Cloudy Night

Art

DePaul Art Museum

Name/Title

Cloudy Night

Entry/Object ID

5146

Description

Dark toned space scene. Curved red planet on the bottom with dark blue sky, a few bright planets and clouds above.

Artwork Details

Medium

Tempera, charcoal, varnish on wood

Context

The 1960’s marked the last decade of Julia Thecla’s artistic career and somewhat of a restoration of her place in Chicago’s art world. Thecla thrived in the artistic community of Chicago in the 1930’s and 40’s, but fell to the margins in the 1950’s. She is considered a surrealist painter or a part of the “magic realism” group along with Gertrude Abercrombie and Ivan Albright. While her early work shows more human and animal figures, her later works such as this one, were focused on space. These space themed paintings are thought to have been either a reflection of America’s obsession with the “race for space” at the time, or an escape route for Thecla out of this dimension and into another.

Acquisition

Notes

Collection of DePaul University, gift of Helen T. Findlay

Made/Created

Artist

Thecla, Julia

Date made

1961

Ethnography

Notes

United States North America, United States

Lexicon

Legacy Lexicon

Object Name

Mixed Media

Class

MIXED MEDIA

Dimensions

Dimension Description

Whole

Width

135.255 cm

Length

71.12 cm

Dimension Description

Frame`

Dimension Notes

Size: 32 3/4x26 3/4

Exhibition

Julia Thecla: Undiscovered Worlds

Interpretative Labels

Label

Cloudy Night Thecla, Julia 1961