Florine Stettheimer, Sun

Barbara Haskell: Florine Stettheimer was part of a family of a matriarch and three sisters. 

Narrator: Curator Barbara Haskell. 

Barbara Haskell: They lived in New York, they established a salon—they entertained Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Stella, all the figures that were part of the avant garde at that moment. And she was very beloved by that group. She didn't have a lot of public exposure. She had one exhibition in 1917 of very early work that was not so well received. And she decided after that to never have a one person show. And she didn't need to because she came from a wealthy family and she had all the money that she needed.

In the work, she develops this very unusual style that captures the kind of tinsel glamour and the artifice of the 1920s. There's a sense of carefree abandonment that she has in her work. Those kind of confectionery colors that's in Sun. 

Narrator: Stettheimer signed the work near the bottom, using only her first name—Florine. There’s a sense of intimacy in this move that makes sense for a painting made for a small audience of esteemed friends. But by linking the bouquet of flowers to her own name—with its floral roots—Stettheimer also suggests that the painting is a kind of self portrait.