Oil on animal parchment. Signed, I. Rice Pereira, lower right. 464x565 mm; 18 1/4x22 1/4 inches.
Irene Rice Pereira experimented with many medium and created two and three dimensional works. Her earliest use of parchment is documented in a 1974 publication, Van Wagner, Judith K., GEOMETRIC ABSTRACTION. Sheldon Museum of Art Catalogues and Publications. Here van Wagner states, She used parchment in 1941. In Pereira's own words, she describes her use of various materials as follows: I employ the abstract idiom in painting rather than more traditional forms of expression because it offers me a wider range for experimentation. In these pictures I have endeavored to explore the formal possibilities of painting, with special emphasis on constructional ways of expressing space and experimenting with new use of materials, such as glass and parchment and new pigments.
