Grace Rivet Clements

American
(1905–1969)

Still Life in Interior
1930

Oil on canvas
18 x 25.75 x 1 in.
Gift of the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation
1985.113

Famous for her contributions to Post-Surrealism, an American art movement that arose in California after the initial surrealist movement that began around 1920 in Europe, Grace Clements created and critiqued art throughout her career. Beginning in 1925, Clements studied under artists Kenneth Miller and Boardman Robinson. She had a solo exhibition in 1931 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which was significant for a woman at that time. In 1935, she became involved with a group of artists focused on making Post-Surrealism a landmark art style by addressing what they saw as the limitations of Surrealism on sub-conscious, dreamlike imagery.

Clements was an influential contributor to modernism and cultural activism in the years surrounding the Great Depression. She was passionate about social justice and “adopted a theme of social engagement” in her work. Clements advocated techniques that emulated those found in movies such as cinematic montage, in which separate scenes are combined into a single image, like those found in Still Life in Interior.

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This object has the following keywords:

• black
• blue
• blue-green
• layered
• modernism
• oil paint
• pink
• post-surrealism

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

• Looking Backward & Forward , 1/29/2022 - 5/5/2023

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