Portrait of Marcelle and Pierre Monnin
Artist
Alfred Leslie
(American, b. 1927)
CultureAmerican
Date1975
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall: 108 x 72 in. (274.3 x 182.9 cm)
PortfolioThe Red Paintings (1974-75)
Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Hugh Gordon Miller, and an anonymous donor
Object number76.77
Not on view
DescriptionOil on canvas painting, depicting a couple holding hands. Label TextAlfred Leslie American, b. 1927 Portrait of Marcelle and Pierre Monnin, 1975 Oil on canvas Heroically scaled, powerfully composed, and dramatically lit, Alfred Leslie's double portrait rejects the abstraction of his modernist peers and embraces the art of an earlier time. The painting draws specifically on the bold and theatrical art of Italian painters from the 1600s such as Caravaggio and Guido Reni. Reni's The Meeting of David and Abigail (ca. 1615-20) is on view in Gallery 205. Shortly before this picture was painted the artist wrote: I wanted to put back into art all the painting that the modernists took out... I made pictures that demanded the recognition of individual and specific people, where there was nothing to be looked at other than the person-straight-forward, unequivocal, and with a persuasive moral, even didactic tone. I wanted an art like the art of David, Caravaggio, Rubens, meant to influence the conduct of people. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Hugh Gordon Miller, and an anonymous donor 76.77Exhibition History"Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. "The Common Wealth: American Masterpieces from Virginia Collections," Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts, Va., December 1, 1990 - February 3, 1991.
