Some Other Tree

Gladys Nilsson

2001

watercolor and gouache on paper

40" x 25"

At the bottom of Some Other Tree is a tiny space in which a man pursues a woman among tall leaves and disc-like flowers. In the central panel’s world of blooming trees and towering mushrooms, a fellow in green plaid knickers is hugged and restrained by a woman in an orange dress, while a woman with a secretive smile rests against an orange and yellow tree, holding flowers and a letter. In the top panel’s mysteriously compressed space, a couple leans from a window. The man’s one arm is around a woman dressed in red, while the other extends a bouquet of flowers to an elfin, pony-tailed woman posed on the same window ledge. It’s not certain whether there are connections between the little narratives occurring in the different spaces, but the implied relationships and the title Some Other Tree give humorous nods to the old adage that the “grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.”

Credit

The Bill McClain Collection of Chicago Imagism