Jane Peterson (1876-1965)

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“Sex has nothing to do with it at all. Art is one activity where being a woman is neither a help nor a hindrance. Even a woman’s intuition means nothing when she is facing a canvas.”

It is finally Spring in the Northern Hemisphere,though it had to be dragged kicking and screaming into New England. We saw snow naught but a week and a half ago. So in honor of this hopeful season I thought I would offer up a bouquet of these beautiful Jane Petersen paintings.

I saw my first Jane Petersen painting in The Vose Gallery a decade or so leaning humbly against a wall on the floor in the directors office of The Vose Galleries in Boston. http://www.vosegalleries.com/ I am not a still-life or a floral painting kind of artist- I am wretched at it and only paint flowers or landscapes when they are attached or surround a figure. That little floral  painting vibrated- it was not pretty in the sense that floral paintings are but at its core was a subtle and rich coloration and exquiste harmonies rarely seen- especially today. It was of red and gold Zinnias and those flowers lived. I told the director how struck I was with that little painting and the others he had of hers, he allowed that it was sad that with even a low price tag -$4,000 at that time, she was a hard sell. Further down Newbury Street, Boston's main artsie drag, a couple of long strings atached to a wall and the floor at an angle were retailing for about 20K.

Here is some more information on Jane Petersen:
http://www.caldwellgallery.com/bios/peterson-biography.html