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Lucia and the Wave
1961-1962
The Philadelphia-born painter, printmaker, and draughts-
woman Sonia Gechtoff moved to San Francisco in 1951,
where she studied and then taught at the California School
of Fine Arts (later the San Francisco Art Institute). Painted
only a few years after Gechtoff’s 1958 move to New York
from San Francisco, Lucia and the Wave is a testament
to her mastery of the Abstract Expressionist style she
developed in the Bay Area.
Lucia and the Wave incorporates a lush paint application and
bold color relationships to express the drama and poetry of
the natural world, with its intense creative and destructive
energies. The name Lucia in the title stems from the Latin
“lux,” meaning light, and may relate to the burst of brilliant,
flame-like colors at the center of the composition. Above,
the swirling strokes of black, white, and blue paint evoke a
vortex, or a cresting wave, surrounded by roiling green waters.
- Artist
- Sonia Gechtoff (1926-2018)
- Title
- Lucia and the Wave
- Date
- 1961-1962
- Object Type
- Painting
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Overall: 49 7/8 x 53 7/8 in. (126.683 x 136.843 cm) Framed: 50 1/2 x 54 1/2 in. (128.27 x 138.43 cm)
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase, American Art Trust Fund
- Accession Number
- 2025.36
