Fear

Robert Vickrey, Fear, 1954, egg tempera on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.82
Copied Robert Vickrey, Fear, 1954, egg tempera on paperboard, 34 1⁄4 x 58 1⁄4 in. (87.0 x 148.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.82

Artwork Details

Title
Fear
Artist
Date
1954
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
34 1⁄4 x 58 1⁄4 in. (87.0 x 148.0 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation
Mediums
Mediums Description
egg tempera on paperboard
Classifications
Subjects
  • Landscape — building
  • Disaster
  • Figure female — full length
  • State of being — emotion — fear
  • Occupation — religion — nun
Object Number
1986.6.82
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1986.6.82

Artwork Description

During the 1950s, Robert Vickrey painted, made experimental films, and traveled around the world doing sketches for Time magazine. Throughout his work he assumed the perspective of the detached observer but said that to the careful viewer his paintings “always [convey] a sense of danger.” This is certainly true of Fear, in which Vickrey employed the shimmering medium of egg tempera for an image of a nun fleeing what he described as “the rubble and erosion of contemporary civilization.”


Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection, 2014
Luce Center Label

In 1948, Robert Vickrey found a photograph of two nuns from the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. He was fascinated by the image and created many paintings of nuns in austere and often sinister surroundings. In Fear, Vickrey used egg tempera paint to create a detailed view of a barren landscape, in which a nun appears to be running in distress. He once claimed that his paintings did not tell stories, but this image suggests that the nun, symbolizing purity and Christian charity, is fleeing from what Vickrey described as "the rubble and erosion of contemporary civilization." (Mecklenburg, Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection, 1998)

Exhibitions

Media - 1986.6.100 - SAAM-1986.6.100_2 - 135134
Modern American Realism: Highlights from the Sara Roby Foundation Collection
Smithsonian American Art Museum
This exhibition presents some of the most treasured paintings and sculpture from SAAM’s permanent collection, including artworks by Will Barnet, Isabel Bishop, Paul Cadmus, Edward Hopper, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Jacob Lawrence, George Tooker, among others.