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Irene Rice Pereira Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

American, 1902-1971
Born Irene Rice, she took the name of her first husband, the commercial artist Umberto Pereira. She adopted the name I. Rice Pereira because then as now discrimination beset women in the arts. By the time war broke out Irene had divorced Pereira and married George Wellington Brown, a marine engineer from a prominent Boston family. Brown was an ingenious experimenter with materials, and he encouraged his petite new wife in their mutual passion for experimentation. Pereira in the 1930s was drawn to ships, not only because of George Brown, but because of their intricate machinery, their functional beauty. The inside-out infrastructure of the Pompidou museum in Paris amused Pereira, although she thought it art-historically tardy. Irene Rice Pereira was a lovely, fragile being. Her presence was hushed. She spoke almost in a whisper and listened far more than she spoke. She was a prodigious autodidact and a spellbinding lecturer. The main body of her metaphysical library today resides in the Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. Her papers and the manuscript for her still unpublished book, Eastward Journey, are available to scholars in the Schlesinger Library at Harvard. Pereira won recognition for her abstract geometric work, particularly her jewel-like works on fluted and coruscated layers of glass, throughout the 1940s and early 1950s. In 1953 the Whitney Museum, then in Greenwich Village, gave her a retrospective exhibition with Loren MacIver, and that same year Life magazine published a centerfold photo examination of her work. By the late 1950s Abstract Expressionism had swept Manhattan, flattening such nascent movements as Geometric Abstraction. Such artists as Stuart Davis, Stanton MacDonald Wright, George L.K. Morris, George Ault, Jan Matulka, Richard Leahy, Philip Guston and many others were eclipsed. Pereira believed that a European angst, brought to our shores in the wake of the Holocaust, had introduced a cynicism and a profoundly anti-female sensibility that boded ill for art in America. Rightly she pointed out that even when the works of women were acquired by museums they were rarely shown, a disgrace that persists to this day. The women who did achieve success, she said, were often collaborators with more famous male artists and tastemakers. Pereira died in 1971 in Marbella, Spain, ill and broken-hearted. She had been evicted from the Fifteenth Street studio in Chelsea where she had painted for more than thirty years. Suffering from severe emphysema, she could barely negotiate a few stairs. But by the 1980s a new generation of women scholars and curators had begun to resurrect her stature. A considerable following has formed to honor a pioneer artist who cared about other artists and willingly paid the price to denounce what others feared in silence. Indeed when Pereira sold a painting she had two immediate impulses: buy a new hat, and give the money to an artist friend in trouble. She loved hats but loved to help fellow artists even more.
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Artist: Irene Rice Pereira
Mercurius Bringing Day, 1940 Pastel by Irene Rice Pereira
Mercurius Bringing Day, 1940 Pastel by Irene Rice Pereira

Mercurius Bringing Day, 1940 Pastel by Irene Rice Pereira

By Irene Rice Pereira

Located in Long Island City, NY

Mercurius Bringing Day Irene Rice Pereira, American (1902-1971) 1940 Pastel on rice paper, signed, titled and dated in pastel 38.5 x 24.5 in. (97.79 x 62.23 cm)

Category

1940s Modern Irene Rice Pereira Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel

Descent of Mercurius, 1962 Mixed Media by Irene Rice Pereira
Descent of Mercurius, 1962 Mixed Media by Irene Rice Pereira

Descent of Mercurius, 1962 Mixed Media by Irene Rice Pereira

By Irene Rice Pereira

Located in Long Island City, NY

Descent of Mercurius Irene Rice Pereira, American (1902-1971) 1962 Pastel and Acrylic on rice paper, signed, titled and dated in pastel Size: 35 x 23.75 in. (88.9 x 60.33 cm)

Category

1960s Modern Irene Rice Pereira Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel, Acrylic

The Descent of the Dove, 1967 Pastel by Irene Rice Pereira
The Descent of the Dove, 1967 Pastel by Irene Rice Pereira

The Descent of the Dove, 1967 Pastel by Irene Rice Pereira

By Irene Rice Pereira

Located in Long Island City, NY

The Descent of the Dove Irene Rice Pereira, American (1902-1971) 1967 Pastel on rice paper, signed and titled in marker, dated in pastel 39 x 24.75 in. (99.06 x 62.87 cm)

Category

1960s Modern Irene Rice Pereira Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel

Mars, 1966 Mixed Media by Irene Rice Pereira
Mars, 1966 Mixed Media by Irene Rice Pereira

Mars, 1966 Mixed Media by Irene Rice Pereira

By Irene Rice Pereira

Located in Long Island City, NY

Mars Irene Rice Pereira, American (1902-1971) Creation Date: 1966 Acrylic and pastel on rice paper, signed, dated, and titled in pastel Size: 39 x 24.75 in. (99.06 x 62.87 cm)

Category

1960s Modern Irene Rice Pereira Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel, Acrylic

Blue Woman, 1958 Pastel by Irene Rice Pereira
Blue Woman, 1958 Pastel by Irene Rice Pereira

Blue Woman, 1958 Pastel by Irene Rice Pereira

By Irene Rice Pereira

Located in Long Island City, NY

Blue Woman Irene Rice Pereira, American (1902-1971) 1958 Pastel on rice paper, signed and dated in pastel Size: 36.5 x 25 in. (92.71 x 63.5 cm)

Category

1950s Modern Irene Rice Pereira Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel

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Irene Rice Pereira portrait drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Irene Rice Pereira portrait drawings and watercolors available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Irene Rice Pereira in crayon, pastel, acrylic paint and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Irene Rice Pereira portrait drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 24 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Alfred Bendiner, Raymond Debieve, and Ivan Chermayeff. Irene Rice Pereira portrait drawings and watercolors prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $4,500 and tops out at $4,800, while the average work can sell for $4,800.