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The painting is a stylized and abstracted representation of a tree, rendered in unexpected colors. The trunk of the tree is pale pink with purplish-blue shadows and shaded areas. The three distinct branches of the tree are set against a flat landscape painted in brilliant yellows, golds, and greens, with occasional touches of blues, whites, reds, and browns. The artist applied slashes and dabs of paint without blending them, and occasionally areas of plain board show through the paint. His vigorous technique intensifies the energetic mood of the painting.
Maurer’s reticence about his work makes it difficult to pinpoint a place or date of production. He painted this piece in oil on paper mounted on board, a practice which he first developed because board was portable and lightweight and could easily be transported around the city and out into the country. He is known to have stayed at a cottage in the country on the Marne River where he loved to fish; and, in 1906, he traveled to Italy, so perhaps the painting does indeed recall a scene observed in southern France. [1]
Since the artist rarely dated his paintings, ascribing a specific date is challenging. Landscape: Provence has at times been assigned to circa 1912, and as well as to the early 1920s. [2] Given that Maurer was forced to abandon the bulk of his French work when he fled the country at the outset of World War I, it might represent a memory of France and have been completed after the artist’s return to the United States. In composition, line, and hue, the painting closely resembles one in the collection of the Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, entitled Landscape which dates to 1916. Alternatively, art historian Charles Eldredge has suggested that the painting belonging to Reynolda House Museum of American Art might have been created in Paris and sent to exhibition, thereby avoiding being dispersed when Maurer’s studio contents were sold. Regardless, Eldredge rightly points out that Landscape: Provence is a rare and fine example of Maurer’s Fauvist period. [3]
The critic Charles H. Caffin, reacting to the landscapes that Maurer exhibited at his one-man show at Stieglitz’s 291 gallery in 1909, wrote a description that might well apply to the painting in Reynolda House’s collection. Maurer, he said, “has been drawn out-of-doors into the sunshine. There, under the indirect persuasion of Matisse, he has found himself in seeing, not only local color, but visions of color, evoked from the actual facts, by the play of his imagination under the spell of some particular mood. He has ranged himself, in fact, with the other men of Paris who … are trying in their pictures to substitute interpretation for representation, and whose interpretation eliminates as far as possible the assertion of the concrete, seeking an abstract expression through color harmonies, somewhat as does the musical composer.” [4]
Notes:
[1] Elizabeth McCausland, A.H. Maurer (New York: A.A. Wyn, Inc., for the Walker Art Center, 1951), 122 and 268.
[2] Memorandum in object file documenting a conversation with John Driscoll of Babcock Galleries, December 8, 1989.
[3] Charles C. Eldredge, Barbara Babcock Millhouse, and Robert G. Workman, American Originals: Selections from Reynolda House, Museum of American Art (New York: Abbeville Press, 1990), 102.
[4] Caffin, quoted in McCausland, A.H. Maurer, 107.
ProvenanceAfter 1932
Hudson Dean Walker (1907-1976), New York, NY, purchased from estate of artist [1]
Before 1959
Babcock Galleries, New York, NY, acquired from Hudson Walker [2]
From 1959
Milton C. (1904-2002) and Emily Mason Rose (1909-2011), New York, NY, purchased from Babcock Galleries, New York, NY, March 27, 1959 [3]
From 1978
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Emily and Milton Rose in 1978 [4]
Notes:
[1] Conversation with John Driscoll at Babcock Galleries, December 26, 1989. (Walker purchased all the paintings in the Maurer estate after his death in 1932)
[2] See Note 1.
[3] See Note 1.
[4] Thank you letter from Nicholas Bragg to Milton Rose, December 29, 1978. See also, Donor letter, December 20, 1978.
Exhibition History1957
Exhibition
University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA (1957) [on exhibition at the college for two months]
1990-1992
American Originals, Selected Paintings from Reynolda House Museum of American Art
The American Federation of Arts: Center for the Fine Arts, Miami FL (9/22/1990-11/18/1990); Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs CA (12/16/1990-2/10/1991); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY (3/6/1991-5/11/1991); Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis TN (6/2/1991-7/28/1991); Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth TX (8/17/1991-10/20/1991); Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago IL (11/17/1991-1/12/1992); The Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK (3/1/1992-4/26/1992)
2009
Steiglitz Circle: Beyond O'Keeffe
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (6/6/2009-11/15/2009)
2021-2022
The O'Keeffe Circle: Artist as Gallerist and Collector
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (9/10/2021-3/3/2021)
Published ReferencesMillhouse, Barbara B. & Workman, Robert. American Originals New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1990.
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Reynolda: Her Muses, Her Stories , with contributions by Martha R. Severens and David Park Curry (Winston-Salem, N.C.: Reynolda House Museum of American Art affiliated with Wake Forest University, 2017). pg. 162, 163
DepartmentAmerican Art
Landscape: Provence
Artist
Alfred Henry Maurer
(1868 - 1932)
Datecirca 1916
Mediumoil on paper, mounted on board
DimensionsFrame: 29 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (74.3 x 64.8 cm)
Image (visible): 21 x 17 1/4 in. (53.3 x 43.8 cm)
SignedA.H. Maurer
Credit LineGift of Emily and Milton Rose
CopyrightPublic Domain
Object number1978.2.3
DescriptionPainted at the height of the artist’s Fauvist period, Alfred Maurer’s Landscape: Provence illustrates many of the style’s key principles: use of heightened color to express emotion, application of discreet patches of unblended paint, and lack of spatial recession. The word “fauve,” meaning wild beast, was first applied in the early twentieth century to a group of artists that included Henri Matisse and André Derain. Maurer’s encounters with the work of these artists inspired him to turn away from the traditional figure studies with which he had begun his career and to take up the mantle of modernism.The painting is a stylized and abstracted representation of a tree, rendered in unexpected colors. The trunk of the tree is pale pink with purplish-blue shadows and shaded areas. The three distinct branches of the tree are set against a flat landscape painted in brilliant yellows, golds, and greens, with occasional touches of blues, whites, reds, and browns. The artist applied slashes and dabs of paint without blending them, and occasionally areas of plain board show through the paint. His vigorous technique intensifies the energetic mood of the painting.
Maurer’s reticence about his work makes it difficult to pinpoint a place or date of production. He painted this piece in oil on paper mounted on board, a practice which he first developed because board was portable and lightweight and could easily be transported around the city and out into the country. He is known to have stayed at a cottage in the country on the Marne River where he loved to fish; and, in 1906, he traveled to Italy, so perhaps the painting does indeed recall a scene observed in southern France. [1]
Since the artist rarely dated his paintings, ascribing a specific date is challenging. Landscape: Provence has at times been assigned to circa 1912, and as well as to the early 1920s. [2] Given that Maurer was forced to abandon the bulk of his French work when he fled the country at the outset of World War I, it might represent a memory of France and have been completed after the artist’s return to the United States. In composition, line, and hue, the painting closely resembles one in the collection of the Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, entitled Landscape which dates to 1916. Alternatively, art historian Charles Eldredge has suggested that the painting belonging to Reynolda House Museum of American Art might have been created in Paris and sent to exhibition, thereby avoiding being dispersed when Maurer’s studio contents were sold. Regardless, Eldredge rightly points out that Landscape: Provence is a rare and fine example of Maurer’s Fauvist period. [3]
The critic Charles H. Caffin, reacting to the landscapes that Maurer exhibited at his one-man show at Stieglitz’s 291 gallery in 1909, wrote a description that might well apply to the painting in Reynolda House’s collection. Maurer, he said, “has been drawn out-of-doors into the sunshine. There, under the indirect persuasion of Matisse, he has found himself in seeing, not only local color, but visions of color, evoked from the actual facts, by the play of his imagination under the spell of some particular mood. He has ranged himself, in fact, with the other men of Paris who … are trying in their pictures to substitute interpretation for representation, and whose interpretation eliminates as far as possible the assertion of the concrete, seeking an abstract expression through color harmonies, somewhat as does the musical composer.” [4]
Notes:
[1] Elizabeth McCausland, A.H. Maurer (New York: A.A. Wyn, Inc., for the Walker Art Center, 1951), 122 and 268.
[2] Memorandum in object file documenting a conversation with John Driscoll of Babcock Galleries, December 8, 1989.
[3] Charles C. Eldredge, Barbara Babcock Millhouse, and Robert G. Workman, American Originals: Selections from Reynolda House, Museum of American Art (New York: Abbeville Press, 1990), 102.
[4] Caffin, quoted in McCausland, A.H. Maurer, 107.
ProvenanceAfter 1932
Hudson Dean Walker (1907-1976), New York, NY, purchased from estate of artist [1]
Before 1959
Babcock Galleries, New York, NY, acquired from Hudson Walker [2]
From 1959
Milton C. (1904-2002) and Emily Mason Rose (1909-2011), New York, NY, purchased from Babcock Galleries, New York, NY, March 27, 1959 [3]
From 1978
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Emily and Milton Rose in 1978 [4]
Notes:
[1] Conversation with John Driscoll at Babcock Galleries, December 26, 1989. (Walker purchased all the paintings in the Maurer estate after his death in 1932)
[2] See Note 1.
[3] See Note 1.
[4] Thank you letter from Nicholas Bragg to Milton Rose, December 29, 1978. See also, Donor letter, December 20, 1978.
Exhibition History1957
Exhibition
University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA (1957) [on exhibition at the college for two months]
1990-1992
American Originals, Selected Paintings from Reynolda House Museum of American Art
The American Federation of Arts: Center for the Fine Arts, Miami FL (9/22/1990-11/18/1990); Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs CA (12/16/1990-2/10/1991); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY (3/6/1991-5/11/1991); Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis TN (6/2/1991-7/28/1991); Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth TX (8/17/1991-10/20/1991); Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago IL (11/17/1991-1/12/1992); The Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK (3/1/1992-4/26/1992)
2009
Steiglitz Circle: Beyond O'Keeffe
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (6/6/2009-11/15/2009)
2021-2022
The O'Keeffe Circle: Artist as Gallerist and Collector
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (9/10/2021-3/3/2021)
Published ReferencesMillhouse, Barbara B. & Workman, Robert. American Originals New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1990.
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Reynolda: Her Muses, Her Stories , with contributions by Martha R. Severens and David Park Curry (Winston-Salem, N.C.: Reynolda House Museum of American Art affiliated with Wake Forest University, 2017). pg. 162, 163
Status
On view