Details
SUZIE ZUZEK (AMERICAN, 1920-2011)
Isabel
watercolor, ink, and graphite on paper
15 x 22 in. (38.1 x 55.9 cm.) (unframed)
Executed in 1978.
Provenance
Created for Key West Hand Print Fabrics, Inc., Key West, Florida, 1978.
Acquired by Lilly Pulitzer, Inc., Palm Beach, Florida, sold Key West Hand Print Fabrics, Inc., 1985 to private owners.
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2016.
Literature
Susan Brown and Caroline Rennolds Milbank, Suzie Zuzek for Lilly Pulitzer: The Artist Behind an Iconic American Fashion Brand, 1962–1985, New York, 2020, p. 189 (illustrated).
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Lot Essay

In order to maximize the number of colors in the designs while minimizing the price, Zuzek would create patterns using the 'fall on' technique, in which colors are layered on top of each other to create new shades. In this watercolor, Zuzek layers blue and yellow paints to create the flowers' green stems and pink and yellow to create areas of orange in the background, which this original work depicts perfectly. While Zuzek was quite skilled in this technique, Peter Pell, who was responsible for selecting the inks for different color ways oncloth, he had a less sophisticated sense of color theory. Sometimes Pell's selections would result in murky color combinations, causing Lilly Pulitzer to eventually decree "No more fall on!" (Brown and Rennolds Milbank, 22)

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Suzie Zuzek: The Artist Behind Lilly Pulitzer
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