Marc Chagall, the Russian-French painter of fanciful images, wrote, “All our interior world is reality, and that, perhaps, more so than our apparent world.” 

Zahra Marwan was born in Kuwait and now lives in New Mexico. Her illustrations are inspired by reminiscences and random thoughts from inner memories of the past and the experience of two different cultures. Hecho Gallery, As the Sun Sets, watercolor and ink on paper, 11 x 15", by Zahra Marwan

Ramadan is one of the holiest months of the year for Muslims. They fast during sunlight hours, pray and reflect, commemorating the revelation of the Quran, the sacred scripture of Islam. The people break their fast at sunset and go to the mosque for prayer. 

Marwan’s painting As the Sun Sets is a magical reflection of that time. A figure floats, Chagall-like, in the space, clutching her Quran and her prayer beads. Marwan continues, “I’m certainly inspired by the magical realism that is present in Chagall’s work. In the painting, the phone is off the hook and it says ‘hello?’ in Arabic. There is a traditional waterpipe older women smoke in Kuwait. Kanafeh dessert is laid out with pistachios and coffee is about to be served, which must mean they’ve already eaten and some people went to pray. There is a mosque outside the window.”Libby Bailey, The Synod of the Bishops, oil on canvas, 72 x 54"

The comfortable interior of home is a place for being together with family and, still, a place for quiet exploration of a person’s psychological and spiritual interior. 

Nicholas Martin acknowledges an obsession with light. Often the light enters dark interiors through café or bedroom windows, enlightening but not disturbing the quiet intimacy. In his painting The Old Jacket, a woman stands in an empty café lit by sunlight through large, thinly dressed windows and by interior light sconces. Each table is a discreet island within the common space. Martin, who was born in France and now lives and works in Montréal, comments, “My mother is represented in an old diner in St-Donat, Québec. I already created two paintings about this place, two empty interiors. I love so much this restaurant, but it is time to let it go. Painting a place is like staying in it for me, I don’t know if it makes sense.”Principle Gallery, The Old Jacket, oil on wood panel, 18 x 24”, by Nicolas Martin

Libby Bailey, Rococo Lady in the Chinese Room of the Spanish Palace, oil on canvas, 72 x 52"  

Our memories of interior spaces are like going home, little places of refuge in a chaotic world. In his novel, Speak, Memory, Vladimir Nabokov wrote, “I see again my schoolroom in Vyra, the blue roses of the wallpaper, the open window…Everything is as it should be, nothing will ever change, nobody will ever die.”

Heather Neill long ago fell in love with the island of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. Initially drawn to the life of the sea and the island’s people, she has done two series of paintings on buildings rich in the island’s history.

The oldest part of the Hancock-Mitchell House was built in the 17th century. Its walls are made of wattle and daub, a mixture of mud and straw that is packed around wooden rungs. Later additions feature walls of wooden lath plastered with a mixture of ground oyster shells and horsehair. The land trust, Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, is restoring the building, as Neill relates, “into a stable and safe state but not…for contemporary occupation. Rather, it will be restored to the architectural equivalent of somewhere in the middle of its 1700s lifespan. And then offered to islanders, academics and interested others as a Study House.”Jones & Terwilliger Galleries, Moet with Mucha, oil on panel, 36 x 36", by Dan Graziano

She has done seven paintings of the Study House and, in her blog, offers “an in-depth look into each of the rooms and let them tell the stories of the builders, the ship captains and the generations of women and children who called it home.

“None of them brought fancy modern inventions like electricity…or running water in to spoil her bones. So, like the richly weathered decking on the whale ship the Charles W. Morgan, there’s an honestly earned patina on every hewn surface.

“And enough beauty in the sunlit robin’s egg blue reflections from the milk painted wall boards…to last…thanks to some supremely dedicated islanders… for centuries to come.”Granary Gallery, The Study House, oil on panel, 26 x 36", by Heather Neill.In Study House, Neill celebrates its construction and the remains of its interior decoration at some point in its history with blue floral wall paper that echoes the robin’s egg blue in other rooms, the clear sky outside and the nearby ocean. Raking sunlight enlivens the interior as it has for nearly four centuries.

Within this special section, collectors can move through yet more interior scenes that evoke comfort, refuge, quiet drama and even mystery.

Libby Bailey’s paintings are inspired by the interiors of the world’s grand, vaulted and domed sacred and secular structures. The art historical figures recall past eras. For instance, the curved lines of the cross vaults in The Synod of the Bishops create an illusion that sweeps the imagination—and the eye—into spatial depth, while the prominence and bold colors of the figures anchor the foreground. The light and color, like that of stained glass, enhance the solemn, spiritual feeling. Libby Bailey, Mosaic Musings, oil on canvas, 72 x 48”

The architectural space of Rococo Lady in the Chinese Room of the Spanish Palace is defined by the diagonal lines of perspective that create the corner of the room. The chinoiserie décor and pale green color scheme evoke a lighthearted, even frivolous mood. 

Mosaic Musings is more abstract. The dizzying perspective only suggests a domed space, while the colorful, kaleidoscope pattern of the mosaic tiles creates a heavenly halo for the earthly Spanish lady in red with her golden icon.

Jones & Terwilliger Galleries, with two locations in Carmel and Palm Desert, California, has proudly represented Lindsay Goodwin’s intimate romantic interior paintings for over 15 years.  Jones & Terwilliger Galleries, Copper Corner of Castle Cormatin, oil on canvas, 9 x 12”, by Lindsay Goodwin.

A California native, Goodwin has been strongly inspired by her annual sojourns to France. She is known for her depictions of Paris’ treasured restaurants and French chateaus and has recently returned from Provence with new alla prima paintings. The galleries also represent the interior bar and restaurant paintings of Dan Graziano, who captures the hidden beauty in unexpected places and fleeting moments of everyday life. In recent years he has enjoyed incorporating famous paintings in his bar scenes by artists such as Tamara de Lempicka, Maxfield Parrish, Toulouse-Lautrec and, as in the piece featured here, Alphonse Mucha. —

Featured Artists & Galleries

Granary Gallery
636 Old Country Road, West Tisbury, MA 02575, (508) 693-0455
www.granarygallery.com 

Hecho Gallery
129 W. Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 8750, (505) 455-6882
www.hechogallery.com 

Libby Bailey
Morganton, GA
hebailey@gmail.com
www.libbybaileyartist.com
Represented by Buck Bailey
(971) 227-2628, buckbailey129@gmail.com 

Jones & Terwilliger Galleries
73-375 El Paseo, Suite A, Palm Desert, CA 92260, (760) 674-8989;
Sixth Avenue between San Carlos & Dolores, Carmel-By-The Sea, CA 93923, (831) 626-9100
www.jones-terwilliger-galleries.com 

Principle Gallery
125 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC 29401, (843) 727-4500
www.principlegallery.com/charleston 

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