Summer Solstice
Artist
Maxine Masterfield
(American)
Date1985
MediumCollage
Dimensions40 × 40 in. (101.6 × 101.6 cm)
ClassificationsPainting / Collage
Object numberUAC2778
DescriptionIn this large collage, Masterfield gives a large color field of roiling browns and oranges, where pink and white peak through the cracks. This organic-looking abstract design shows the artist’s interest in the experimental, as well as natural objects in the bright points of white that poke their way through the dark colors. The pink object is nearly planatesque in the lines that move across its rounded form. One additional feature that shows some of Masterfield’s interest in experimentation on top of the medium of collage is the uniform lines that appear to have been scratched into the paint around the border of the amorphous shape, an unusual technique for her time. Maxine Masterfield trained at the Cleveland Institute of Arts, where she received her bachelor's degree in Fine Arts and Painting, in 1955. Her work, always experimental and pushing the boundaries, focused on natural forms and capturing the soul of nature in canvas and color, using mediums such as acrylic and watercolor paints. Masterfield works and continues to produce art in Florida, in addition to producing her quarterly newsletter, Spirit of Experimental Art.
Written by Alex Heath
