**Originally Listed At $1000**
Paul Forster (American, 1925-2012). Woman of the Forest. Oil on canvas, n.d. Signature in lower right corner. A painting by Paul Forster depicting a lone female figure wandering through a lush forest, trees towering above as sunlight cascades through the branches in the far background. The mysterious figure stands near the center of the canvas in full frontal position, confronting the viewer with her vibrant red shirt distinguishing her from her surroundings, yet her features are blurred, and her face is enigmatically still hidden, coaxing us to ponder: Is she in fact a corporeal stroller or a phantom of the forest? Perhaps she is an embodied spirit of the woodlands or a ghost of its past inhabitants, come to remind us of the ancestral ties of the land? The fact that Forster's painting leaves us with more questions than answers makes it even more entrancing, exuding an undeniable air of mystery. Size of painting: 29.75" W x 23.75" H (75.6 cm x 60.3 cm) Size of frame: 34.75" W x 28.75" H (88.3 cm x 73 cm)
At the age eight, Paul Forster became the youngest member of the Albright Art Gallery Association in Buffalo, New York and also started studying at the Museum School with watercolorist Robert Blair. During World War II, Forster served in the Army Air Corps, and in 1952, he graduated from Brigham Young University with a Fine Arts Degree. In the late 1950s, Forster had a studio in Nevada painted murals for the Mormon Church. In the early 1960s, he taught art and became Chairman of the Art Department of the L.D.S. Schools of the South Pacific in Tonga. In 1969 he left Brigham Young University to paint full time. For the greater part of the next decade, Forster traveled throughout the American Southwest in an Airstream trailer to paint. In time, he moved to Oregon followed by Kansas City, but eventually returned to Arizona.
Provenance: ex-private Bishop Family Trust collection, the Trust of the late Bill Bishop, a noted antiquarian with shops in Scottsdale, Arizona and Allenspark, Colorado, USA, acquired before 2010
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#174753
Condition
Signature in lower right corner. Set in custom frame with suspension wire on verso for display. A few small nicks to frame, but painting is in overall excellent condition.