Philip Pearlstein
American, 1924–2022
                        
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    
                   
                    
                        
                    
                    
                        
                    
                        		
Philip Pearlstein was one of the first artists to adopt a figurative style in the 1960s, and in the 1970s he and fellow artists working with figurative realism became known as the New Realists. Pearlstein exemplifies this movement with his portraits of friends and neighbors that utilized shallow, flattened space, and a simplified color palette. His highly realistic imagery is not meant to flatter, but instead he takes a dispassionate eye to his subject, painting, as he states, "only that which meets his eye...allowing the subject to speak for itself."
 
Unlike the Photorealists, Pearlstein did not use photographs; instead he worked with live models in his studio, creating images that focus on the details of his sitters in often surprising positions and unusual vantage points. This is apparent not only in the nudes that he is best known for, but also in "Ellen in Tutu," where he depicts his model almost sliding off the edge of her seat while awkwardly holding her left arm. Pearlstein unbalances the image further by cropping her right foot from the image.
                    
                
            American, 1924–2022
Ellen in Tutu
1972
                            Object Type:
                            Print
                        
                    
                    
                    
                    
                       
                            Dimensions:
                       
                        25 3/8 in. x 33 1/8 in. (64.45 cm x 84.14 cm)
                            Medium and Support:
                            Color lithograph on paper
                        
                    
					
                    
                        
                            Accession Number:
                            2002.0012.0008
                        
                    
					
                            Credit Line:
                            Gift of Lila and Ralph Franco
                        
                    
					
					  
					
                    
                        
                            Copyright:
                            © Philip Pearlstein. Licensed by ARS, New York, NY
                        
                    
                    
                        Philip Pearlstein was one of the first artists to adopt a figurative style in the 1960s, and in the 1970s he and fellow artists working with figurative realism became known as the New Realists. Pearlstein exemplifies this movement with his portraits of friends and neighbors that utilized shallow, flattened space, and a simplified color palette. His highly realistic imagery is not meant to flatter, but instead he takes a dispassionate eye to his subject, painting, as he states, "only that which meets his eye...allowing the subject to speak for itself."
Unlike the Photorealists, Pearlstein did not use photographs; instead he worked with live models in his studio, creating images that focus on the details of his sitters in often surprising positions and unusual vantage points. This is apparent not only in the nudes that he is best known for, but also in "Ellen in Tutu," where he depicts his model almost sliding off the edge of her seat while awkwardly holding her left arm. Pearlstein unbalances the image further by cropping her right foot from the image.
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