Alchemist from the collection of Anderson Gallery - BSU

Viewing artist Paul Stopforth Clear context

Alchemist by Paul Stopforth

Alchemist, 1992

Oil on Canvas

40 x 60 in (101.6 x 152.4 cm)

Inv: 236918

Location: Moakley Center

Centered on the stippled surface is a baboon skull interwoven with the outline of a pair of hands. The skull is a reference to the ancient Egyptian God Hapi, whose baboon head adorns the stopper on the canopic jar responsible for the preservation of the lungs. Hapi is the divine guardian of air, and of alchemical transfer from one state to another. This symbolism can be related to Stopforth’s testimony that moving to Boston provided space for him to breathe because, “America is big enough to provide people with the opportunities to live out their lives regardless of how they feel connected
to, or are affiliated to, the countries that they were born in.”

Email Facebook X LinkedIn Pinterest

From Anderson Gallery - BSU

Paul Stopforth

Diviner, 2005

Oil on wood

81 x 95 in (205.74 x 241.3 cm)
Paul Stopforth

Trinity, 1994

Gouache on board

78 x 24 in (198.12 x 60.96 cm)
Paul Stopforth

Malagasy Mourner, 1992

Oil on Canvas
Paul Stopforth

The Initiate, 1991

Mixed Media

72 x 48 x 3 in (182.88 x 121.92 x 7.62 cm)

View All Artworks

Additional Details

Additional Artworks

Diviner, 2005

Trinity, 1994

Malagasy Mourner, 1992

The Initiate, 1991