1990s "Homage to Matisse" Fauvist Mixed-Media Painting by Inez Storer, Framed

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This artwork by noted American artist Inez Storer, b. 1933 is titled Homage to Matisse. The piece is composed of … Read more This artwork by noted American artist Inez Storer, b. 1933 is titled Homage to Matisse. The piece is composed of mixed media (oil paint, board, latex) with collage on board. The artwork measures 24 x 24 inches (25 x 25 inches, framed.) It is floating in a simple painted wood frame. It is hand signed in the lower right corner of the frame by the artist. The piece is in very good condition. I am estimating this work was created some time in the 1990s based on the subject and style, but that is only an educated guess.


About the artist:

From Inverness, California, north of San Francisco and working from a studio in Point Reyes, Inez Storer creates mixed-media narrative paintings, collages and assemblages in naive-sophisticated style, which she describes as Magic Realism: "I am a visual raconteur. I use paint to tell stories." Most of these stories are explorations of the human condition with characters who seem allegorically to be walking tightropes. She gets many ideas from her studio collection of old postcards, toys, photos and other random items that she often incorporates into her work. Inez Storer is also known for her prints and drawings.

She was born in Los Angeles to German parents who left that country in 1933 to avoid Hitler. Her father got a job in Hollywood with Billy Wilder as an art director, and her mother was an actress and dancer. Inez spent much time as a child on movie sets. She was raised a Catholic as her parents wanted no one to know her mother was Jewish, but Inez was rebellious and was constantly in trouble with the school authorities. However, in her artwork, she uses Catholic imagery such as angels, saints and crosses. Also in her work are themes referencing her mother and others of Jewish faith who hid their heritage out of fear of being ostracized.

Inez Storer studied at the San Francisco College for Women, the San Francisco Art Institute and the University of California at Berkeley. In the 1950s, she lived in North Beach and hung around the Beatnik scene. She married her first husband in 1960, and had four children but, even with many distractions, kept painting.

She was divorced and took a bachelor's degree at Dominican College in San Rafael and in 1971, a graduate degree in at California State University in San Francisco. She also taught art and made assemblages and collages.

In 1974, she met Andrew Romanoff, a Russian artist who became her husband. In this marriage, she became a part of Russian royalty because Andrew was the grand nephew of the Czar Nicholas II, Russia's last emperor who, along with his family, was executed. Because of this new dimension to her life, Storer's artwork embodies Russian political themes as well as other political, religious, and personal expressions.

Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions throughout the country. Storer taught at the San Francisco Art Institute (1981-1999), Sonoma State University (1976-1988), San Francisco State University (1970-1973), and the College of Marin (1968-1979). She has received numerous grants and awards, including a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant in 1999, the Buck Fund Grant (1995, 2004), and has worked twice as a artist in residence at the American Academy in Rome (1996, 1997). Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Oakland Museum of California, the Lannan Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, the San Jose Museum of Art, and the de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University. Storer's work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions consistently thorough the United States at institutions such as the Reno Museum of Art, the San Jose Museum of Art, the Monterey Museum of Art, the Fresno Art Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Missoula Museum of Art, Montana, and The National Museum of Jewish History, Philadelphia and the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco. See less