The Annunciation
Artist
John E. Alexander
(American, born 1945)
CultureAmerican
Date1984
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall: 90 x 100 in. (228.6 x 254 cm)
InscribedSigned, titled, and numbered on verso: "John Alexander `The Annunciation' 466.9.84"
Credit LineGift of Heidi Krisch
Object number91.87
Not on view
Label TextJohn Alexander
American (b. 1945)
The Annunciation, 1984
Oil on canvas
Gift of Heidi Krisch 91.87
Texas-born artist John Alexander spent his early career in Houston before he moved to New York in 1979. In this new period, he produced the raucous, large-scale paintings for which he is perhaps best known. A visit to Abstract Expressionist Willem de Kooning’s studio proved to be influential for Alexander, whose canvases maintain the vitality and notion of pure painterliness promoted by the older artist. Alexander’s hybrid style merges this rich brushwork with sporadic visual narrative. Annunciation contains elements—the skull, the crowned head, the haloed head, and enchained figures—that arose in several other paintings by the artist. The faces take on a simian quality that is also characteristic of the artist.Exhibition History"John Alexander," Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY, January - February 1985 (reproduced p. 6, no. 1).
"John Alexander: Paintings and Drawings," The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio; The Meadows Museum Gallery, SMU, Dallas, TX; May - Sept. 1988 (no. 8, reproduced in color).
"Treasures for the Community: The Chrysler Collects, 1989-1996," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 25, 1996 - March 2, 1997.
"John Alexander: A Retrospective," Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C., December 21, 2007 - March 16, 2008; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, April 12 - June 22, 2008
"Remix: A Fresh Look At Our Modern And Contemporary Art Collections," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, November 2, 2011 - March 17, 2012.Published ReferencesJane Livingston, Alison De Lima Greene and Robert Hughes, _John Alexander: A Retrospective_ , exh. cat., The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, 2008, 35 pl. 3. ISBN: 9780300125061
