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Collections

Mabel Alvarez
Arabella with Calla Lillies1934

Not on view
Oil painting portrait of a seated young woman in a white slip dress, looking downward, with a bouquet of calla lilies beside her against a dark, warm-toned background

Mabel Alvarez, Arabella with Calla Lillies, 1934, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Margery and Maurice H. Katz, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Artist or Maker
Mabel Alvarez
Title
Arabella with Calla Lillies
Place Made
United States
Date Made
1934
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
40 × 30 in. (101.6 × 76.2 cm) Framed: 55 × 39 in. (139.7 × 99.06 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Margery and Maurice H. Katz
Accession Number
M.91.326
Classification
Paintings
Collecting Area
American Art
Curatorial Notes

From the exhibition Stanton Macdonald-Wright and His Circle at LACMA
January 29-May 28, 2003

Mabel Alvarez was already an accomplished painter when she met Macdonald-Wright in 1919; later she became his student. In 1928 she described his influence on her work as opening up “a whole new world.” Alvarez had painted several works by 1934 depicting her friend and frequent model, Arabella, portrayed here. One of these, Morning, won first prize at the 1933 California Art Club annual exhibition. Another, Mood, is very similar in composition, execution, and expression to Arabella with Calla Lillies and helped establish her national reputation. Mood was exhibited in 1934 with works by five other Los Angeles artists in Painting and Sculpture from 16 American Cities at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Selected Bibliography
  • Bassett, Glenn. "Mabel Alvarez: A Personal Memory." American Art Review 11, no.2 (1999): 184-189.
  • Mabel Alvarez, a Retrospective. Los Angeles: Laband Art Gallery, Loyola Marymount University, 1999.
Copyright
© Mabel Alvarez Estate