Maurice Sullins

A Tour d'Horizon
October 5 to October 31, 2021

Maurice Sullins (1910 - 1995) was an American outsider artist who began to paint at the age of sixty. Entirely self-taught, he worked in a number of artistic modes, from primitive, naive landscapes and figures to elaborate and carefully composed creations.

The inner realities, spiritual dimensions and visual poetry exhibited in the work of outsider artists have often been the source of inspiration for many a modern and contemporary painter. For Sullins, the opposite was true. When he began to paint, he read and studied everything he could find relating to art and artists. Although he never copied directly from others, he transformed and construed famous recognizable motifs into his own fresh and unique language, believing his purpose was to continue the work of the great masters. One of Sullins' iconic personages, Madame Etienne de Silhouette, was inspired by Georges Seurat's Parisian woman in his famous painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. She, along other original characters, can be found gallivanting throughout many of Sullins' pictures.

The paintings in this exhibit offer a tour d'horizon of the rich diversity and individuality displayed in Sullins' 15-year painting career, where sophisticated forms, inventive subject matter and witty titles abound. Notice Madame Etienne de Silhouette and her many appearances.