Life as Art: Paintings by Gregory Gillespie and Frances Cohen Gillespie

This exhibition surveys the work of two of the most iconoclastic realist painters at work in the United States during the late 20th century. Both studied in Italy and were influenced by the technique of German and Flemish Renaissance masters, yet both also deeply identified with the passion and commitment of Jackson Pollock and other members of the New York school of the 1950s. Gregory Gillespie became well known for his probing self-portraits and his sexually charged paintings of fruit and vegetables. Frances Cohen Gillespie worked in a more tortured style, producing only one or two large-scale floral compositions annually. The two painters, married from 1959 to 1983 and much admired by other artists, died at the height of their careers, Frances of cancer in 1998 and Gregory by suicide two years later.

Frances Gillespie is represented by eight paintings, including a self-portrait and several floral compositions. Gregory Gillespie is represented by paintings ranging across the whole of his career, including a still life, and several self-portraits.

A fully illustrated catalogue has been produced in conjunction with the exhibition. It includes essays, entries from the journals of Gregory Gillespie, and letters written by Frances Gillespie.

Organized by Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., curator of American art, Harvard University Art Museums, and Susan Ricci Stebbins, an independent scholar.

This exhibition and its catalogue were made possible by a generous gift from Mr. and Mrs. Herbert C. Lee.