''Watery Ecstatic'' is a 2003 painting by
Ellen Gallagher. It is in the collection of the
Saint Louis Art Museum in
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
.
Description
An
octopus
An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...
-like sea creature is painted in watercolor and pencil on a piece of cut paper. The creature stretches across the proper right side of the paper. The painting is signed on the verso: "Ellen Gallagher 2002".
Background
The painting is a part of a series, titled ''Water Ecstatic Series'', which Gallagher describes as being a type of
scrimshaw.
History
The painting was purchased by the Saint Louis Art Museum on May 23, 2003, from the artist via
Gagosian Gallery in New York City. Funding to purchase the painting came from the Henry L. and Natalie Edison Freund Charitable Trust. ''Watery Ecstatic'' was featured in a solo exhibition about Gallagher at the Saint Louis Art Museum, titled ''Currents 88: Ellen Gallagher'', in 2003. The work also toured Europe as part of another solo show of Gallagher's work, "Ellen Gallagher: AxME," which visited the
Sara Hildén Art Museum
Sara may refer to:
Arts, media and entertainment Film and television
* Sara (1992 film), ''Sara'' (1992 film), 1992 Iranian film by Dariush Merhjui
* Sara (1997 film), ''Sara'' (1997 film), 1997 Polish film starring Bogusław Linda
* Sara (2010 ...
,
Tate Modern, and
Haus der Kunst
The ''Haus der Kunst'' (, ''House of Art'') is a non-collecting modern and contemporary art museum in Munich, Germany. It is located at Prinzregentenstraße 1 at the southern edge of the Englischer Garten, Munich's largest park.
History
Na ...
.
References
2003 paintings
Paintings by Ellen Gallagher
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