Painting on the Kitchen Table

Mary Mabbutt British
1984
Not on view
According to the artist, this painting was executed in Falmouth, Cornwall in October 1984. It is one of a series of three paintings depicting self-portraits in the kitchen. Mabbutt wrote: "The basis of my work is a focusing on particular moments which occur in my personal life. These are [found] in the commonplace. Walking on the beach, brushing my daughter's hair at the kitchen table, trying on shoes. They are moments of heightened consciousness—an awareness of what it is to be living at the moment. The paintings develop through a number of small studies and researches of the information from the situation, and attempt to develop into paintings which are celebratory of real life, but have a life of their own."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Painting on the Kitchen Table
  • Artist: Mary Mabbutt (British, born Luton, 1951)
  • Date: 1984
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 36 × 36 in. (91.4 × 91.4 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Gift of a Group of Artists, by exchange, 1987
  • Object Number: 1987.206
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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