The Marionette Shop

The Marionette Shop ©1996 Ann James Massey
20in x 16in | 50.8cm x 40.6cm
Oil on mahogany board
Collection of Gail Darling
The Marionette Shop ©1996 Ann James Massey

20in x 16in | 50.8cm x 40.6cm
Oil on mahogany board
Collection of Gail Darling

For the story behind the painting, scroll down or click here

Available for Purchase

  • The Marionette Shop Post Card

    $1.50

    Flat post card. Blank on the back. Measures 6in x 4in.

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  • The Marionette Shop Note Card

    $4.00

    Folded note card. Blank inside, ready for any occasion. Measures 7in x 5in closed and includes an envelope.

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  • Oil Painting Note Card Set (set of different 8 images)

    $20.00

    Set of 8 folded note cards including, “The Blessing of the Animals”, “The Marionette Theatre”, “The Connoisseur”, “La Maison de Poupées”, “Christmas in Paris”, “The Marionette Shop”, “Day’s End”, and “The Fisherman Mending His Net” Blank inside for any occasion. Measures 7in x 5in folded, including 8 envelopes.

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Awards

The Director’s Award
The American Artist Professional League 69th Grand National Exh., Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
Katherine A. Lovell Memorial Award for Oil
Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club 102 Annual Open Exhibition, National Arts Club, New York, NY
Second Prize Oil or Acrylic in Oil Technique
Women Artists of the West Fourth International Juried Competition, Biloxi, Mississippi
Honorable mention
10th Edition Cover Contest for the Encyclopedia of Living Artists
Exhibition Posters
34e Salon National d’Art de l’Automne Societe Regionale des Amis des Beaux Arts, Issoudun, France
Women Artists of the West Fourth International Juried Competition, Biloxi, Mississippi
Cover
Exhibition catalog, 34e Salon National d’Art de l’Automne Societe Regionale des Amis des Beaux Arts

Reproduced in

Books

10th Edition Encyclopedia of Living Artists
(won full page listing with the honorable mention in their 10th Edition Cover Contest)

Magazines

“Ann James Massey” article by Joseph Burgess, El Paso Life (March/April 2002)
Mensa Bulletin, The Magazine of America Mensa(Apr 1999) Cover
ArtCrowd (Vol 3, No 1) won full page listing in their competition.

Behind the painting

Ann James Massey in front of Clair de Rêve
Photo  © 2001 Jody Polk Schwartz
Ann in front of Clair de Rêve
Photo © 2001 Jody Polk Schwartz

Though I’ve changed the configuration of the entrance and other details, The Marionette Shop is based upon a real shop on rue Saint-Louis on the Île Saint-Louis in Paris. My rendition of the shop has remained the same, but Clair de Rêve has changed its façade, though not its purpose, often over the intervening years. As for the participants, cloth is as individual and alive to me as is the face or body, thus the rendering of the leather and jeans. The helmets illustrate a change in my life after I came to Europe, becoming a “biker” seated behind my better half, Henri Bérenger, as we traveled around Europe in the off season with even multiple crossings over the alps. I have never been so cold and so awed.

Crossing the Alps, Henri is in the foreground on the motorcycle.  Hannibal had his elephants. We had our trusty steed, a BMW K75.
Photo  © 1996 Ann James Massey
Crossing the Alps, Henri is in the foreground on the motorcycle. Hannibal had his elephants. We had our trusty steed, a BMW K75.
Photo © 1996 Ann James Massey
Discovering Europe on the back of the motorcycle. Henri Bérenger standing in front of the Venus of Quinipily
Photo © Ann James Massey
Discovering Europe on the back of the motorcycle. Henri standing in front of the Venus of Quinipily
Photo © Ann James Massey
Henri Bérenger holding our helmets in Matera, Italy
Photo  © 2000 Ann James Massey
Henri holding our helmets in Matera, Italy
Photo © 2000 Ann James Massey