabbing at a sheet to somewhat cover herself. The frame is penetrated by snakes coming towards the woman. For the most part, the color palette is comprised of purples and pinks that give the sense of a whimsical dream-like state. The green is used in the darker edges and parts of the snakes showing that this dream is turning sour as the attackers’ approach.
Another notable and grotesque work of Speyer’s is “Death and the Maiden IX,” which is a close-up scene of the classic grim reaper trying to take a young naked woman. The frame of the image gives focus to the faces where the skull is looking directly at the maiden despite being covered by his hood, but the maiden cannot look directly back, effectively communicating her fear. The texture of paint captures the folds in Death’s cloak making him a more realistic and therefore frightening entity but also puts a spotlight on his hand. The paint is formed in a way that creates a separation of the hand from the rest of the painting and sets it forward, flaunting the skeletal hand.
While all of these images are striking even when pictured, they must be seen in person to get the full effect. The texture is not fully represented in photographs as it takes the naked eye moving around the paintings to get all the catches of light that bring these paintings to the carefully detailed level the artists intended to communicate.
This is only one of four exhibits currently up at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum and will be on view until September 24.
(“Nora Speyer and Sideo Fromboluti” continues through September 24 at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, 460 Commercial St., Provincetown, Mass. For more information, call (508) 487-1750.)
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