Alice Choe

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Compiled Annotations
Abbott, James. Personal interview. 23 Sept. 2015.
This is the second part of the interview with Mr. Abbott, but this part answers questions directly
about the research on Eda Sterchi. Mr. Abbott suggested researching the European Fauvists, the
Nabis movement, Japonisme and their influence on American art in the early 20th century.
Specifically about Eda Sterchis life, her education and her association with Chicago, Paris, and
New Mexico are important factors to look into, in addition to her success as a female artist. It
may be helpful to compare her to other artists, male or female, in this time period. More general
aspects to research include the color design, fashion of the period and the printed world. Mr.
Abbott cleared up many misconceptions about the role of a curator and emphasized the
importance of returning to the piece of art. This interview will be used to refocus the research
and to start considering the final product.
- - -. Personal interview. 23 Sept. 2015.
The interviewee Mr. James Abbott is the curator and director of Evergreen Museum and
Library. The main purpose of this interview was to understand Mr. Abbotts backgrounds and
interests. From a young age, he was interested in the value of objects and museums. He pursued
these interests in college and worked at various museums and organizations, including the White
House, before becoming the curator at Evergreen. He remains at Evergreen because of its
flexibility and opportunities to do things out of the ordinary. In addition to publishing books,
articles and exhibition catalogs, Mr. Abbott organizes exhibitions in which he focuses on the
experience of individuals. In his free time, he likes to paint, draw, read, and go antiquing. This
interview elaborated on Mr. Abbotts background and his interests, which will allow for better
communications in the future.
Basic Tour Script of Evergreen Museum and Library. N.d. TS.
This script contains the outline of dates, people, objects, and places that are in the Evergreen
Museum and Library. This part of the script only covers the rooms on the first floor, not
including the parlor. In addition to the objects in each room, the most important aspect of this
script is the differences between the original home and renovations with each Garrett family
generation. This script has information that might not be necessary or will be difficult to
remember. Also, since the script is not comprehensive, it might be helpful to refer to the rooms
while looking at the script and research interesting anecdotes to make the tour more personal.
Edwards, Paul N. How to Read a Book, V5.0. N.d. PDF file.
This article outlines how to read non-fiction literature critically and effectively. Suggesting
different reading strategies and techniques, the sections of the article elaborate on how to
discover, understand, and remember what one is reading. Even with obvious techniques, such as
marking up the text, the author also suggests new strategies, such as reading the source three
times for ones full benefit. While some of the sections were repetitive, the author included
advice that made the article more personal and applicable. The article outlined specific

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questions to ask and steps to take while reading any given source, and these tips will be useful
whenever one researches or reads scholarly writing.
Fletcher, Joel Lafayette. Alix Aym: European Perception and Asian Poeticism. Baltimore:
Evergreen Museum and Library, 2012. Print.
This pamphlet is about Alix Ayme (1894-1989), a female French artist whose works were
exhibited at the Evergreen in 2012. She was from a privileged family and was mentored by a
member of the Nabis movement. Later in life, she moved to various places in Asia where she
was greatly influenced by Asian art, including lacquer work. Ayme experienced tragedy, the
death of her son, World War II and her art showed a reflection of that. Alix Ayme is similar to
Eda Sterchi in style, time period, and gender, making her a good point of comparison. Although
it seems that Ayme was more recognized than Sterchi, they were in similar art spheres in Paris
and northern Africa. This pamphlet is a useful reference and idea to what the final project,
brochure may look like.
Freedman, Kerry. Social perspectives on art education in the US: Teaching visual culture in a
democracy. Studies in art education 42.4 (2000): 314-329. Print.
This article outlines the foundations of art education in a democratic society and notices its
importance and the changes that it has undergone as a result of a modern visual culture. Geared
more towards sociology, the author emphasizes the importance of social interactions behind the
artwork, through recognizing the context of artwork and the critique process. One of the main
arguments followed that fine arts and social, contemporary issues must be more integrated into
an art education curriculum. While it was confusing at times who the author was addressing,
he/she presented the opposing/past arguments in art education well and introduced art and art
education in an unique, democratic setting. This article is not useful towards the research, but
provides information on the social context of an exhibition on Eda Sterchi.
Garrett Family: Brief History. N.d. TS.
Supplement to the tour script, this brief history of the Garrett family outlines the lineage of the
Garretts and focuses on the last generation to live in the house. Only two generations of the
Garrett family lived in the house, T. Harrison Garrett and John Work Garrett, from 1878 to
1952. Both of their wives were Alice and had the initials AWG, Alice Whitridge Garrett and
Alice Warder Garrett. The latter couple never had any children and renovated many of the
spaces for children, such as the bowling alley, to artistic venues, such as a theater. Although
much of the information was repeated from the tour script, this history elaborated on the artistic
inclination of Alice Warder Garrett and her role as a patron of artists and musicians. This
information will be useful in the beginning of the tour.
Hiroshige, Utagawa. Asakusa Rice Fields and Torinomachi Festival (Asakusa tanbo
Torinomachi mode), from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo
hyakkei). 1857. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Art Institute of Chicago. Web. 10
Sept. 2015. <http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/13192>.

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This woodblock print is a key example of ukiyo-e art, depicting everyday scenes of life, from
Japan. An example of receding plane, this print is stylized with its expressive colors and simple
illustration-like qualities. The lack of a single subject and simple patterning adds to the calmness
and mystery of the scene. This print has an interesting context, as it depicts the second floor of a
Yoshiwara pleasure quarter and hints at the client and courtesan who are off scene. While this
piece was made during the Edo period, it was most likely acquired by a Westerner after the death
of the artist. Its bright green floor, cropping of the scene, and depiction of everyday life are
qualities that can be noted in Sterchis Woman in an Interior. This particular piece illustrated the
effect of Japonisme on European modernism very well, and can be used to compare to Eda
Sterchis artwork.
Ives, Colta. Japonisme. Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oct.
2004. Web. 10 Sept. 2015. <https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/jpon/hd_jpon.htm>.
This article briefly summarized the importance of Japonisme, the influence of Japanese art and
aesthetic, on European Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. After Japan reopened to the
West, the arts simple portrayal of the everyday, floating world, depicted especially in woodcut
prints, became extremely popular in avant-garde art of the 1890s. Artists, such as Degas,
Cassatt, Toulouse-Lautrec, Bonnard, Vuillard, were inspired by the Japanese aesthetic; thus they
adopted similar elongated formats, asymmetrical compositions, spaces of abstract color and line,
decorative motifs, exaggerated color and contours. From these similarities, it can be concluded
that Eda Sterchi was also influenced by Japonisme, making sense also in her time context. One
of the artists listed above, Mary Cassatt, is very similar to Sterchi in that they are both female
artists depicting everyday scenes of the lives of women. In future research, it would be
interesting to compare the artistic and biographical qualities of these two figures. This article,
like all the articles from the Metropolitan Museum, provided a cursory, objective glance at a
general art period.
Matisse, Henri. The Dessert: Harmony in Red. 1908. Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. State
Hermitage Museum. Web. 24 Aug. 2015. <http://www.arthermitage.org/HenriMatisse/Red-Room.html>.
This painting is considered one of Matisses masterpieces and is characterized by its flat, yet
unnaturally bright red coloring and blue decorations. Influenced by Post-Impressionists,
Matisse, in this particular Fauvist piece, outlined his forms and also included Japanese themes of
nature and patterning. While the content matter of vases, flowers, and fruit may seem
commonplace, the overwhelming redness takes over space, yet, at the same time, the piece
stimulates dimension and movement through the contrasting blueness of the window and the
stark women figure. This painting was made for the dining room of a Russian collector. This
painting has many similar qualities as Eda Sterchis Women in an Interior, such as the use of
brave color and outlining. Since there was very little information on that particular work, this
painting provides a basis for the artistic context of Women in an Interior.
Murrell, Denise. African Influences in Modern Art. Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.
Metropolitan
Museum
of
Art,
Apr.
2008.
Web.
7
Sept.
2015.
<https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/aima/hd_aima.htm>.

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This article explains the profound, widespread influence of African art in European avant-garde
art movements during the early 1900s. The stylized human figure of traditional African
sculptures first influenced the School of Paris artists, especially Matisse and Picasso. They
combined the techniques of post-impressionism, resulting in a new style of pictorial flatness,
bright colors, and fragmented shapes. As a result of African colonization, the increased interest
in African sculpture and art, primitivism, spread to German expressionism, and American
modernism. This article provided an objective analysis and a condensed summary of the
influence of African art in contemporary art. Since Eda Sterchi may have been involved and
influenced by the School of Paris and Tunisia, further research should be done to investigate the
impact of African art in her own artwork.
Nochlin, Linda. Why have there been no great women artists?. The feminism and visual
culture reader (1971): 229-233.
The purpose of this article is to examine the white male presuppositions in art history to
understand why there have been no great women artists. Rebutting feminist arguments that try to
discover under-appreciated women artists or to define a unique feminine style, Nochlin tackles
great art as an institutional process. Although society tends to emphasize the miraculous
genius of great artists, these artists are ultimately molded by their social environment. She
bluntly acknowledges that no truly great woman artist exists, and it is the responsibility of
woman to create the societal environment that is conducive to equal achievement with men. The
author is biased in her position as a woman, and from the tone of the article, it is evident that she
supports the feminism to an extent. While her analogies to antiquated examples of artistic
achievement were difficult to follow, her central argument was clear and still applicable. When
researching Eda Sterchi, her social environment must be investigated thoroughly. Some
questions to consider are the importance of Eda Sterchi as an artist, her straying from societal
norms, and her social environment that allowed her to make art.
Piirto, Jane. Why are there so few?(Creative women: Visual artists, mathematicians,
musicians). Roeper Review 13.3 (1991): 142-147. Print.
Arranged like a scientific research paper, the author identifies a conflict, suggests a hypothesis,
and then provides evidence. The obvious conflict being that woman are not surging in creative
fields, such as art, the author provides a hypothesis that women face a double bind as an artist
and a mother. This difference in self-image and commitment to the arts or any creative fields
result in a role conflict that inhibits woman from becoming artists or focusing entirely on their
art. While the authors hypothesis was predictable, his/her incorporation of data from art
students and also artists who are also mothers, showed new insight into the similarities and
differences between females and males, non-artists and artists, etc. This article provided a basis
for the reason why Eda Sterchi may not be a well-known artist.
Plattner, Stuart. A most ingenious paradox: the market for contemporary fine art. American
Anthropologist 100.2 (1998): 482-493. Print.
This article mainly explained how the local art markets worked in light of the economy and
different groups of people, including artists, dealers, and buyers. The author highlights a
paradox that is unusual in the economic world, which is that the producers/artists make art to
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advance their identities and contribute to a public cultural heritage, not necessarily for personal
profit. Therefore, many times the consumers/buyers can be confused about the true value of
local art. Also, due to the van Gogh effect, which highlights the economic success of the
originally rejected Impressionist movement, critics in the art world have lost authority in their
judgements of higher art, further confusing the true value of artwork. While this article helped to
make sense of the art world in terms of modern economics, it did not apply much to research on
Eda Sterchi. Perhaps, the owners of Evergreen participated in such a local market to obtain the
artwork in the house, which would be interesting to ask about.
Sterchi, Eda Elisabeth. Women in an Interior. 1918. oil on canvas. Evergreen Museum and
Library, Baltimore.
This painting was donated to the Evergreen Museum and Library. Regarding the form and
content of this piece, there are two women, perhaps a servant and a mistress, in a natural,
intimate setting. Some elements, such as the servant/older persons black hair and robe, indicate
certain Japanese or Asian influences. The most interesting parts of this piece are its color
compositions with a bright green background that is contrasted by blocked expanses of white,
red, and purple in the foreground. Also, linear elements, such as the green outlines, divisive
black lines, and some geometric shapes refer to an abstract style. To understand the context and
the function of this piece fully, Sterchi's history and philosophy must be investigated.