all works on this sub-website were produced
by F. Luis Mora (1874-1940)
F. Luis Mora
Twilight Picnic, ca. 1905
oil on canvas, 18 x 22 inches
Signed lower right
Condition: Canvas is lined. Painting
is clean and does not fluoresce under black light.
In newer wood frame with carvings and
beading, outer size 22 x 28 inches
Note: White spots are from the
photography. There are no spots on the painting.
F. Luis Mora painted many picnic scenes,
and perhaps his best known is the monumental Shadows in the
Orchard, 1910, that shares a title with and shows influences
of Edmund C. Tarbell, who was Mora's teacher.
Twilight Picnic, ca. 1905, shows his
admiration for John F. Sloan (1871-1951), who was Mora's friend
and contemporary. In Sloan's well-known paintings,
Easter Eve and Bleeker Street at Night, he uses a muted
"Ashcan" palette lit with shots of color.
John Sloan, Easter Eve
F. Luis Mora, Twilight Picnic
John Sloan, Bleeker Street at night
Twilight Picnic has been in the same
owner's hands since the early 1970s. A small patch of sky
shows it is evening with the sun already set. With a muted
palette, Mora pictures his wife, Sonia Compton Mora (standing,
left) and a group of friends. There are also Spanish-looking
people who may have been visiting cousins. We have seen
Mora's separate portrait of the Spanish girl wearing the scarf.
Probably painted in Wrentham, Massachusetts
on the shore of Lake Pearl -- where the Compton family rented
cottages in the summers of the very early 20th century. It
is a chilly late summer/early autumn evening, where the group
built a bonfire. They eat fruits and sweets while warming
themselves with coffee (or cups of spirits). Mora balances
the composition with shots of orange from the bonfire, the
fruit, the Spanish girl's scarf, and the carrot-colored hair of
a standing figure.
As is typical of Mora, the scene is not
static. It is full of action and the viewer can almost
hear the conversations of stylish people enjoying a pleasant
evening. Please scroll down for larger pictures and detail
shots. Note: The painting has an ACA Galleries label
on the stretcher, but it was not exhibited or catalogued.
