Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy - Tea Fields

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Image of Tea Fields

Rachel Davis , b. 1970

Tea Fields

2015
30 x 22 in. (76 x 56 cm)

Medium and Support: Watercolor on paper
Credit Line: Gift of Robert Feldman (PA 1954) in memory of Beth Lisa Feldman
Accession Number: 2016.3

Commentary

The mother of two adopted Chinese daughters, Rachel Davis has spent years acquainting herself with the natural, socioeconomic, and cultural landscapes of China. In her most recent body of work, exhibited in 2015 under the collective title A Trace History, she used the medium of watercolor to create ethereal, and sometimes whimsical, compositions that combine iconic and everyday elements, ranging from statues of soldiers from the terracotta army of Emperor Qin and Chinese pagodas to tulou rural dwellings and bamboo shoots.

In this drawing from A Trace History, Davis adeptly captures the ideal climatic and topological parameters of high altitude tea plantations; the elevated moisture levels found in the mountainous regions of China are perfectly rendered by the translucent grey washes she uses in the upper half of the composition. While the forms of the plants, mountains, and sun are outlined and flattened in a style typical of book illustration, the subject matter evokes the complex economic and environmental issues surrounding tea cultivation in China.

Reviving the genre of watercolor landscape which reached its height in the last two decades of the nineteenth and first two decades of the twentieth century, Davis places herself among the ranks of such artists as John La Farge, Winslow Homer, and Maurice Prendergast, who are well represented in the Addison’s collection. Contemporary examples of watercolor, however, are rare, especially landscapes; thus, Tea Fields will occupy a rather unique position within the collection.

Kelley Tialiou
Charles H. Sawyer Curatorial Assistant | Librarian | Archivist

Exhibition List
This object was included in the following exhibitions:


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