John William Bailly
Tequesta Leading the People, 2022 (Flower Wars)
Oil on canvas
86 x 118 inches / 220 x 300 centimeters
Courtesy of the Artist
The painting “Tequesta Leading the People” is compositionally based on Delacroix’s “Liberty Leading the People” in the Musée du Louvre in Paris.
Bailly replicated the essential movement of the work that interested him and replicated this his painting. The flag, however, was replaced with the tree. The solidity and grounding of the figure of Liberty in Delacroix is echoed in the Oak Tree in Bailly’s painting.
Bailly makes Paper Doll cutouts of his figure drawings. He then moves these Paper Dolls around, exploring compositional possibilities. Once Bailly finds the composition that works for him, he photographs the Dolls on a white background and prints out the photo. Bailly then produces loose contour drawings of the composition. The drawing is then scaled up in drawing to the large canvas, as seen in the Early State of Tequesta Leading the People below.
The following display to what extent Bailly aims to simultaneously retain and depart from the original Delacroix.
LAST UPDATE
20 September 2022
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