Editor's note: The Harvard University Art Museums provided source material to Resource Library for the following article or essay. If you have questions or comments regarding the source material, please contact the Harvard University Art Museums directly through either this phone number or web address:
American Watercolors and Pastels, 18751950, at the Fogg Art Museum
April 8 - June 25, 2006
(above: Charles Demuth (1883-1935), Fruit and Sunflowers, c. 1925, watercolor over graphite on white wove paper, 45.7 x 29.8 cm. Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums. Louise E. Bettens Fund, 1925.5.3. Photo: Photographic Services © President and Fellows of Harvard College.)
The Harvard University
Art Museums will present American Watercolors and Pastels, 18751950,
at the Fogg Art Museum from April 8 to June 25, 2006. 
The exhibition features 52 watercolors and pastels primarily
drawn from the extensive holdings of the Fogg, as well as significant works
lent by friends of the Art Museums. This will be the first treasures of
American art since 1936, when the Fogg presented American Watercolors
from the Museum's Collection, and will give the public an opportunity
to examine a selection of works that are rarely put on display because of
their sensitivity to light. The exhibition focuses on works created during
what scholars consider the medium's "golden age" of experimentation
and development. (right: Edward Hopper, Highland Light, 1930,
watercolor over graphite on rough white wove paper, 42.3 x 65.3 cm. Fogg
Art Museum, HUAM. Louise E. Bettens Fund, 1930.462. Photo: David Mathews
© President and Fellows of Harvard College.)
The period from 1875 to 1950 saw the status of the watercolor shift dramatically. Works on paper until that time usually served only as studies or preparatory works for finished oil paintings, but beginning in the late 19th century, drawings and watercolors were exhibited more regularly in their own right. Artists such as Winslow Homer began painting complete scenes in watercolor and exhibiting them as finished works in commercial galleries. Homer pushed the medium formally, scratching into the surface of the paper to create highlights and experimenting with washes, opaque applications of paint. John Singer Sargent also helped to establish the merits of the medium, preferring watercolor for its portability, and utilizing it on his travels to make informal sketches that stood on their own and did not necessarily serve preparatory ends.
By the early 20th century, gallery owner Alfred Stieglitz
introduced modernism to a skeptical New York audience with exhibitions of
watercolors by John 
Marin and Charles
Demuth, drawings and watercolors by Georgia O'Keeffe, and pastels by Arthur
G. Dove. American modernism contributed significantly to the evolution of
the watercolor and helped to establish its status as an important American
medium. O'Keeffe developed her signature style by exploring abstraction
in watercolor and pastel, inexpensive and quick materials that lent themselves
to experimentation. She and her contemporaries like Marin and Stuart Davis
took advantage of this ease of experimentation to develop formal innovations,
resulting in unique pieces that were displayed as finished works. Today,
these watercolors are among the most highly valued objects of the American
modernist period. (left: Winslow Homer (1836-1910), Mink Pond,
1891, watercolor over graphite on heavy white wove paper, 35.3 x 50.5 cm.
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums. Bequest of Grenville L.
Winthrop, 1943.304. Photo: Allan Macintyre © President and Fellows
of Harvard College.)
The exhibition was organized by Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., Curator of American Art, and Virginia Anderson, Assistant Curator of American Art. "The exhibition came out of our work on a comprehensive collections catalogue of American painting, watercolor, pastel, and stained glass at the Harvard University Art Museums," said Stebbins. "As we compiled the list of objects for that catalogue project, it became clear that the Fogg's collection from this period and in these media was particularly strong and deserving of an exhibition." Anderson adds, "This is an opportunity to present to the public a wonderful selection of important American works, the majority of which are unpublished. Through this exhibition, we can bring these works to light so that they can receive critical and scholarly attention."
The Fogg Art Museum has long been known for its collection
of works on paper and a significant portion of the collection includes some
six thousand 
American drawings,
watercolors, and pastels dating from the 18th through the early 21st century.
This serious interest in American watercolors stems from the period of the
1910s and 1920s, a time when the medium was winning new levels of recognition
in the U.S. The Fogg's collection was driven by two former directors and
by the generous gift of an important collector. The Fogg's second director,
Edward E. Forbes, who served from 1909 to 1944, was himself an amateur watercolorist
of some ability, and his assistant director from 1915 to 1944 was the legendary
drawings collector Paul Sachs. Together, Forbes and Sachs energetically
built the collection, pursuing works by Homer, Marin, Demuth, and Hopper,
and they exemplified the Fogg's commitment to depth and strength in a specific
area by acquiring several pieces by each artist. (right: John Singer
Sargent (1856-1925), Group in the Simplon, 1911, watercolor over
graphite on white wove paper, 35.5 x 50 cm. Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University
Art Museums. Gift of Sir Joseph Duveen, 1927.7. Photo: Allan Macintyre ©
President and Fellows of Harvard College.
The Fogg's holdings of 19th century American watercolors and pastels were greatly enhanced with the bequest of the Winthrop Collection in 1943. Grenville L. Winthrop is best remembered for his magnificent collection of Asian art and for his superb holdings of French and British paintings and drawings, but he also collected extensively the work of a quartet of American masters of the late 19th century: Homer, LaFarge, Whistler, and Sargent. Winthrop's gift of 136 American drawings, watercolors, and pastels, along with 57 paintings and 35 sculptures, makes him Harvard's most important donor in this field to date.
"Our collection of American watercolors and pastels is extraordinary, and it's a pleasure for us to bring them to a new generation of students, scholars, and the public," said Thomas W. Lentz, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums. "I am also particularly grateful to the private collectors who generously lent us some of their most treasured objects, which allow us to present this rich view of American art."
Works
The exhibition features a comprehensive presentation of American artists in this field and includes a number of outstanding examples from the Fogg's collection. Homer's Mink Pond (1891), and Hunter in the Adirondacks (1892), Sargent's Group in the Simplon (1911), and La Farge's Chinese Pi-tong (1879) are significant works from the 19th century. From the 20th century, de Kooning's Reclining Woman (c. 1948-49), Demuth's Fruit and Sunflowers (c. 1925), Hopper's Highland Light (1930), two versions of Mt. Chocorua by John Marin from 1926, and Rothko's untitled (1944-46) are all notable works. In addition to presenting these highlights from the Fogg's collection, there are a number of significant works on loan from private collections, including Chase's Self-Portrait (c. 1884), Stuart Davis's Study for Eggbeater #3 (1928), Georgia O'Keeffe's Portrait -- Black (1918), and Helen Torr's Zinnias (c. 1929-35).
Please click here to view the checklist for the exhibition.
Brochure
The exhibition will be accompanied by a brochure with 12 color reproductions, a checklist, and a short essay by curator Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr. The brochure is made possible by the Bolton Fund for American Art, Gift of the Payne Fund.
Exhibition Programming
Gallery Talks: Fogg Art Museum. Free with the price of admission.
M. Victor Leventritt Lectures on American Art: Arthur M. Sackler Museum, lecture hall. Free admission.
rev. 4/10/06
Read more articles and essays concerning this institutional source by visiting the sub-index page for the Harvard University Art Museums in Resource Library.
Visit the Table of Contents for Resource Library for thousands of articles and essays on American art.
Copyright 2005 Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc., an Arizona nonprofit corporation. All rights reserved..