TANYA HARSCH & JEAN LEFORT
Tender Moments
Throughout May, Lotton Gallery in Chicago will present a two-artist exhibition for Jean Lefort and Tanya Harsch focusing on their individual approaches to art. While vastly different in subject matter, both artists’ works are harnessed by childhood memories and moments. French artist Lefort often captures children at play and at rest, while the protagonist in Harsch’s paintings is her childhood puppet, Sebbie.
In the show Lefort’s works depict life at the waterways, as seen through a young girl sitting on a lobster trap in Peaceful and a boy wading in water as he steers a toy boat in Little Sailor. Each of Lefort’s works shows his dedication as a colorist and impressionist, using loose brushstrokes to create vivid and balanced compositions.
Describing his pieces, the gallery says, “He loves to portray children in their natural state, at play and relaxed. Moreover, his works convey a feeling of peace and joy, which they are well known for.”
Harsch’s newest paintings show Sebbie and friends having adventures through art history. “They’re a chance for me to interact with artwork that has inspired and influenced me over the years,” she says. “In this series Sebbie poses in front of famous paintings, accompanied by characters appropriate to the scene depicted in the famous work, such as a polar bear toy in front of a 19th-century arctic landscape.”
In Sebbie’s American Gothic, the puppet is pictured with an antique tin chicken in front of the backdrop depicted in Grant Wood’s American Gothic. “I felt the antique tin toy suited the rural, middle-America nostalgic air of Wood’s piece,” she explains. “Unlike some of the other work in this series, where the famous painting in the background is included in its entirety, in Sebbie’s American Gothic, I removed the figures of the couple in Wood’s painting, and included only the house as the backdrop, the architecture of which, of course, gives the original piece its name.”
Another of her new pieces, Sebbie and Rousseau, is a reminder of Henri Rousseau’s jungle scenes that captivated Harsch as a child. The photograph Dovima with Elephants by Richard Avedon also was inspiring, as in this piece Sebbie is standing with an elephant. “A figure and elephant together always recalls that photograph for me,” says Harsch. “Obviously, the subject matter of the toys doesn’t quite hold the same gravitas as the original photograph, so it is more of a nod to the photograph’s influence than any attempt to at comparison or competition.”
Lotton Gallery 900 N. Michigan Avenue, Level 6 • Chicago, IL 60611 • (312) 664-6203 www.lottongallery.com