20|21 Art: The LA Edition 
24 April 2024
20|21 Art: The LA Edition 
315

James Jarvaise 1924–2015

Façade

1992
watercolor on illustration board 10½ h × 12 w in (27 × 30 cm)
estimate: $1,000–1,500
result: $630
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Signed, titled and dated to lower edge ‘Jarvaise Façade 1992’. This work's identification number is WAT1992.004 in The James Jarvaise Catalogue Raisonné Project.
provenance: The Estate of James Jarvaise
literature: The James Jarvaise Catalogue Raisonné Project, Jarvaise, McCardwell and Crnkovich, no. WAT1992.004

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Love & Struggle

James Jarvaise’s ‘Façade’

The present work represents James Jarvaise’s deep commitment to his family, and the influence this commitment had on his art and career. Jarvaise's wife, whom he loved fiercely, struggled with bipolar disorder and was subject to severe emotional outbursts. Although his art was critically and commercially acclaimed, he ultimately chose to put his family before his career by striving to provide his five children with a stable home life. In Façade, Jarvaise symbolically renders the challenges he faced in presenting a happy “façade” to the outside world while managing the painful subjugation of his art career. 

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