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A central figure among New York’s abstract artists in the 1930s and 40s, Pereira is known for her innovative works of geometric abstraction. Here, overlapping layers of green, blue, and black rectilinear forms and lines are punctuated with seven small red squares. The resulting composition creates the illusion of a deep picture plane, reflecting Pereira’s interest in theories of perception. In other paintings, she used industrial materials such as glass, plastic, and radium paint to experiment with optical effects of light and reflection.
Pereira’s artistic practice drew upon her deep belief in abstract art’s potential to impact society. In 1935, she helped found the Design Laboratory, a cooperative school of industrial design influenced by the Bauhaus school in Germany.
Requires Photography
Seven Red Squares
Irene Rice Pereira (American, 1902–1971)
1951
Medium/Technique
oil on canvas
Dimensions
Overall: 101.6 × 127 cm (40 × 50 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Deborah and Ed Shein in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Accession Number2019.2204
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsPaintings
A central figure among New York’s abstract artists in the 1930s and 40s, Pereira is known for her innovative works of geometric abstraction. Here, overlapping layers of green, blue, and black rectilinear forms and lines are punctuated with seven small red squares. The resulting composition creates the illusion of a deep picture plane, reflecting Pereira’s interest in theories of perception. In other paintings, she used industrial materials such as glass, plastic, and radium paint to experiment with optical effects of light and reflection.
Pereira’s artistic practice drew upon her deep belief in abstract art’s potential to impact society. In 1935, she helped found the Design Laboratory, a cooperative school of industrial design influenced by the Bauhaus school in Germany.
Signed
Signed "Pereira" (lower right) and dated "1951" on the reverse
Provenance1951 until at least 1953, Durlacher Brothers, New York [see note]. Thomas Thompson. After 1981, Portico Fine Art (Art Advisers), New York. May 8, 2013, anonymous sale, Doyle Auctions, New York, lot 108, unsold. 2018, sold by Weinstein Gallery, San Francisco to Edward and Deborah Shein, Kittery, ME; 2019, gift of Edward and Deborah Shein to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 11, 2019)
NOTE: The painting was first shown at Durlacher in 1951. Durlacher lent it to the exhibition "Loren McIver - I. Rice Pereira" (Whitney Museum of American Art, Des Moines Art Center, San Francisco Museum of Art, and Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1953), cat. no. 41.
NOTE: The painting was first shown at Durlacher in 1951. Durlacher lent it to the exhibition "Loren McIver - I. Rice Pereira" (Whitney Museum of American Art, Des Moines Art Center, San Francisco Museum of Art, and Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1953), cat. no. 41.