Art Eyewitness Review: Whistler's Mother at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

 

The Artist's Mother: Whistler and Philadelphia

Philadelphia Museum of Art

June 10 - October 29, 2023

Reviewed by Ed Voves

Original Photography by Anne Lloyd

It's been a long interlude between visits. The last time Anna Matilda McNeil Whistler - or rather her famous portrait - came to Philadelphia was 142 years ago. The occasion was an exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts of the painting by her son, now universally called Whistler's Mother. 

A.K.A. Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Artist's Mother, the celebrated painting by James McNeil Whistler is back in the City of Brotherly Love. A true icon of American art, Whistler's Mother highlights a special exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, organized by Jennifer Thompson, the museum's curator of European Art. The exhibit will be on view until October 29, 2023. 

It is important to note that the official designation of Whistler's Mother, noted above, is actually the anglicized translation of its French title, Arrangement en gris et noir n° 1. That is an important distinction since the French government bought the painting in 1891, ten years after its first sojourn in Philadelphia. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023)

James Whistler's Arrangement in Grey and Black:

 Portrait of the Artist's Mother (1871)

Arrangement en gris et noir was the first acquisition of a painting by an American painter for the Louvre's collection. Initially, it was put on display in the Luxembourg Museum, until Whistler died twelve years later. The galleries of the Louvre were reserved for deceased artists, who were deemed worthy to share the museum walls with Leonardo, Watteau and Gericault.

Thanks to a far-sighted French art critic, Gustave Geffroy (one of the first to appreciate Cezanne, as well), James Abbott McNeil Whistler (1834-1903) joined the company of the "immortals" of art in the Louvre. And, as we will see, the help of Anna Whistler was of crucial importance for securing the fame and fortune of her son!

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023)

Gallery view of Whistler's Mother at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Whistler's Mother is now the center of attraction at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. But it shares the stage with eight other works of art focusing on the theme of motherhood. Each of the eclectic cast of major artists, Cecilia Beaux, Henry Ossawa Tanner, John Sloan, Dox Thrash, Alice Neel and Sidney Goodman, follows Whistler's lead, but in their own unique way. 

All the artists have Philadelphia backgrounds, with the exception of a Venetian engraver, Francesco Novelli (1764-1836) who skillfully copied an etching by Rembrandt of his mother. Novelli's etching is believed to have influenced Whistler when he painted his mother's portrait in 1871.

 

Francesco Novelli (1792), after Rembrandt's 

The Artist's Mother Seated, in an Oriental Headress, 1631

Arrangement in Grey and Black received indifferent reviews during its exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art (PAFA) in 1881. The museum directors refused to purchase the painting, which, surprisingly, was for sale. Whistler was deeply in debt, following his disastrous libel suit against John Ruskin. Another effort to find a buyer likewise failed, this time in New York.

It is ironical for a painting which has come to symbolize Motherhood, that Whistler was "shopping" his mother's portrait around the U.S., looking for a sale. 

Anna Whistler had died on January 3, 1881, only a short time before Whistler returned to the U.S. from England. One would have suspected that Whistler would try and keep this painting, of all his oeuvre, as a testimonial to his beloved mother. Not so! Whistler exhibited a baffling, mercurial mix of emotions, making it difficult to probe his true feelings. 

In fact, Whistler had posed his mother only when the young woman he was scheduled to paint that day failed to appear.  Rather than discard a prepared canvas, Whistler decided to use it for a portrait of his mother.

Anne Lloyd, Photo(2023)

James Whistler's Arrangement in Grey and Black (detail)

It's a sobering thought that Whistler's Mother began its storied career as an "also ran."

Anna Whistler was accustomed to her son's mood swings and changing priorities. She had supported her dear "Jemmie" with long-suffering patience, including his dismissal from the United States Military Academy. But even her forbearance had limits. 

After several days of standing for her portrait, the exhausted Anna insisted on sitting down. Whistler changed the orientation of the painting, with results which, thanks to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, we can now study close at hand.

Anne Lloyd, Photo(2023)

 Jennifer Thompson discussing the kimono wall hanging depicted in James Whistler's Arrangement in Grey and Black

As the artistic skill devoted to his portrait of his mother began to stir popular interest, Whistler professed himself bemused:

Take the picture of my mother, exhibited at the Royal Academy as "an Arrangement in Grey and Black." Now that is what it is. To me it is interesting as a picture of my mother; but what can or ought the public to care about the identity of the portrait?

The "public" in America responded to Whistler's portrait of his mother with ever -increasing regard. In part this was due to the fact that the French had anointed the painting as worthy of the Louvre. But nostalgia played a major role, too. The U.S. in the 1890's was undergoing massive social changes, many very unsettling. Frontier America was passing, the big industrial cities taking its place. A symbol of bedrock national values was needed. What better image, representing the moral absolutes of the U.S.A., could there be than a painting of an American mother?

Anna McNeil Whistler provided the human face, even if painted in profile, to the movement to create a national holiday in honor of American mothers. The first Mothers Day was celebrated in 1908 and, in 1934, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp, graced by a rather sanitized reworking of Whistler's Mother. 

Neither the artist or his mother were acknowledged by name on the stamp. To make matters worse, a vase of flowers was added to the image of the unidentified matriarch. Then, along with a sentimental inscription, appeared the incredibly crass notification: three cents.

Whatever value the U.S. Postal Service placed on motherhood, Philadelphia artists responded very quickly and favorably to Whistler's Mother, following its display at PAFA in 1881. The current exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art brilliantly underscores the influence of Whistler on succeeding generations of American artists. But the crucial point of this legacy is that none of these later works of art is a direct "quotation" of Arrangement in Grey and Black. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo(2023)

Henry Ossawa Tanner's Portrait of the Artist's Mother (detail)

The work which most closely follows Whistler, is Henry Ossawa Tanner's Portrait of the Artist's Mother, but there are major differences.

Tanner saw Arrangement in Grey and Black in 1881. He was a student at PAFA at the time. Tanner then went to France for further study, eventually settling there. He would have seen Whistler's increasingly famous painting at the Luxemborg, as well.

In 1897, during a trip home to Philadelphia, Tanner posed his own mother for a portrait. The warm tones of brown, amber and the golden fabric of the shawl evoke feelings of life and well-being, in contrast to the somber, almost funereal, hues of Whistler's painting. Likewise, the relaxed, meditative gaze of Tanner's mother creates a mood vastly different from the frozen profile of Anna Whistler.

Anne Lloyd, Photo(2023)

 Jennifer Thompson discussing Cecilia Beaux's early masterpiece,

The Last Days of Childhood, 1883-1885

Sharing the gallery wall with Tanner's Portrait of the Artist's Mother is Cecilia Beaux's The Last Days of Childhood. Painted over the course of two years, 1883-85, this deeply moving work of art established Beaux's reputation as one of America's premier artists.

The Last Days of Childhood shares enough elements of setting and composition with Arrangement in Grey and Black that we can be fairly certain that Beaux saw and studied the Whistler painting during its display at PAFA, where she was taking classes. Beaux, a strong-willed and immensely talented young woman, later asserted that she had not been influenced by Whistler. But the evidence points to the contrary.

At the press preview, Jennifer Thompson discussed the "backstory" of The Last Days of Childhood. The protagonists of Beaux's painting were her elder sister, Etta, and Etta's son, Henry. That would seem to technically disqualify Beaux's painting from inclusion in an exhibition dedicated to artists and their mothers, but Thompson detects a strong affinity with Whistler's masterpiece.

Indirectly, Beaux's mother is very much present in the The Last Days of Childhood. The French title of the painting uses the word "enfance" and the translation might more appropriately be The Last Days of Infancy. That is certainly in keeping with Henry's age and Beaux's own life story.

Beaux's mother had died when her infant daughter, Cecilia, was only twelve days old. Beaux directed her sister to wear a black dress for the painting sessions. According to social conventions in America at the time, such attire was a sign of mourning. However, Etta, unlike Anna Whistler, was not a widow. The black dress may therefore be interpreted as a memorial of their long-dead mother.

Anne Lloyd, Photo(2023)

Cecilia Beaux's The Last Days of Childhood (detail)

What really impressed me about The Last Days of Childhood is Beaux's ability to reprise the narrative of the entire work in "a painting within the painting." This is her astonishing treatment of the hands of the child, resting on those of his mother, which are folded over his body in an embrace of enduring love. Childhood may be passing but the bond of mother and son will never break. 

Following the progression of magisterial paintings from Whistler to Beaux and Tanner, the exhibition shifts gears to three smaller works, Sunday Morning by Dox Thrash (c. 1939), Aritist's Mother I by Sidney Goodman (1994) and Mother by John Sloan (1906). The works by Thrash and Sloan are etchings, Goodman's is a charcoal and pastel drawing on cream paper.

Dox Thrash, Sunday Morning, c. 1939

 Sidney Goodman, Aritist's Mother I, 1994

John Sloan, Mother, 1906

This trio may appear to be quite a "comedown" from the preceding oil paintings, but careful study validates their inclusion in the exhibition. All three are "arrangements in gray and black" worthy of Whistler's color scheme. Yet, the emotion-based sentiments underpinning each of these works of art is what merits them a place in the exhibition.

Dox Thrash created this loving image of his mother, Ophelia, on her way to church, shortly after she died in 1936. Thrash's mother, like Whistler's, is shown in profile, but there is an incredible degree of mobility in this etching, a sense of serene progress through life which the many obstacles placed across his mother's path could never impede.

The works by Sloan and Goodman present the two faces of motherhood which  linger in the memories of their children. Sloan shows lively, animated interest in the expression of his mother, no doubt listening to the latest news about his life and career. Goodman's drawing, showing his mother arise from her sick bed, depicts the heroic efforts of ill, elderly mothers to keep living, keep striving on behalf of their loved ones.

Goodman's Artist's Mother I sets the stage for the final work of art in the exhibition, Alice Neel's Last Sickness (1953). The painting is a loving, yet unsparing examination of the effect of age and illness on an "alert, tart woman" as Neel described her mother, who died the following year.

Those fortunate to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art's sensational 2021 exhibition of Alice Neel's paintings will recall numerous examples of Neel's clear-eyed empathy for people of all ages and races, but especially those sick in body and in spirit. For those who were unable to visit the Met's Alice Neel: People Come First, the magnificent portrait on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art provides the opportunity to see a life of artistic genius distilled into one superlative work of art.

 Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023)

 Alice Neel's Last Sickness, 1953 

The look of recognition of life's short span which we see on the face of Alice Neel's mother brings The Artist's Mother exhibition full circle. Anna Whistler's face, seen in profile, betrayed no such emotion. But no one knows what she was thinking, as her son fumed and muttered about the difficulties he faced to get the look he wanted on the canvas.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023)

 Gallery view of The Artist's Mother: Whistler and Philadelphia

Some commentators say that Anna Whistler was praying during the painting sessions that "Jemmie" would succeed with his portrait. If so, her prayers were answered.

So too, are the prayers of those - like me - who never had an opportunity to view Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Artist's Mother in person. Seeing this magnificent painting is like being accorded an audience with a queen or a beloved author or actress.

My wife, Annie, said it best, during a pause in her picture-taking.

"When you enter the gallery where Whistler's Mother is displayed, you just don't go to see it," Anne said. "You are admitted into her presence."

***

Text: Copyright of Ed Voves. Original Photos: Copyright of Anne Lloyd.

Introductory Image: Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) James Whistler's Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Artist's Mother (detail), 1871.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) James Whistler's Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Artist's Mother. Oil on canvas: 144.3 x 162.5 cm (56 3/4 x 64"). Musée d'Orsay, Paris, RF 699.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) Gallery view of The Artist's Mother: Whistler and Philadelphia exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Francesco Novelli (Italian, 1764-1836) After Rembrandt van Rijn's The Artist's Mother Seated, in an Oriental Headdress: Half Length, 1792. Etching: 5 1/4 x 5 1/16 inches ( 13.4 x 12.9 cm.) Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928-42-4413

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) Jennifer Thompson of the Philadelphia Museum of Art discussing the kimono wall hanging depicted Whistler's Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Artist's Mother. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) Henry Ossawa Tanner's Portrait of the Artist's Mother (detail), 1897. Oil on canvas: 29 1/4 x 39 1/2 inches ( 74.3 x 100.3 cm.) Philadelphia Museum of Art  EW1993-61-1

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) Jennifer Thompson of the Philadelphia Museum of Art discussing Cecilia Beaux's early masterpiece, The Last Days of Childhood, 1993-85.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) Cecilia Beaux's The Last Days of Childhood, 1883-85. Oil on canvas: 116.2 x 137.16 cm (45 3/4 x 54 inches). Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. 1989.21

Dox Thrash (American, 1893–1965) Sunday Morning, around 1939. Etching: 8 7/8 x 8 inches (22.5 x 20.3 cm.) Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1941-53-378

Sidney Goodman (American, 1936-2013) Artist's Mother I, 1994. Charcoal and pastel on cream wove paper: 52 3/4 x 41 3/16 inches (134 x 104.6 cm.) Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2009-216-1

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) John Sloan's Mother, 1906. Etching:  9 x 7 1/2 inches (22.9 x 19.1 cm.) Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1956-35-73f

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) Alice Neel's Last Sickness, 1953. Oil on canvas: 30 x 22 inches (76.2 x 55.9 cm.) Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2003-148-1

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) Gallery view of The Artist's Mother: Whistler and Philadelphia exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art..

Art Eyewitness Essay: Meditations on Death and Mortality in the Of God and Country Exhibition, Philadelphia Museum of Art

 

Art Eyewitness Essay:
 Meditations on Death and Mortality
in the Of God and Country Exhibition 

Philadelphia Museum of Art

 May 19, 2023 - January 1, 2024

Reviewed by Ed Voves  

Original Photography by Anne Lloyd

When the Saints Go Marching In is one of the most famous and popular of African-American Spirituals. It has been so widely embraced as a standard of the jazz repertoire, a favorite of pop and rock n' roll singers and even as a chant at British rugby football games that the religious nature of “The Saints” can easily be forgotten.

A key work of art in an exhibition currently at the Philadelphia Museum of Art addresses the heavenly focus of “The Saints”. It also treats the very special earthly locale where this immortal song originated – New Orleans.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023)

 Herbert Singleton's Going Home: McDonoghville Cemetery. 

The carved wood relief, sculpted by Herbert Singleton, depicts a funeral procession, making its way through the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans. Members of an African-American church and an accompanying brass band escort one of their congregation on the journey to immortal life.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023)

  Going Home: McDonoghville Cemetery (Details)

Going Home: McDonoghville Cemetery is featured in the fourth and last gallery of the Of God and Country exhibition. This exhibit presents works of Outsider Art from the collection of two Philadelphia patrons of the arts, Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz. I commented upon the first three galleries of Of God and Country in an earlier review. But – as I discussed there – I felt that the weighty subject matter of the concluding gallery deserved detailed study and reflection.

The final gallery, fittingly enough, is all about Death and Mortality.

As I mentioned in the earlier review, many of the artists whose works appear in Of God and Country were devout Christians. Many had difficult and stressful lives. Herbert Singleton (1945-2007) spent thirteen years in the Louisiana State Penitentiary on a drug charge. He was also the victim of a vicious beating by police officers. For people living lives of adversity and privation, death is often a release, an act of spiritual liberation. That is the sentiment evoked by When the Saints Go Marching In and in Singleton's Going Home.

Oh, when the trumpet sounds its call

Oh, when the trumpet sounds its call

Oh Lord I want to be in that number

When the saints go marching in.

Death wears many masks, however, and touches the emotions of people in very different ways. If this final gallery in Of God and Country has a unifying theme it is, ironically, the  bewildering diversity of interpretations which artists devote to the subject of death.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023)

  Purvis Young's Funeral and Horses, late 20th century

The art works on view in the Death and Mortality gallery are certainly an eclectic mix, with memorable creations by Jon Serl, Eugene von Brueuchenhein and Howard Finster. Purvis Young's Funeral and Horses provides a somber contrast to Singleton's Going Home.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023)

  Leroy Almon's Life, 1990 

Leroy Almon's ironically titled Life updates the Vanitas tradition of classic art with macabre, Outsider immediacy. A small mirror is positioned for the viewer, just below the “Skull and Cosmetics” motif. 

The transition from the art works in the earlier galleries to these dealing with death is generally smooth and effective. This is especially true for the works of Christian art which are displayed just before one enters the Death and Mortality gallery. There is – or seems to be – one exception.

Simon Sparrow's mosaic, Assemblage with Faces, is a real “show-stopper”. The enigmatic faces which emerge from among the swirls of glitter and Star Wars figurines grab on to one's imagination. This is a tremendous work of art and it is hard to pull yourself away from it. 

Ed Voves, Photo (2023)

Gallery view of the Of God and Country exhibition, 

showing Simon Sparrow's Assemblage with Faces

So far, I have made three visits to the Of God and Country exhibition. Each time, visitors are congregated before Sparrow's sensational mosaic. By contrast, the Death and Mortality gallery appears to be generating less interest. While I was there, a number of visitors took a brief “look-see” before making quick departures. At several points, the gallery was empty, except for me.

Ed Voves, Photo (2023)

Detail of Simon Sparrow's Assemblage with Faces

I may be reading too much into this situation, but I wonder if the placement of Assemblage with Faces makes it difficult for visitors to properly appreciate the art works in the following gallery. Or might the subject of death be too emotionally charged in the aftermath of Covid-19?

Whatever the answers to these questions, there is plenty to reward a lengthy visit to the Death and Mortality gallery.

Howard Finster (1916-2001) created some of the most vivid images to appear in the Of God and Country exhibition, including its final gallery. A Baptist minister in the American South, Finster said that he had a vision from God bidding him to paint sacred art. Finster obeyed the divine summons, though many of his thousands of paintings strain the boundaries of traditional religion and art to the breaking point.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) 

Howard Finster's People and Time Come Together..., #16,977

Finster's dinosaur in People and Time Come Together . . . , #16,977, created in 1990, is unlike any creature which ever roamed the earth, despite a superficial resemblance to a T-Rex. The giant reptile is covered with scales, each bearing a human face. Around it are positioned signs with warnings of impending doom. Although Finster was sometimes challenged in the presentation of the full text of his dire messages, his earnest concern for the future welfare of humanity is undeniable.

Ed Voves, Photo (2023) 

Howard Finster's People and Time Come Together... (Detail)

Along with painting apocalyptic dinosaurs, Finster carved and painted this elaborate clock frame, commenting on the passage of time.

Ed Voves, Photo (2023) 

Howard Finster's Your the Clock That Counts My Time Away, 1990

Even more mind-boggling is a shadow box filled with angelic figures and ghostly faces – and more messages. This amazing piece was created in 1982 and is entitled Heaven is Worth It All, #2,798. It invites comparison to Simon Sparrow's Assemblage with Faces, no small achievement.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) 

Howard Finster's Heaven is Worth It All, #2798, 1982

There is usually enough practical wisdom in Finster's works to balance the evangelical fervor of his preaching. But with the paintings by Jon Serl, which share space with Finster in the final gallery, there is an ethereal quality which often transcends rational explanation.

“You don't see my paintings,” Serl once said, “you feel them.”

Jon Serl (1894-1993) brought a tremendous sum of life experience to his paintings. He was born in Olean, New York, to a theatrical family. He was active in the Vaudeville circuit, at one point working as a female impersonator known as “Slats”. Later, in Hollywood, he provided voiceover for silent film stars challenged by the “talkies”. During the Depression years, he made a living as a migrant fruit picker.

Serl's employment resume, however, does not explain his wonderfully strange images. If he had visions, like Finster, he did not dwell on the experience. Serl started painting late in life and painted what he felt. Some critics have categorized his work as “expressionist” but it would take a great deal of effort to fit Serl into any “school” of art except his own.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) 

Jon Serl's Between Two Worlds, late 20th century 

Otherworldly entities, birdlike creatures and haunted individuals populate Serl's paintings. Between Two Worlds shows what appears to be funeral home viewing for a man lying prone, the top of his coffin pushed back to allow a gathering of ethereal mourners to pay their respects.

Between Two Worlds is not going to allow its audience to walk away with just one explanation, however. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) 

Jon Serl's Between Two Worlds (Detail) 

Take a second look. We see a ghostly-being clutching the edge of the scene as if it were a painted canvas or a movie screen being rolled back. Another “ghost” peers over the top of the scene. We are left wondering if the funeral viewing is taking place or is just a simulation, a real vision or clever fake like a theatrical backdrop.

Is life, indeed, but a stage and when the show is over, it's over? Or is there an other, more mysterious, reality to come in the next act?

The final gallery of Of God and Country raises serious questions like this. And the incredible artists whose work we see on view attempted to come to terms with death and mortality from their own, unique perspectives.

Herbert Singleton's Going Home: McDonoghville Cemetery shows the prosaic, real world appreciation of death. A Christian congregation in New Orleans bids an extravagant farewell to one of their number, after which they will get on with their lives.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) 

Howard Finster's People and Time Come Together... (Detail)

Howard Finster was  quite emphatic, “The World faces the cross roads of Time. We are now at our last chance... it is now time for a Worlds change or the end of the World."

Joh Serl presents - or seems to – the point of crossing over, from this world to the next, but leaves it to us to decide how valid his images are.

None of this may mean a great deal, if we view life and death in Cosmic terms. Is our brief existence in a universe of planetary systems, of stars going supernova, all there is? Such is the realm evoked by Eugene Von Bruenchenhein's The Grand Mass of Titanium—Voyages Through Space—No. 815 (1959).

Ed Voves, Photo (2023)

Eugne Von Bruenchenhein's The Grand Mass of Titanium (detail)

Cosmology, however, is cold comfort to most people when they finally come face-to-face with Father Time.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023)

Elijah Pierce's Father Time (detail), 20^th century

If we, as human beings, live with our heads in the clouds, our feet always remain on the ground. Every step we take is ultimately directed toward that point when each one of us must confront and make peace with our mortality.

Such reflections come naturally after spending some time in this extraordinary exhibition gallery. A debt of gratitude needs to be accorded to Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz and the curators of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. They have shared with us provocative works of art on a subject which none of us can ignore, however much we try.

***

Text: Copyright of Ed Voves, all rights reserved

Original photography, copyright of Anne Lloyd and Ed Voves, all rights reserved.

Introductory Image: Ed Voves, Photo (2023) Gallery view of the Of God and Country exhibtion at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, showing Howard Finster's People and Time Come Together . . . , #16,977. The Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) Herbert Singleton's Going Home: McDonoghville Cemetery. Date Unknown. Alkyd industrial paint, including metalic paint, on carved red cedar with yellow pine battens: 12 3/4 by 60 inches (32.4 x 152.4 cm) The Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection, Promised Gift to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) Purvis Young's Funeral and Horses, late 20^th century. Paint on wood construction, record sleeve displays.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) Leroy Almon's Life, 1990. Paint and mirror on carved wood. The Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection. 

Ed Voves, Photo (2023) Gallery view of the Of God and Country exhibtion, showing Simon Sparrow's Assemblage with Faces, date unknown. The Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection.

Ed Voves, Photo (2023) Simon Sparrow's Assemblage with Faces (detail), date unknown. Glitter, paint, and other found objects on wood; artist-made painted wood frame: 56 1/2 inches × 8 feet 11 inches × 3 1/2 inches (143.5 × 271.8 × 8.9 cm. The Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) Howard Finster's People and Time Come Together..., #16,977, 1990. Paint on wood cutout: artist-made frame of Douglas fir branded with artist-made metal stamps: Framed: 15 1/4 x 15 inches (38.7 x 38.1 cm) The Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) Howard Finster's Your the Clock That Counts My Time Away, #16,294, 1990. Carved, stained, and burned wood; paint and Sharpie permanent marker on board; General Electric clock. Collection of Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) Howard Finster's Heaven is Worth It All, #2,798, 1982. Shadowbox construction of wood with acrylic sheet front, painted inside and out; artificial flowers; metal chains; cut sheet-metal figures: 28 x 19 1/2 x 3 3/4 inches (71.1 x 49.5 x 9.5 inches) Collection of Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz, Promised Gift to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) Jon Serl's Between Two Worlds, late 20^th century. Oil on board, artist-made frame: 24.25 x 26.25 inches. Collection of Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz.

Ed Voves, Photo (2023) Eugene Von Bruenchenhein's The Grand Mass of Titanium—Voyages Through Space—No. 815, (detail) 1959. Oil on Masonite: 24 x 24 inches. Collection of Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) Elijah Pierce's Father Time (detail), 20^th century. Paint, glitter, and varnish on carved white pine with corrugated cardboard background: 18.5 x 12 inches. Collection of Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz, Promised Gift to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.