Steinmetz

Anna Pavlova was one of the most celebrated ballerinas of the early 20th Century, most known for The Dying Swan, a solo performance choreographed for her. In this personality print, the distorted white dying swan appearing in the water takes flight into the tall green airy and graceful green grasses dancing on the page. White curved parallel lines - found in quilled and beaded blankets – appear at the top of the panel, perhaps signaling the swan’s ascension to heaven.

In addition to personality portraits, Sully created several works related to broader themes of the day. In Titled Husbands in the USA, the artist pokes fun at the glitter and celebrity of European noble men marrying wealthy American women. Three men suck from a milk bottle labeled with dollar signs, and broken straws extend from the sides of the milk bottle like broken wings. Attached to them are red hearts, all marked with the signs of rupture, and wedding bands. The middle panel extends the top panel design into kaleidoscope fashion, and the bottom panel further abstracts the composition into one that resembles both stain glass windows found in churches and those found in Lakota quilled and beaded hide robes.

In this work, Sully depicts Charles Steinmetz, a celebrity scientist, founder of modern electrical engineering and discoverer of the Steinmetz Curve of electric alternating currents. Alternating blue energy waves and arrow-like cross currents appear, and these currents become more contained in the center panel. Red diamonds interconnect with the green ovals throughout, not unlike a circuit diagram. The bottom panel distills the visual information into a Dakota and Lakota patterning, perhaps referencing cosmological energy, featuring designs found on moccasins, blankets, clothing, and robes.