Gateway

Painting

DePaul Art Museum

Name/Title

Gateway

Entry/Object ID

5181

Description

Night scene of a broken fence leading to a bright yellow planet against a dark green sky.

Artwork Details

Medium

Oil on canvas board

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

1962

Ethnography

Notes

United States North America, United States Chicago

Lexicon

Legacy Lexicon

Class

PAINTINGS

Dimensions

Dimension Description

Frame

Width

20-3/4 in

Depth

1-1/2 in

Length

24-1/2 in

Exhibitions

Exhibition

Life Cycles

Notes

showing-now

Interpretative Labels

Label

Gateway Thecla, Julia 1962