Charlie Parker's Favorite Painting
(Originally
Design For Death)
oil on masonite,
1946
Gift from G. Abercrombie Trust, Chicago, 80.20.1
The title of this painting may indicate the sort of atmosphere in which
Gertrude
Abercrombie produced art. Active in the Chicago of the 1930s and 40s,
she was a participant in the Jazz scene, friends with Charlie
Parker, Billie Holliday, and Sarah Vaughn among others, and heavily
influenced by the music that they produced. She was,
according to Dizzy Gillespie,"the
bop
artist..," who,"has taken the essence of our music and transported it into
another art form.." Charlie Parker's
Favorite Painting though renamed because Charlie Parker
professed it to be his favorite
during a
visit to the artist's studio, is thought
to have been
actually based on a Billy Holliday song, Strange Fruit.
"Southern
trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit
hanging
from
the poplar trees." (words and music by Lewis Allen, 1946)
Although Gertrude Abercrombie
has been grouped stylistically with
Surrealist
artists like Salvador Dali or
DeChirico because of the enigmatic quality of her paintings, she was
loathe
to explain them
in Surrealist terms. According to her: "I like to paint simple things that
are a little strange."
