Julia Thecla (American, 1896-1973) Practicing a Bow, c. 1941-42

Julia Thecla
(American, 1896-1973)
Practicing a Bow, c. 1941-42
gouache, charcoal and pastel on board
signed Julia Thecla and dated (lower right)
20 x 17 inches.
Property from the Private Collection of Barton Faist, Chicago, Illinois

Provenance:
Albert Roullier Galleries, Chicago
Mrs. Dora B. Goodrich, Chicago
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Exhibited:
Chicago, Illinois, Albert Roullier Art Galleries, An Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Julia Thecla, November 28 - December 13, 1941, no. 15
Chicago, Illinois, Findlay Galleries, The Sixth Annual Women Artists' Salon of Chicago, June, 1943
Springfield, Illinois, Illinois State Museum, Julia Thecla 1886-1973, November 11, 1984 - February 17, 1985; Chicago, Illinois, the State of Illinois Art Gallery, June 2 - July 25, 1986, no. 29
Chicago, Illinois, DePaul University Art Museum, Julia Thecla: Undiscovered Worlds, September 14, 2006 - November 22, 2007, no. 14

Literature:
Eleanor Jewett, Chicago Sunday Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, June 13, 1943, part 7, pp. 3
Maureen A. McKenna, Julia Thecla 1886 - 1973, Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Illinois, 1984, pp. 10, fig. 10, illus. (as Practising a Bow)
Joanna Gardner-Hugget and Louise Lincoln, Julia Thecla: Undiscovered Worlds, DePaul Art Museum Publications, Chicago, Illinois, 2006, pp. 32

Lot Essay:
A Final Bow?

When you first come upon seeing this unusually formal and austere painting Practicing a Bow by Julia Thecla your first inclination is to think it is not a surrealist piece, only a seemingly nice beautiful gem-like work of a ballerina with a dreamy looking pink tutu on, posing in a port de bras, in front of a mirror, maybe also how nice the technique is. As you look closer, something seems a little off and unsettling, and then you realize this work is not totally enigmatic. On the left wall there can be seen a photo of Robert Edelmann in naval uniform, a good friend of Thecla's who was an Industrialist and a philanthropist of the arts. It was early 1942: the United States had just entered World War II on Dec. 7, 1941, and Thecla was afraid for not only her friend's life, who was then serving overseas, but what threat and impact this major war would have on her and the world.

Thecla was very much into ballet, so much so that she was commissioned to design both sets and the costumes for at least three performances. This painting's ballerina could be one of her many dancer friends (like Bernice Holmes or Mary Guggenheim), who we see standing on a checkered rug. The pattern intentionally looks like a chess/checkerboard with symbols of clubs from playing cards on the dark squares, and an orange ball sits on top of the rug. Thecla seems to be saying, like games we play, there is always a loser, which heightens her expression of fear of what happens if we lose at the game of a worldwide war, or we bet on it. Again, her pose here is a port de bras which means "movement of the arms" in the up position, which could symbolically say "our call to arms" to get in position to push back evil (the enemy Hitler). If our side loses, that could be the destruction of the world, humanity, arts and culture, including her big love, the ballet!

The painting seems to take more of a defeatist turn when you notice the ballerina's "bare feet" which could convey the message of possible humility and even surrender. Most all other works of Thecla's with a subject of ballerinas all have their dance shoes or toe shoes on. Thecla seems to bring her warning message of doom home with her Ballerina literally taking a bow, "there may not be another performance"...so, the curtain not only isn't closing, "the curtain has been brought down" and laying over on the large gold ornate mirror, where the point of the curtain is hanging down from the top of the mirror's frame, deliberately pointing to her back side (or her bottom) seen in the mirror, as her final message of fear to the world..."the END is near!"

- Barton Faist
Condition Report: Framed: 24 x 21 inches.