Circle of Lowell Blair Nesbitt Blue & White Iris Flowers 1

An original mid-20th-century watercolour painting, Circle of Lowell Blair Nesbitt, Blue & White Iris Flowers 1.

This impressive large watercolour resembles the work of American painter and printmaker Lowell Blair Nesbitt (1933–1993). Nesbitt was best known for his large-scale depictions of flowers, in which he isolated flowers against a monochromatic or patterned background.

These irises fill the picture plane created a stylised patterning effect, evocative also of the aesthetic of Japanese prints. They are painted using a distinctive technique whereby the background has been filled first, leaving negative space from which the irises delicately emerge. The speckled background has the appearance of lithography, whilst the leaves are vividly painted in watercolour with gum arabic to intensify the colour. Delicate pencil lines delineate detail on the flowers.

On thin card. One of a pair that we have for sale (see JT-441).