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"The history of art is the history of optics." — David Hockney

The Images of Tupper Saussy

Tupper Saussy invented comic strips as a child and later studied watercolor painting with the Delacroix scholar Alain de Leiris.

His first exhibition was presented in 1973 at Nashville's renowned Cheekwood Fine Arts Center. It was a sellout, as were his few other southeastern exhibitions in the mid-seventies.

In 1978, Saussy abandoned painting to pursue other interests, most notably theatre and historical research, the former resulting in the production of four original plays, the latter generating his acclaimed economic treatise, The Miracle On Main Street (1980) and his more recent discoveries in the origins of the American republic, Rulers of Evil: Useful Knowledge About Governing Bodies (1999).

"MOMS and ROE were spiritual chores that had to be done," Saussy said in 2000. "Now that they're completed, I've returned to images. I'm glad to be thirty years behind the times."

The "look" of a Saussy today is reminiscent of his early works.

Black Pot: Nashville (1974) Blue Pot : Puerto Rico (2003)

He still works on handmade French cold-press watercolor paper, and his images are still tight. "I always went for realism slightly messed-over with wash," Saussy remarked.

"Like most of my artist friends, I used to photograph a subject and focus on a section I found interesting, and painstakingly recreate it on paper. Today, we use software to abstract our photographs, but the recreation on paper still takes pains. The brush still has to move the water and pigment in just the right ways or the image fails and must be destroyed. Making a successful piece is still as harrowing today as it always was."

Each completed image is an original, not a touched-up photograph or print or reproduction. Even though possibly derived from the same photographic matrix, no two pieces are identical. Each varies in size, linear elements, and manipulation of the pigments by the artist. Each is an original, unless otherwise stated.

T U P P E R S A U S S Y M U S E U M A R T W O R K S
Peer Review: "Poetry of Place"		"The history of art is the history of optics." — David Hockney The Images of Tupper Saussy Tupper Saussy invented comic strips as a child and later studied watercolor painting with the Delacroix scholar Alain de Leiris. His first exhibition was presented in 1973 at Nashville's renowned Cheekwood Fine Arts Center. It was a sellout, as were his few other southeastern exhibitions in the mid-seventies. In 1978, Saussy abandoned painting to pursue other interests, most notably theatre and historical research, the former resulting in the production of four original plays, the latter generating his acclaimed economic treatise, The Miracle On Main Street (1980) and his more recent discoveries in the origins of the American republic, Rulers of Evil: Useful Knowledge About Governing Bodies (1999). "MOMS and ROE were spiritual chores that had to be done," Saussy said in 2000. "Now that they're completed, I've returned to images. I'm glad to be thirty years behind the times." The "look" of a Saussy today is reminiscent of his early works. *Black Pot: Nashville (1974) Blue Pot* : Puerto Rico (2003) He still works on handmade French cold-press watercolor paper, and his images are still tight. "I always went for realism slightly messed-over with wash," Saussy remarked. "Like most of my artist friends, I used to photograph a subject and focus on a section I found interesting, and painstakingly recreate it on paper. Today, we use software to abstract our photographs, but the recreation on paper still takes pains. The brush still has to move the water and pigment in just the right ways or the image fails and must be destroyed. Making a successful piece is still as harrowing today as it always was." Each completed image is an original, not a touched-up photograph or print or reproduction. Even though possibly derived from the same photographic matrix, no two pieces are identical. Each varies in size, linear elements, and manipulation of the pigments by the artist. Each is an original, unless otherwise stated.