As Jeremy Lipking was preparing his Prix de West paintings for the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, a theme developed: the iris flower.
A Personal Possession, oil on linen, 50 x 30 in.
The Messenger, oil on linen, 24 x 18 in.Lipking pulled on the thread and ended up with three works that relate to the flower. The linchpin of the trio is A Personal Possession, showing a woman holding a small glass case.
Iris Garden, oil, 18 x 24 in.
“This painting depicts my second great-grandmother Sophia who came to America from Germany. Her one personal possession she brought with her was an iris rhizome from a plant that grew in her garden since she was a child. It was the one thing she brought from home to a new land and loved it dearly,” Lipking says. “My grandmother then continued growing these irises that came from the initial plant and I, too, planted it in my garden carrying on the legacy. My eldest daughter, Skylar, modeled for this painting. She is about the same age my great-great-grandmother would have been on the journey to the U.S. These three paintings are my tribute to her. A portrait of Sophia as she journeyed to America, a portrait of her irises that grow in my garden today, and my youngest daughter holding the gift of the iris that speaks to her legacy and carrying it forward. Past, present, future portrayed in these three paintings.”
Read more about the Prix de West on Page 106. —
Powered by Froala Editor
