11/21/2024
🌱 New to the collection—Spring of Consciousness by Deborah Morrissey-McGoff
Deborah Morrissey-McGoff's enigmatic works mix her experiences and dreams with imagery inspired by the Italian Renaissance, classical art, and nineteenth-century American landscape paintings. She earned her B.A. at the University of Cincinnati in 1977 with a focus on drawing, then, emulating Renaissance practices, taught herself meticulous techniques to prepare wood panels for painting by first covering them with a gesso surface.
Morrissey-McGoff saw the river in Spring of Consciousness as a symbolic motif that would elevate the view beyond a topographical landscape. The two houses represent sanctuaries for protection from outside dangers. On the right bank is Morrissey-McGoff's childhood home near Springfield, Ohio, while on the left is the home in Cincinnati the artist shared with her family. In the foreground is an open structure decorated with a first-century CE Italian fresco depicting the goddess Flora. Morrissey-McGoff saw these structures as portals to a place of contemplation and the arts.
See this work in Gallery 150 during your next visit.
Deborah Morrissey-McGoff (American, 1955-2022), Spring of Consciousness, 1997, oil on wood panel, Museum Purchase: Bequest of Mr. and Mrs. Walter J. Wichgar and funds provided by Helen and Brian Heekin, The Podore Family, Kevin and Elizabeth Ott, and Whitney and Philip Long 2024.13
