Untitled, 1934–1935

Ray studied with Hans Hofmann between the years 1933 and 1939. When she made this still life painting, she had already been working with him for several years. Ray depicts various fruit, including a pumpkin, a watermelon, pears, and a lemon, scattered across a patterned tablecloth along with a lamp. The presence of the lamp and the planes of dark and light color suggest the influence of her long-time instructor. Hofmann encouraged his students to draw and paint not just the objects themselves, but the objects in relation to their surroundings, including their lighting and shadows. While working on this painting, Ray wrote to her mother joking, “The darn painting gets more and more realistic. Looks like I’ll have to…resign from the AAA [American Abstract Artists].”