In a time in which figurative art has reached a pinnacle of quality, up-and-coming painters need more than just the know-how of old master techniques and the ability to paint over-idealized beauty.

Perhaps as lovely and as temperate as Shakespeare’s love was to his summer’s day, the painted works by Adrienne Stein are ideal images of the divine, the source, the sacred spirit of the earth. Stein paints women folded under flowers, romantic nudes in gorgeous petalled clouds, their warm flesh wearing Flora’s richest robes.

Brought up in the protestant faith, she learned of god as male energy, but icons of Mary touched her heart when visiting a large catholic church. The archetypal virgins that she saw struck her as truth which she could not deny, and soon the sacred feminine form became the main focus of her work. Her mother, sisters and her female friends were pressed to model for her imagery.

Jan Van Huysum was the first Dutch floral painter that I loved – I remember my mentor had me copy one of his works when I was learning to oil paint as a teenager, Stein recalls. Rachel Ruysch is my ultimate favorite though. Her compositions with the variety of textures and colors and asymmetry and movements are what good painting is all about. They are so alive.
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Adrienne Stein
Mar 4, 2020