Jill O’SULLIVAN
b.1941 Australia The Annunciation 2000
Lithograph
47.5 x 32 cm Edition 2/7
Collection of the artist
Photograph: Michael Marzik
The Annunciation (2000),
by Jill O'Sullivan (1941-).
Photograph: Michael Marzik.
The Annunciation is part of a print series made by the artist of images depicting people placed in local and domestic settings. These artworks resulted from her research into the depiction of the figure in domestic and religious interior settings during the Northern European Renaissance period of the 15th, 16th and early 17th century.
ARTIST STATEMENT
“This work takes compositional direction from Jan Vermeer’s painting, titled The Love Letter 1666. Receiving a love letter was a recurrent theme in Northern European domestic imagery.”
“However, through the title, my work also refers to another common theme in the fifteenth century art. The subject of this very popular theme – the Annunciation – depicts the moment that the angel, Gabriel tells Mary that she is pregnant!”
“My work explores the use of light and dark in black and white to create dramatic effects. Notice the dimensional gradation of tone created between the darkened doorway and the lit window in the background. The image was developed through compositional drawings and photographs I made of friends posing in domestic settings.”
Figure 1.
The Love Letter, 1669 - by Johannes Vermeer
(johannes-vermeer.org, 2016).
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