Emma Fordyce MacRae

In her figurative work, Emma Fordyce MacRae wove a complex relationship between the sitter(s) and the setting in which wallpaper, a view through a window, a mirror, a painting, a clock, or a print are displayed. As with the variety of textiles and wallpapers in her still lifes.

MacRae often made references to the past or other cultures by including Japanese or Dutch prints or even a Renaissance painting.

Color unifies the composition of Nanette Theodore in Distant Mountains this is achieved with a more subdued palette, but the pale green of the figure's garment echoes the groundcover in the valley viewed through the window. The pink on her fingernails is picked up in the same field. MacRae carefully modeled the bodies of her figures, yet also subtly outlines them, creating a quiet tension between the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional.

Exhibited :
1938 - National Academy
1938 - Invited to Montclair Museum
2008 - Cape Ann Museum

Distant Mountains
Oil Painting
Size : 36 x 32 inches
Figurative composition
Emma Fordyce MacRae 1887 - 1974