Desert Rain God (Dios de la lluvia en el desierto)

Louisa McElwain, American, 1953 - 2013

2009

painting

oil on canvas

Museum purchase with funds provided by Betty Van Denburgh in honor of Western Art Associates

2010.255

© Phoenix Art Museum. All rights reserved. Photo by Ken Howie.

American and Western American

Yes

North Wing, Second Floor, Western American

Working with palette knives and masonry trowels, Louisa McElwain was inspired by the landscape of northern New Mexico, which she captured on large canvases through bold color and energetic brushstrokes. She did not regard herself as a plein-air artist, but rather as “an abstract painter who paints outside,” engaged in “a dialogue with nature.” Her medium, both highly sensuous and applied in an energetic impasto, was at the core of her art, and she was interested in describing her experience of the places to which she was attracted. In Desert Rain God she reveals her fascination with summer storms and her deep appreciation of the Southwestern landscape.