Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts

The Circumnavigation of the Rose
For years, there was great consternation that no woman artist had ever been granted a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Finally, in 1953, Irene Rice Pereira and Loren MacIver shared the honor of having the first two one-woman exhibitions at the Whitney. This painting, recently conserved and re-framed by local conservator Norton Arts, is a beautiful example of the very abstract, conceptual work Pereira was producing at the time she was granted that exhibition. The title, The Circumnavigation of the Rose, refers to the compass rose and has to do with the artist’s spiritual journey through life. She explored these ideas both in her paintings and in her unpublished autobiography “Eastward Journey,” which was written in 1953.

Irene Rice Pereira, American (Boston, Massachusetts, 1902-1971, Marbella, Spain), The Circumnavigation of the Rose, circa 1950s, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches, Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Collection: Gift of Wanda Rock.

http://www.irenericepereira.com

32 minutes gallery talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTTl269qbXA