Becky Suss (b. 1980 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Foyer (Helen’s Quilt), 2017, Oil on Canvas, 84in x 60in, Museum purchase, The Dorothy Johnston Towne (Class of 1923) Fund 2018.160.

The Davis Museum recently purchased this painting by Becky Suss, the first work by the artist in the Museum’s collections. Born in Philadelphia in 1980, Suss received an MFA from the University of California, Berkeley. Her first solo museum exhibition was held at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, in 2015. Her near life-size paintings play with linear perspective and her use of two dimensionality draws attention to the household objects depicted. She explores the idea of memory within a room through the representation of personal belongings in a restricted space. Archetypal of Suss’s work, Foyer (Helen’s Quilt) highlights several personal items: the quilt, vase, and candlesticks. The quilt belonged to her uncle’s wife’s, a figure whom Suss was told little about as a child. The vase was made by a friend. The candlesticks are 19th century Sabbath candlesticks, popular in Poland. When her family immigrated to the United States, they did not bring Sabbath candlesticks with them; thus, Suss bought her own as an adult.  These objects represent Suss’s familial history, and their placement in the foyer invites viewers to analyze her family’s past and present.