Florine Stettheimer’s next-level use of symbolism, The Cathedrals of Art

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS

"The Cathedrals of Art" by Florine Stettheimer (1942); Oil on canvas, 60 1/4 x 50 1/4 in.

NEW YORK---This week, the folks at 20x200.com made prints available online of The Cathedrals of Art by Florine Stettheimer. It's a symbolist painting of the art world that she knew so well as both artist and critic. The Cathedrals of Art is a portrait of the New York art world where the city’s three major museums and their collections are watched over by their directors: the Museum of Modern Art (upper left), The Metropolitan Museum of Art (center), and the Whitney Museum of American Art (upper right). Born to a wealthy Jewish family in Rochester, Stettheimer studied under the Symbolist painters of Europe. The original now hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and a Stettheimer show is showing at the Jewish Museum in NYC through September.

The Jewish Museum of New York: "Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry" (May 5 - September 24, 2017); 1109 5th Ave at 92nd St, New York; 212.423.3200; thejm.org