This dramatic painting is an abstract floral still-life by modernist painter Sterling Boyd Strauser (1907 - 1995). Executed in oil on masonite, the painting is a excellent example of his innovative technique. Strauser would work quickly once the surface was prepared and a composition established. With areas of thick impasto contrasting with a thinly applied paint, sgraffito linework would be drawn directly into the paint with charcoal and the handles of his brushes and palate knives . 

This painting captures the energy and spontaneity of his painting method. Clearly influenced by the abstract expressionists and action painters of the period, he is less interested in illustrating the flowers than he is in using them as inspiration for line, shape, color and composition. The finished result looks as much like an joyful explosion of color and shape as a floral arrangement. 

The painting is signed in the lower left and was executed in 1980. It is frames in a gilded faux bamboo style frame with a fabric liner. Provenance available.

Literature: "Sterling Strauser a Modernist Revisited" Reading Public Museum 1999.
 
Painting: 28"h X 22"w X .25"d
Framed: 32"h X 26"w X 1.25"d