Mary Pratt's Poppies No. 1

A towering vertical composition, Mary Pratt's Poppies No. 1 commands the wall with the quiet authority of a work that understands its own scale — nearly five feet of silvered surface animated by botanical form. John Richard renders the piece in wood dressed in silver leaf, the metallic finish lending the poppies an otherworldly luminosity that shifts with the light throughout the day. At once architectural and painterly, it occupies that rare territory between fine art and refined decorative object, suited to the grand salon and the considered intimate room alike.