Le Printemps, II

Name/Title

Le Printemps, II

Entry/Object ID

2014.8

Artwork Details

Medium

Watercolor on paper

Context

Credit Line: Gift of Dr. Leon & Barbara Rosenberg

Made/Created

Artist

Joseph Raffael

Date made

1988

Dimensions

Dimension Description

Frame Size

Height

72-7/8 in

Width

47-7/8 in

Dimension Description

Image Size

Height

69 in

Width

44 in

Interpretative Labels

Label

Raffael moved to France with his wife, Lannis, in 1986. "Le Printemps" is French for spring. Raffael has a lovely garden in France that inspires all of his artwork, and "Le Printemps, II" was not only inspired by nature, but by Lannis as well. On a Sunday morning in France, Raffael and Lannis discovered some floral dresses by René Dehry when they went to an open air market. Raffael then began to paint a whole series of Lannis sleeping in these floral dresses as a tapestry of flowers, painted from photographs. The series is called "Lannis in Sieste." Raffael says that "Le Printemps II is Lannis becoming the garden, merging with it." Their cat, of course, adds a fun, relatable element and can be found in a couple of the paintings from this series. Sadly, Lannis passed away in 2019 after a long period of health crises. Before her death, Raffael completed a painting in her honor, and since her passing, made a series of paintings titled "Elegy" of close-up flowers, stating that he had a heightened sense that Lannis was now integral to the process.