Bert Geer Phillips
1868-1956
The Song of the Flute
MEDIUM: Oil on canvas
DIMENSIONS: 20 x 24 inches
Signed lower right
Signed and titled verso
SOLD FOR: $ 64,350
Including Buyers Premium
2018,
LOT 199
Additional Information
The Song of the Flute finds Taos Founder Bert Phillips in a pastoral mood. Taos was the equivalent of the mythical Greek land of Arcadia to Phillips; the native flutes were his pipes of Pan. Even the drapery on the figures–the flowing over-the-shoulder yellow dress on the woman and the billowing white robe on the man echo classical statuary. The sound of water in counterpoint with the music of the flute binds these people in this moment, with their surroundings. Look, for instance, at the way the woman listens and imagine how her hand feels against the cool earthenware water jar.