Cherries

Porter, largely Connecticut-based as well as New York- and Paris-trained, was among the first African American artists to exhibit his work nationally. He was also one of the few painters of color to concentrate largely on the still-life genre. After decades of success painting largely fruit and floral subjects—with the support of patrons such as Samuel Clemens and Frederic Edwin Church—Porter died in poverty and obscurity. A resurgence of interest in his work dates to the late 1980s. Cherries, produced soon after the artist’s return to the U.S. from his studies in Paris, is less impressionistic than his later French-informed works, echoing his pre-Paris fruit compositions while revealing a greater sophistication in its inventive geometric composition and vibrantly contrasting color palette.