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Décor Plat
H. Lyman Saÿen (born Philadelphia, PA 1875-died Philadelphia, PA 1918)
1915
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Classification
- Paintings
- Dimensions
- 25 1/8 x 30 1/8 in. (63.9 x 76.4 cm.)
- Museum
- Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of H. Lyman Sayen to his nation
- Rights
- CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Smithsonian Institution
About this work
H. Lyman Saÿen spent a great deal of time at the home of his friend and fellow painter Carl Newman, who lived in Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania. Saÿen was inspired by Henri Matisse, who encouraged him to use color to express his emotions. He explored the countryside around Newman’s house and created large paintings of the landscape in shocking colors. Décor Plat and Décor Slav confused the viewers at a 1916 exhibition, and one visitor commented that their strange compositions “defied analysis or explanation.” (Public Ledger, Magazine Section, 1916, in Breeskin, H. Lyman Saÿen, 1970) The thick blocks of paint and bold outlines make the paintings appear animated, as if the colors are dancing and sliding around the canvas.
