The “fine and varied” artwork of the late Leslie Vought Kuenne is now on display at Olivia Rainbow Gallery in Princeton, through Feb. 6.
– By Lisa Granozio
In memory of the late Kuenne, D&R Greenway’s Olivia Rainbow Gallery maintains the art space in perpetuity, honoring Leslie and Chris Kuenne’s late daughter, Olivia Michelle.
Her mother’s exhibit, Light, Stillness & Beauty, — named by co-curator, Lisa Granozio – evokes the stunning variety of this array of unexpected nature subjects.
“In life, Kuenne downplayed the power of her arresting paintings and photographs,” says D&R Greenway’s contact person, Carolyn Edelmann.
Her lively, even quirky works feature a hefty Savoy cabbage that contends with the intimacy of a softly burgeoning tulip. Her saucy rooster painting challenges a nearby portrait of a nearly exploding tulip.
Kuenne’s approaches to tulips in particular, could be said to be that of a deep-sea diver. A billow of antique lace holds its own above her challenging scene of hairy knees and reaching hands.
This artist’s remarkable close-up of local ice contends in both hue and line with her intense oil of a Vermont sunset.
Kuenne’s family is highly artistic and passionate about paintings, sculptures, gardens, and even storytelling. But she has taken her own art to unexplored levels.
One can say her specialty is in contrasting. Visitors to the Olivia Rainbow Gallery are guided on diverse journeys of entwining leaves softening harshly weathered woods; also, where brittle paint curls contrast with severe straightness in a venerable fence.
Kuenne was also a generous public servant, multi-faceted friend and diverse artist, who possessed other lesser-known talents such as gifted chef, and even inventive gardener.
Her husband is also remarkable in his work at Princeton University, and is also an author, and the founder of Rosetta and Rosemark Capital. Her husband and her two sons, with her sister Victoria, joined Granozio in choosing images for the compact, yet wide-ranging memorial exhibition.