Six New Peoplescapes

Albatross - August 1973

 My mother sent slides of these six paintings to a collector of peoplescapes to see if she might be interested in any of them.  She did not purchase any, but did hold on to the slides, which is how they came back to me.  One day, I will photograph her collection of paintings to add to the blog.

Backwoods - July 1972

 There are many figures in this painting, which I take to be slaves in the south. At the centered is a woman and a man, with possibly a child to the man's right, and a seated figure in the lower right corner.

Himself -January 1974

 The man's face appears many times.  He appears to me to be in the memory of the woman looking out the window.  His mother?  Or perhaps his wife?

In my mother's notes, I see an entry which must refer to this piece::

Jolene Damon

Lewiston, Maine

"Himself"? at Auction

Suzanne - January 1974

 This, I feel certain, was inspired by the Leonard Cohen song, Suzanne, which was recorded by Judy Collins on "In My Life".  "Suzanne takes you down to her place by the river...she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China".  I see a cup of tea cradled in her hands at the lower left, and oranges to the lower right, and, of course, the Brooklyn Bridge in the background..

Treehouse IV - July 1972

 Many figures are are evident in this painting.  I sense a Native American theme in the profiles, which face each other, in the top, and the figure on horseback in the lower right.

Vigil - January 1974

A pensive figure.  I do not know what the inspiration was for this painting, but there is a lot going on here.  Under the main figure's right arm is a dark blue shape which is the habit of a nun whose downcast face looks to the bottom of the canvas.  There seems to be a slim woman in a blue dress at the center. I cannont quite make out her head, though.   A man's face looks right above the face of the main figure, and to the right of the main figure's ear, the blue face of a woman looking left in the direction of the man's face.  At the middle left is a fence with an orange cat.   Tenement windows are visible about the fence.   At the woman's elbow is what appears to me to be a trash can, and in contrast to the trash can, a stained glass window glows above.

The dates refer to when the slides were taken, so the paintings may have been done some time before.