CM: The Flowers in Blue Vase is a work by Richard de Menocal of about 1940 and originates in Alexander Iolas Collection, New York. Iolas himself donated this painting to his friend George Fatseas, an actor starring in Elia Kazan's America America (1963), in gratitude for the latter's support in his early days in New York in the 1940s. Takis Efstathiou purchased this painting from George Fatseas at Westchester County, New York, in the early 1970s, and subsequently donated it to the ACG Art Collection.
In the still life arrangements for which he is best known, Richard de Menocal is concerned with quietude of mood and with formal issues of balance and tone. The attribution of the present unsigned painting to De Menocal is based on the research for Flowers in Pink Vase.
