Evelyn Ellwood
Aphrodite Series #1
1984
Oil pastel on paper
28 in. x 34 in.
Gift of Louis K. & Susan Pear Meisel
Evelyn Ellwood (b. 1928) is an abstract artist.1 There is very little information to be found on Ellwood. She attended art school and her career began during the 1960s.2 Ellwood’s work is primarily abstract, colorful drawings of squares made using oil pastel. She often titles her drawings simply with a date, likely indicating when they were finished. She also created a series called The Trees of Eden, which are oil pastel drawings of a circle with two lines above and below. These drawing are executed only in shades of black and gray.
St. Mary’s College of Maryland owns fourteen drawings by Ellwood that were all donated by Louis K. & Susan Pear Meisel, who own a gallery in New York. The example chosen for this catalogue is an oil pastel dated 1984 and entitled Aphrodite Series #1, rather than just the date. It is the largest drawing that the College has of hers. This drawing is also brighter and in some respects. more colorful than her other works. At the center is a white and grey square that is surrounded by colorful lines. The lines that directly frame the square begin as straight and crisp and then quickly become sketchy and loosely drawn. The frames these lines create move farther into the paper, which creates a sense of depth in the drawing. This pulls the viewer into the drawing. The lines intersect each other, but they also continue a little further out. The strongest color in this drawing is blue but there are also red, pink, yellow, green, and white lines. This drawing is interesting in terms of Ellwood’s work because of the title, which is more than just the date of execution. Ellwood chose to title this drawing after the ancient Greek goddess of beauty, love, and desire.3 It interesting because this drawing does appear to be more colorful and enchanting than the majority of her other works. She might have been thinking of these traits when she was creating this particular piece. This work, like her other square drawings, is also reminiscent of a mirror and Ellwood could be showing that we, the viewers of her work, are beauty, that we are loved like the ancient goddess.
1.“Evelyn Ellwod,” CLARA: Database of Women Artists. accessed December 08, 2016. http://clara.nmwa.org/index.php?g=entity_detail&entity_id=1400↩
2. Artist Biography from Louis K. Meisel Gallery, Archives of the Fine Arts Collection at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.↩
3. "Aphrodite,” Greek Mythology. Accessed December 06, 2016. http://www.greekmythology.com/Olympians/Aphrodite/aphrodite.html.↩
-Morgan Beahm