Russo Lee Gallery is pleased to present Animaliére by Sherrie Wolf. This exhibition began as a tribute to Rosa Bonheur’s career as the preeminent 19th century painter of animals. In Wolf’s large-scale work titled “Self-Portrait in Rosa Bonheur’s Studio”, she has shown herself in Bonheur’s Paris studio, using as reference a portrait of Bonheur by George Achille-Fould. Along with Wolf’s exploration of self-portraiture, throughout her practice she has juxtaposed realistic still-life objects interacting with a variety of significant references from art history. This body of work continues the theme by incorporating historic animal paintings within the backgrounds. Wolf’s skillful use of reflected and refracted light creates works that are charged with color and rich in detail.
Sherrie Wolf graduated from the Museum Art School, now the Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR, in 1974 and received an MA from the Chelsea College of Art in London, England in 1975. She began exhibiting her work in the mid 1970’s while teaching art at PNCA. Her work is included in such collections as the Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR; Hallie Ford Museum, Salem, OR; the Tacoma Art Museum, Washington; City of Seattle; and Washington State Art Collection. Wolf has also been included in multiple curated solo and group exhibitions across the country. In 2012, Wolf’s work was presented in a solo exhibition at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, in 2014 she was featured in a solo show at the Long Beach Museum of Art in Southern California, and in 2023 Wolf had a solo exhibition at the Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland, Oregon.