Salmagundi Salad II

"An exuberant tribute to rebellion, color, and creative ferment: Salmagundi Salad is a bold work in the JeanElton TallVase (TV) Collection, matte inside and out. Its name is both playful and pointed—nodding first to the riotous Mediterranean salad of mixed textures and flavors, and more profoundly to the historic Salmagundi Club in New York City. It was there in 1910 that a group of artists mounted a now-legendary exhibition outside the confines of academic institutions, an act of aesthetic defiance that laid the groundwork for the watershed Armory Show of 1913. That seismic event forever changed the trajectory of American art, bringing modernism into the cultural bloodstream and legitimizing independent vision.

This piece channels that same spirit of audacity and freedom. Its surface bursts with swirling, layered washes of crimson, lemon, ochre, magenta, and ink-black contours, punctuated by grids, spirals, and gestural marks that echo the playful chaos of abstract thought. Like the artists of the early 20th century who assembled their wild and varied visions under one roof, this vessel gathers energetic forms into a single, striking whole.

The cobalt-blue matte interior adds a vivid counterbalance, acting almost as a reservoir for the intensity that spills across its exterior. The asymmetrical rim, rising and falling like the arc of a movement, reinforces the sense of motion and transformation—of convention yielding to invention.

The work is fired first to approximately 1800 degrees F, after which any remaining fine alterations are made, and the surface treatment is applied by hand by the artist. A second firing to about 2100 degrees F completes the process, ensuring its durability and artistic integrity.

This piece bears the JeanElton signature on its underside and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity (COA), both of which display its catalogue reference."