Principles of design

For each work: List the title, artist (or culture), and date

Identify the medium and its qualities

Describe using at least two stylistic terms, four formal elements, and three principles of design

Interpret what you think the work is about and share your response to the work

New Acquisition Ira Glackens (b. 1907, New York, NY; d. 1990 Shepherdstown, WV) Pope Joan in Procession, n.d. Oil on canvas NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale; gift of the Sansom Foundation, Inc., 2020.9 William Glackens and Edith Dimock’s son Ira was a talented individual who followed the artistic pursuits of his parents. In addition to his work as a visual artist, Ira Glackens was recognized for his writings, which included a biography of the apocryphal figure Pope Joan, titled Pope Joan: the English Girl Who Made It, An Unorthodox Interlude (1965.) According to Medieval legend, Pope Joan was a woman of the Catholic church who during the Middle Ages, ascended the ecclesiastical ranks by disguising herself as a man, only to have her gender exposed when she gave birth in the midst of a procession. After her denunciation, Pope Joan was ousted from the Church and absolved from Papal history. In this painting, which Glackens signed under the artist alias ‘Roger Weakfish,’ we see the protagonist distinguished by the vivid hue of her saffron yellow regalia, as she commands a ceremonial march. Given the formality and ceremonial order of the scene, it may be that Glackens is depicting the decisive moments before Pope Joan’s maternal secret and biological gender are revealed, and chaos descends upon the scene.