Light in Far Field
2001 · Oil on linen
60" x 7' 6" (152.4 x 228.6 cm)
Museum of Modern Art
WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture
Ellen Phelan
1943
Painting
Representation
None documented
0
Institutional Exhibitions
22
Works in Collection
32
Assets Indexed
2
Authority-backed Facts
0
Publications Referenced
60%
Profile Completeness
Cultural Positioning
Movements
No movements recorded
Related Artists
No edges recorded
Influence Graph
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About
Why this artist matters now
Ellen Phelan works in painting across three distinct registers: formalist abstraction, landscapes, and psychologically charged compositions featuring dolls. The doll paintings are among her most arresting work, staging unsettling tableaux that sit between childhood innocence and latent menace. Her landscapes carry a similarly weighted stillness, avoiding pastoral convention in favor of something more ambiguous and inward. Born in 1943, she has maintained a practice that resists easy categorization across decades.
Source: Paula Cooper · Trust score: 60% · Updated 2mo ago
Graph relationships
Taste overlap and adjacency
Movement
—
Medium
Painting
Related Artists
6 in graph
Institutional
Museum Collections
Canonical record
Artworks (22)
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Record
Images
10 assets
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Institutional
Representation & Collections
In collection
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
In collection
Whitney Museum of American Art
Background
Education
Wayne State University
Visual Arts
Wayne State University College of Fine, Performing, and Communication Arts
Visual Arts
Record
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