Silent Conversations THE PAINTINGS OF FRANCES GALANTE
WoodmereArtMuseum
In memoriam Frances Galante 1957–2015
Woodmere extends sincere thanks and appreciation to Phyllys B. Fleming, Elizabeth S. and John Lindsay, Janet Wilson Smith, Michael Neal Pavol, Virginia N. Naude, Helma N. Weeks, Sharrie R. Bobrow for their generous support of this catalogue and exhibition.
Silent Conversations
The Paintings of Frances Galante
CONTENTS
Foreword by Hildy Tow 2 A Conversation with Frances Galante 4 Works in the Exhibition 18
April 4 – June 7, 2015
WoodmereArtMuseum
FOREWORD Woodmere Art Museum is proud to present Silent
its behalf. The outpouring of generosity for this
Conversations: The Paintings of Frances Galante. We
exhibition attests to the enormous impact Frances
feel sadness at Frances’ recent passing and at the
had on many lives. The Museum extends sincere
same time we celebrate her many contributions to
thanks and appreciation to Phyllys B. Fleming,
the vitality of the arts in Philadelphia.
Elizabeth S. and John Lindsay, Janet Wilson Smith,
Frances was a wonderful teacher and mentor. Every Tuesday morning for many years, Woodmere’s studio would be filled with people, canvases,
Michael Neal Pavol, Virginia N. Naude, Helma N. Weeks, and Sharrie R. Bobrow for their support of this catalogue and exhibition.
palettes, and easels, all in place for “Creating a
A special thank you to Frances for showing us
Mood with Still Life,” one of the many classes she
the strength in humility and potential in quiet
led. Frances was a much-loved teacher whose
attentiveness. This exhibition and catalogue tell the
extraordinary knowledge and experience with
story of a beloved artist whose generosity of spirit
color, light, composition, materials, and technique
and legacy as a painter and teacher live on.
attracted many. Her classes overflowed with students eager for her insight and inspiration. The special attention she gave to individual artistic vision fostered her students’ confidence in their work. In the conversation in this catalogue with her friend Paul DuSold, Frances says, “It can solve a lot of problems in life if you can just sit quietly in a room and pay attention.” This understanding of what it means to be present is reflected in her depiction of light and shadow, rich subtleties of color and tone, and thoughtful arrangement of objects and particulars of gestures. Her paintings connect us to a gentle stillness and appreciation for the moment, often missed in the hectic bustle of our day-to-day lives. The sensitivity and perception that Frances communicated through her art resonated in her personality. Her warmth, honesty, and patience were felt in all her interactions. Woodmere is extremely grateful to Paul DuSold for his dedication to this exhibition and efforts on
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HILDY TOW
The Robert McNeil, Jr., Curator of Education
Fishing on the Beach, 2000, by Frances Galante (Collection of John J. Colussi) SILENT CONVERSATIONS: THE PAINTINGS OF FRANCES GALANTE 3
A CONVERSATION WITH FRANCES GALANTE
On December 15, 2014, artists Paul DuSold and Frances Galante sat down to talk about Galante’s work and her upcoming exhibition at Woodmere PAUL DUSOLD: Let’s start from the beginning,
study art, or take a Saturday class, by a teacher
Frances. Tell us where you’re from.
when I was ten.
FRANCES GALANTE: I’m from Philadelphia, from
DUSOLD: You must have had some talent.
the section of Mount Airy that’s closer to Oak Lane. It’s a little rowhouse neighborhood. I went to grade school there. I was first encouraged to
GALANTE: Yes, I showed some talent. Before taking classes I would do things like make greeting cards. I also liked to do detailed drawings. My family was pretty cultured. I’m the youngest of three children. We were encouraged to be well rounded and to read music. My mother was a pianist. There was always classical music on in the house. We had lots of art and other reference books. But the first real exhibition that I remember seeing was in the mid-1970s, when I was in my late teens. It was an exhibition of work by Cecilia Beaux at the Civic Center. It was beautiful. I was blown away. DUSOLD: At that time were you painting in addition to drawing? GALANTE: Correct. I had a high school teacher who was a nun. She was very demanding. She required us to study Janson’s History of Art and we had to do a drawing every night in a sketchbook. She introduced us mostly to painting, starting with watercolor and acrylic. DUSOLD: Was your family encouraging of your
Above: Bureau with Hydrangeas, 2002, by Frances Galante (Collection of Thomas DeBerardinis, M.D.) Right: Flower Glass Watercolor 2, 1974, by John Moore (Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Frank Galuszka, 2013)
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art? GALANTE: They liked it but they worried about my future in terms of income. They both liked the
fact that I had talent, but they thought, especially
that I would never develop if I only painted on
my father, that it should be more of a hobby. He
Sunday.
felt I should become a teacher or some other sort of professional. As I mentioned, my family is very artistic and there was a lot of exposure to art,
DUSOLD: When did you decide to go to art school?
music, literature, and philosophy, and a strong
GALANTE: When I was in high school I knew I
interest in beautiful craftsmanship. All four of
wanted to attend art school. I had to be able
my grandparents were excellent tailors; one of
to afford it because I had to pay for it. So there
my great uncles was a high school art teacher;
weren’t too many choices other than Tyler
my mother had artistic talent, as does her sister;
(at Temple University) and the Pennsylvania
both my sisters are into art and are very creative.
Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). I chose Tyler
My father even tried painting for a couple of
because it had the degree and I enrolled right
weeks, but didn’t like it. My mother most of all
after graduating high school. Tyler introduced
was an excellent pianist and gave piano lessons.
me to such a broad range of styles. The first
My sisters and I were taken to classical music
year I just studied the foundations. There were
concerts, the ballet, and art exhibitions at the
some representational teachers there like John
major museums. My father was a lawyer. He
Moore, Chuck Schmidt, and Roger Anliker. I was
wanted his daughters to work, make money, and
interested in representational painting even
retire. He wanted me to pursue art on Sundays.
though abstraction was a little more trendy at the
But I was adamantly against that because I knew
time.
SILENT CONVERSATIONS: THE PAINTINGS OF FRANCES GALANTE 5
DUSOLD: Was there antagonism to
DUSOLD: You stopped short of getting a degree
representational painting at Tyler?
at Tyler?
GALANTE: Well, there was a group of students
GALANTE: Yes. Eventually I felt like I would be
who defended their modern take on things, which
sorry if I didn’t have a degree when I was so
sometimes made me feel old fashioned and
close. In 1980 I found out about a program at Ox-
provincial.
Bow in Saugatuck, Michigan. I went out there to
DUSOLD: Did you get support from Anliker and Moore and so forth?
study. I got a dishwashing job for the summer and I was able to get enough credits to finish my BFA. It was at Ox-Bow that I met Leonard Anderson
GALANTE: Yes. John Moore was the most
and learned about his strict approach and his love
supportive. I was working while going to
of classical and Renaissance art. He showed me
school so I’d do classwork and then run to my
how to really look and observe. I loved it. I was
waitressing job. I really didn’t get a chance to
about 23 when I finished and then I moved back
have the full college experience. I had to do
to Philly. I never went back to experimenting with
certain foundation requirements that I really
other styles. I devoted myself to representational
didn’t want to do, like abstract sculpture, graphic
painting.
design, and using the equipment in the wood shop. The curriculum was very broad. I was starting to feel like it wasn’t helping me. I felt
DUSOLD: Do you remember what art historical work you found inspiring or influential?
I wasn’t getting the concentrated drawing and
GALANTE: I’ve always liked still lifes, particularly
painting that I wanted.
Spanish still lifes from the 1600s. And I’ve always
DUSOLD: Were you doubting representational painting at this point? GALANTE: Yes, I was. In my third year at Tyler, I started making large, abstract paintings inspired by abstract expressionism, but I felt that it was
liked interior scenes. DUSOLD: There’s something about still life that’s very contemplative. You can work by yourself as a painter and there’s something attractive about that.
actually very difficult to make interesting abstract
GALANTE: Yes, and being with people doing
painting. I had nothing to base it on. What do I
portraiture is nerve-racking. Being outside had
begin with? Where should I start? I didn’t know
its practical problems. I like landscape, but it’s
why I was doing it. Then I moved into more
arduous and potentially dangerous for a young
conceptual things. The conceptual and abstract
woman. Although when I did it, it gave me a
work I was doing met with greater approval from
sense of freedom.
both students and faculty. I was doing things like putting notes on trees. Happening also started to occur in New York. I decided not to go back to Tyler for my last semester and I moved to New York. 6
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DUSOLD: You moved back to Philadelphia after completing your degree. What was it like in Philadelphia at that time?
GALANTE: I didn’t paint very often. I was working.
made it easier to do what I wanted to do. Lou Sloan
I really didn’t get back into any kind of drawing or
was also influential. I did a lot of strict drawing and
painting until 1984. I was in a crisis. I questioned
painting every night for a couple of years. I felt that
myself, asking, what am I? Am I an artist or a legal
I knew where I belonged. Everything was perfect.
secretary? It was a period of crisis in terms of my
Eventually, I enrolled in daytime classes and would
identity. I moved back home with my parents. I took
go to my job afterward. Unfortunately, again, I didn’t
some classes in pastel at the Abington Art Center.
have the typical school experience. It was hard to
Then, in 1984, I started going to PAFA at night.
bond with fellow students because I worked so
There I got much more instruction in drawing and
much. But I was determined not to go into debt.
painting in the traditional sense of representational
I got my certificate in 1990. Later I saved some
art originating in ancient Greece, which was what I
money and went to Europe and saw what I wanted
was looking for.
to see. I gave myself a little reward. I wanted to see
DUSOLD: Were you working full time during the day
all the architecture and art. DUSOLD: How was your experience at PAFA
while you were going to school at night?
different from your Tyler experience?
GALANTE: Yes. I met Arthur De Costa, who was very influential for me. He helped me learn how to
GALANTE: At PAFA you weren’t split in so many
mix color and understand how to paint a figure. He
different directions about art. It was all unified,
gave me more information than I’d ever gotten at
which I think is the only way to learn—focusing
any school. With Arthur I got more specifics and it
on one thing. I could learn only representational drawing or painting and forget what everybody else was doing. After completing my studies, I eventually got a restoration job with Raymond Spiller. DUSOLD: What kind of work did you do there? GALANTE: Mostly cleaning things that came from people’s homes and restoring little tears and doing some in-painting. I learned on the job, but I felt like I had enough technical training at PAFA to mix color. DUSOLD: When did still life begin to be a focus for you? GALANTE: In 1992, I was invited to be represented by Artists’ House Gallery. They asked me for still lifes. I liked still lifes and they began to be a focus because the galleries wanted them. In the early ’90s,
Celadon Squash and Rose, 1979, by Arthur De Costa (Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the estate of Arthur De Costa, 2007)
I got a studio at 12th and Vine Streets. It was the first time I had a real artist’s studio just for painting.
SILENT CONVERSATIONS: THE PAINTINGS OF FRANCES GALANTE 7
Interior with Chair, 2001, by Frances Galante (Collection of Harold A. Sarvetnick)
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DUSOLD: That must have been a very different
where I was working at the time, I knew there
experience for you. Your working life up until then
were other people working because the building
was always split between working and painting.
was full of other studios. But I had to be isolated.
Now you had what every artist dreams of: a space
There was a lot of tedium. There were a lot of
dedicated to making artwork.
tedious hours. I changed my mind a lot, too. I’d decide that I wanted a particular object, or didn’t
GALANTE: Yes, it was wonderful. I loved the north
want another one. I’d change the background.
light in that studio. I would arrange the still life in
The painting could take a lot longer than just the
the window. I had a bureau with a highly reflective surface on it and I loved to see the reflection of the objects and being able to capture the atmosphere
final version, which takes long enough. All the paintings underneath the final version changed many times. Then I’d get all these anxieties: Do
and light and the flowers. I choose a lot of objects
I really have to do that? Am I making a mistake?
that represent luxury and food. I love food and
I’d talk to myself a lot about doubt. It was a real
delicacies. Then I really started looking at the Spanish still life paintings of the 1600s. I studied the light, the shadow, and the drama there. I also love
roller coaster. If it went well I would say, oh, I can’t wait to exhibit it! If somebody came into my studio and ignored a painting I felt like, oh no,
Vermeer and the beautiful subtleties of his lighting
that’s a bad one, I’ll just have to shelve that one.
effects.
DUSOLD: I think as an artist you are always
DUSOLD: So light became part of your subject
wrestling with confidence. Confidence can be
matter?
evident in the final painting and, of course,
GALANTE: Oh yes. That’s what attracted me to
whenever you paint your entire self-esteem is at
what I would paint and how I would do it. I would
risk while you’re working!
go to Reading Terminal Market and buy flowers
GALANTE: That confidence took a long time for
and fruit and bread and cake. I had a collection
me to develop. After I was invited to join the
of porcelain things and I would set them all up. It
gallery, some of my work sold and that’s what
would take a long time. I was only painting from
allowed me to have more confidence. Then my
life at the time. The flowers would die while I was
husband, Thuan, and I bought the house where
painting them, so I started doing one or two in
I live and work now and of course the light
detail and would try to finish them, then I’d replace
changed. I never had north light again. Here the
the others. I was approaching flowers like I was
light comes from the west and you have to work
painting portraits. I was focusing on every petal.
in the morning or in the summer I can work in the
DUSOLD: You were painting individual specimens.
evenings. The evening light is gentle. The light at
For an artist like you, painting still life by yourself,
the end of the day is very appealing because it
there’s the joy of contemplation, but there’s also
seems emotionally significant more than visually
isolation.
significant. It’s more like my own personality: not bright sunshine but quieter and more observant.
GALANTE: That’s right. In the studio building
I do a lot of my painting when people are settling
SILENT CONVERSATIONS: THE PAINTINGS OF FRANCES GALANTE 9
down to have dinner. Socially it was hard, but
GALANTE: In 2012, I decided to try to paint
with the western light it would come in in these
more loosely. I’ve always been torn between
patches all day long and I couldn’t use it.
being a tight renderer and using more expressive
DUSOLD: Would you say that you began painting interiors more here? That’s where that part of your oeuvre developed? GALANTE: Yes.
brushwork. I decided the best way to be expressive was to do it fast. I had always done things that were looser and quicker on the side. I was afraid maybe that this looked inconsistent to people and that people weren’t sure exactly who I was. People seem to want to know you
DUSOLD: Was it the space you were inspired by
before they collect you. That doesn’t really suit
as well as the light? Your studio here is very large.
me because I want to do what I want to do, when
GALANTE: It was a big challenge. There’s a skylight over here, western light over there. Then I started to see these backlight situations and reflections. DUSOLD: Let’s talk about Orchids (2012). Tell me about that painting, or your memory of painting it.
I want to do it. To me it doesn’t matter if it’s tight or loose. It’s not like I’m planning that out. I just began to think that I liked the looser, more expressive brushwork that I was seeing around in galleries. I never liked perfectly crisp paintings or photo-realism. DUSOLD: One of the things I see that’s different
Left: Orchids, 2012, by Frances Galante (Courtesy of the estate of the artist) Right: Hanging Pheasant, 2012, by Frances Galante (Courtesy of the estate of the artist)
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in Orchids compared to your other work is the feeling that you’re painting a fragment of the setup as opposed to having the stalks go all the way down and show the base and the pot and the tabletop. This is just the flowers. GALANTE: Including all of that other stuff would mean I’d have to include a lot of background. I wasn’t painting a still life. DUSOLD: When you’re painting something like that, do you find that other paintings come to mind as you’re working, paintings that you’re influenced by? GALANTE: Yes, I began looking at Édouard Manet’s flowers. Manet was an influence for me years ago too. Then my eye would start to paint tighter compositions and I would be influenced by other artists. DUSOLD: The bottom line is, if you’re inspired, that’s all there is to it. Let’s talk about Hanging Pheasant (2012). GALANTE: It took me a long time to pose the pheasant and figure out how I wanted to paint it. I started with some parameters. I had the frame and I had the board prepared and I decided to do a vertically oriented painting that would fit into it. The pheasant was a gift from you, Paul, so I didn’t plan any of this. I had to put it on tables, and I used different lighting. Then I started pulling the wings out. I had to make them stiff, and I thought, oh, that’s what I want. I wanted to make it look like it could fly. I had always loved American artists’ paintings of pheasants. It was wintertime, it was very cold, and I didn’t turn the heat on. I just painted it like that to get the iridescence of the body, the torso, the plumage, and the
SILENT CONVERSATIONS: THE PAINTINGS OF FRANCES GALANTE 11
whole thing laid out for placement and that takes a long time. Then I figure out where the shadow’s going to be, then I start painting. DUSOLD: When you’re setting up your arrangements, I know there are formal qualities to consider, but also, do you find as you’re setting up that you’re responding to how different compositions affect you emotionally? Do you know the moment when that emotional response tells you, this is the composition I should paint? GALANTE: Yes, that’s what I’m hoping for. Sometimes it doesn’t happen that easily. Ultimately in this case I decided that being under Two Apricots on a Plate, 1993, by Frances Galante (Collection of Lorraine and Marv Riesenbach)
the skylight showed off the iridescence of the feathers best, and that was the primary thing for me. That emotional quality usually happens almost accidentally. I’ll do all kinds of different
structure of the wings. It seems to me like a very hopeful painting. Yes, it’s hanging there dead, but it’s going to feed people. I appreciate the lifegiving ability of the bird and the gorgeousness of
things and then go take a break. When I finally get back in the studio, I can see things totally differently. A third option is there now, that I didn’t notice.
it. Birds and their feathers are amazing. I almost
DUSOLD: On average, how long does it take you
never started painting it. I just kept looking at it
to set up a still life?
and petting it [laughs]. DUSOLD: You were taking joy in its beauty! GALANTE: Yes. It was so hard to paint. There was so much structure, it was like painting lace. And those wings took forever. DUSOLD: Do you use underpaintings?
GALANTE: Most of a day. Then a day for the kind of underpainting that I do. Then maybe I’ll move that around. I also started teaching and my life got chopped up, so I had to start using photos. I painted only from life for at least twenty years, and it was a great pleasure. As my time got more chopped up with other life demands, I found it necessary to complete my work from photos. By
GALANTE: I don’t use underpaintings. I just do a wash. Instead of drawing, I use paint, as a drawing. I usually start with light and then take a light mixture of a neutral gray to do a drawing instead of using a charcoal pencil. I need the
then I had enough experience painting from life, examining real form and color relationships, to be able to produce good work from photos. The paintings, however, can take anywhere from five hours to two hundred hours, depending on how developed they are.
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DUSOLD: Let’s also talk about Model in the
DUSOLD: Paying attention to what’s there.
Studio (2004).
GALANTE: Yes. As a painter, paying attention and
GALANTE: For this one I was at the total other
having focus is hard to do rather than looking for
end of the studio. I knew that I wanted to
action and conflict.
have the implication of a big room so I put the
DUSOLD: Your careful sense of attention is what
furniture in the corners. Here there’s a quiet light. I’m using two lights and some backlighting and she’s under the skylight. My still life is in the background. It’s kind of a self-portrait of my life. I like the idea of sitting quietly in a room and how that can seem so difficult. Yet it can solve a lot of problems in life if you can just sit quietly in a room and pay attention. [laughs]
is so satisfying about observing your paintings. The viewer’s eye goes from moment to moment within the painting and each moment offers something to contemplate. The most dramatic element in this painting would be the figure, although she is very quietly present in the painting. There are other moments, like the light on her shoulders or the gloss of the light on her
Model in the Studio, 2004, by Frances Galante (Courtesy of the estate of the artist) SILENT CONVERSATIONS: THE PAINTINGS OF FRANCES GALANTE 13
Florist Street, 1995, by Frances Galante (Courtesy of the estate of the artist)
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shin. Then the eye can move down and see those
gorgeous. Talk to me about the contrast between
beautiful, gentle shadows pass by the stools and
the dumpster and the rest.
their transition from light into shadow. Then your eye travels back to the still life. I love the chair
GALANTE: It partially blocks the view. It’s dark and it’s right in the middle. I like the real-life
behind the desk and the objects on it. The soft
aspect of it. It looks kind of elegant. It looks like
focus on the chair is just beautiful. It seems as
it’s going to roll off on its own and have some
though you’ve underdescribed the structure of the window to get that light coming in in a more pronounced way.
character. It has a reflective surface, so in the side view there is a warm light. DUSOLD: One of the main elements of the
GALANTE: Yes, that is purposeful. I like that
painting is a dumpster, yet because of the lighting
dissolving look. It about the light, it’s not about
effect, to me the painting is unquestionably
the window structure.
joyful.
DUSOLD: Can we talk about Florist Street (1995)?
GALANTE: Sure, there’s nothing bad about trash
GALANTE: Of course. The street is near here.
or back streets. This might not be the painting
It was just something I saw spontaneously and
that many people are going to buy. I exhibit it
thought, that’s interesting.
and I keep it, because I love it. I barely see what people are painting sometimes. The “what” of it is
DUSOLD: I should say right away that you live
so secondary.
within blocks of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. GALANTE: Yes, and it’s the gritty city, but to me it looks very pretty because of the pastel colors.
DUSOLD: You mean the “what” of the subject matter?
And it didn’t even occur to me that I was painting
GALANTE: Yes. I look at the light, the color,
a dumpster until I saw it finished. I didn’t even
the relationship of the objects, how they’re
notice what it was.
staying together, the expression. I have to have
DUSOLD: Again, you were responding to the light. GALANTE: Yes. And it has backlighting and that hazy, Philadelphia-type light that’s influencing the way the bridge appears. We had just purchased
a spontaneous reaction to a beautiful light situation. I don’t paint on the street anymore, but it was fun when I did. DUSOLD: I love your Regina (2009) portrait.
this house too, so I was very excited. It was my
GALANTE: This was more planned. I wanted to
new world.
challenge myself with something larger using a limited palette. A fair amount of it is made up. I
DUSOLD: I love the color temperature balance between the warms of the stone and the cools of the ironwork on the bridge. It’s very subtle, but they balance each other out, both in proportion and color. The spatial effect of the bridge is
don’t have a window like that and I think that may not be that successful. I had the model and I had to work also from photos. I kept the palette very limited.
SILENT CONVERSATIONS: THE PAINTINGS OF FRANCES GALANTE 15
DUSOLD: Tell me about setting it up, your choice of the model, what you had in mind. GALANTE: I wanted somebody near the window, a young woman. I wanted a scene of relaxation so she’s holding a cup of coffee with a contemplative, musing kind of pose. I was thinking more about color balance: the red thing behind her, the green stool, and then the white, reflective enamel table. The structure took me a while. I wanted to pose the chair so that it was a cheerier situation. It was more of an exercise for me to test myself to see if I could still do a figure, you know, after all the still lifes. DUSOLD: It’s beautiful. The composition has a soft contrast. GALANTE: The kind of dramatic lighting that
Regina, 2009, by Frances Galante (Courtesy of the estate of the artist)
Rembrandt used, for example, is not my strong suit. DUSOLD: That type of lighting wouldn’t have that same quietude. GALANTE: I’m not a high-energy person, so I think it goes with my nature. All my paintings are about resting. [laughs] I’m an observer. It’s what I like to do. I’d rather be sitting in a chair having a cup of coffee than actually painting. [laughs] It’s work. DUSOLD: But painting, of course, gives the opportunity to express the joy of that.
what keeps me motivated to finish a painting and get it out there. Ultimately that’s the goal. DUSOLD: In the end, certainly, we become painters from a need. Making artwork at least temporarily and sporadically fills that hole in us, but there’s something incomplete about us without that artistic expression. GALANTE: I’ve always considered those questions. Why do I need to do this? When do I spend long periods—months or years—without doing it? I did a lot of reading on that topic.
GALANTE: Yes, painting is a way of
Painting just seems like another inexplicable
communicating with the world and I’m not just
human characteristic. Who knows where it comes
doing this for myself. Self-expression isn’t just
from? Some people need to write music, write
for the self, because I know other people will
literature; some people need to draw and paint. I
respond and have the same feelings. I want to
wouldn’t do it if there weren’t a chance to show
communicate with them through my work. That is
it. I would stop. That would make me feel self-
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conscious if I were alone at home. I would feel
Opportunities to show and sell and be talked
like, oh, I can’t just sit around painting and
about. I feel like I’ve experienced those rewards
drawing. It’s just like sitting and reading. There
on a small scale, and it’s very satisfying. It can be
is no connection to society, to the world. I
too much if you do too much or if you can’t do
never wanted this to be for me and to put it on
it enough—if your teaching conflicts with your
the shelf or on the wall. I wouldn’t improve. It
work, for example. To tell you the truth, teaching
wouldn’t be good if I weren’t out there having
can confuse me, because there are so many ways
it shown next to other people’s work. I want to
to create artwork, and the students have their
be part of a history. I didn’t invent painting. I’m
own ways already. There are so many modes
part of a long line. The truth of the matter is, it’s
of expression. I just adapt to the students and
not pleasurable for me to paint. That’s the funny
appreciate what they’re doing. It doesn’t inform
thing. It’s a need, and I’m glad when it’s done. If I
my own work, but it was much more enjoyable
want pleasure, I’d rather garden, or cook, or read.
than any other job I ever had, for sure. Much more
Painting is work and I want a reward for that
satisfying. I’ve been teaching for thirteen years.
work.
DUSOLD: Your students love you. As your
DUSOLD: What kind of reward are you talking
colleague, I know you’ve been an encouraging
about?
teacher for many students. Thank you, Frances,
GALANTE: Understanding from others.
this has been very enjoyable.
Galante in the studio at Woodmere teaching students how to paint from the model, 2014. Photograph courtesy of Woodmere Art Museum. SILENT CONVERSATIONS: THE PAINTINGS OF FRANCES GALANTE 17
WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION
Unless noted, all works listed below are by Frances Galante (1957–2015) and are courtesy of the estate of the artist. Florist Street, 1995 Oil on stretched linen, 14 x 12 inches Rooftops in Brooklyn, 2002 Oil on matboard, 16 x 12 inches Yellow Tablecloth, 2002 Oil on linen attached to Masonite panel, 20 x 26 inches Lakshmi, c. 2003 Oil on muslin attached to board, 19 ž x 16 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist and Thuan Bui, 2009
Model in the Studio, 2004 Oil on stretched linen, 18 x 24 inches Regina, 2009 Oil on stretched linen, 36 x 32 inches J.W., 2011 Oil on Masonite panel, 16 x 12 inches Hanging Pheasant, 2012 Oil on muslin attached to Masonite panel, 32 x 20 inches Orchids, 2012 Oil on Masonite panel, 14 x 18 inches
Lakshmi, c. 2003, by Frances Galante (Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist and Thuan Bui, 2009)
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WOODMERE ART MUSEUM
Woodmere Art Museum receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
Support provided in part by The Philadelphia Cultural Fund.
Š 2015 Woodmere Art Museum. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the publisher. Photography by Rick Echelmeyer unless otherwise noted. Catalogue designed by Barb Barnett and Emma E. Hitchcock, and edited by Gretchen Dykstra. Front cover: Yellow Tablecloth, 2002, by Frances Galante (Courtesy of the estate of the artist) SILENT CONVERSATIONS: THE PAINTINGS OF FRANCES GALANTE 3
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