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Regional Dialect: American Scene Paintings from the John and Susan Horseman Collection

April 5 - June 28, 2009

 

In the period between the twentieth-century's two world wars, American artists across the country began to look to their neighbors and to their immediate surroundings for inspiration. They came to be known as the painters of the American Scene and their work sought to earnestly express the American experience in all its pleasure and pain, complexity and plurality. They were at times intensely regional in vision and were connected to their subjects and to their audiences in ways that earlier (and later) artists avoided or even shunned. But these painters also produced cogent snapshots of American values, desires, challenges, and aspirations that resonated nationwide. In this one intriguing epoch, American artists were simultaneously integral parts of their respective communities and contributors to the larger national dialogue on art and on every other topic as well. (right: Robert Osbourne Chadeayne (1897-1981, Active in Ohio), Service Station, 1935, Oil on canvas, 30 x 36 inches. Signed lower right: R.O. Chadeayne '35 )

Regional Dialect: American Scene Paintings from the John and Susan Horseman Collection brings together major works of art that examine American identity in the first half of the twentieth century. The Horseman Collection includes impressive paintings by such seminal artists of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s as George Adomeit, Ross Braught, Robert O. Chadeayne, Carl Gaertner, Joe Jones, Miriam McKinnie, Marcelline Spencer, Joseph Vorst, Hale Woodruff, and others. But the collection also features talented regional painters who were important antecedents to the American Scene, such as Charles Burchfield, Theodore Butler, Paul Cornoyer, Glen Cooper Henshaw, Adam Lehr, Frank Myers, Elizabeth Nourse, Birger Sandzén, Alice Schille, and Alice Beach Winter.

The artists in Regional Dialect come from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas, but also from Germany, Sweden, and Armenia. They do not so much adhere to a single style as to a common commitment to the portrayal of American ways of life. They captured the width and breadth of the American experience whether painting Depression-era sharecroppers in the rural South or monuments of industrialism in the upper Midwest. Their canvases were the shared language of the whole American experiment, even if they sometimes spoke with an accent or in a Regional Dialect. The exhibition and catalogue for Regional Dialect was produced by the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis

 

Exhibition catalogue

Regional Dialect will be accompanied by a 72-page, hardcover catalogue featuring full-color reproductions of the 57 works in the exhibition. The catalogue entries will be preceded by a critical essay written by Dixon Gallery director Kevin Sharp, a well-known voice in the field of American art. Each catalogue entry will include a short biography of the artist and an analysis of the painting.

 

Exhibition tour

Regional Dialect opened in November, 2008 at the Cedarhurst Center for the Arts in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. The remaining tour schedule is as follows:

(above: Hovsep Pushman (1877-1966, Active in New York, France, and California), The Reading Lesson (Mother and Daughter), No. 773, c. 1915, Oil on canvas, 28 _ x 23 _ inches. Signed lower right: Pushman)

 

(above: Yeteve Smith (1888-1957, Active in Ohio), Sewing in the Garden, 1925, Oil on canvas, 34 x 27 inches. Signed lower right: Yeteve Smith)

(above: Amy Jones (1899-1968, Active in New York), Silk Stockings and Permanent Wave, 1937, Oil on board, 20 x 24 inches. Signed lower right: Amy Jones 1937)

To view additional images from the exhibition please click here.

 

Checklist

 
LOOKING FOR THE REGIONAL LANDSCAPE
 
1. ALBERT LOREY GROLL
(1866-1902, Active in New Mexico and Arizona)
Arizona Wonderland, 1908
Oil on canvas
40 x 49 inches
Signed lower left: Groll
 
2. ROBERT EMMETT OWEN
(1878-1957, Active in New England)
Snowstorm, c. 1912
Oil on canvas
25 x 30 inches
Signed lower left: R. Emmett Owen
 
3. BIRGER SANDZEN
(1871-1954, Active in Kansas and Colorado)
A Colorado Sunset, c. 1916
Oil on canvas
12 x 16 inches
Signed lower left: Birger Sandzen
 
4. BIRGER SANDZEN
(1871-1954, Active in Kansas and Colorado)
Mountain Splendor, Colorado, c. 1920
Oil on panel
8 x 10 inches
Signed lower left: Birger Sandzen
 
5. BIRGER SANDZEN
(1871-1954, Active in Kansas and Colorado)
Cedars in the Rockies, c. 1920
Oil on panel
18 x 24 inches
Signed lower left: Birger Sandzen
 
6. BIRGER SANDZEN
(1871-1954, Active in Kansas and Colorado)
Poplars in the Moonlight, c. 1920
Oil on canvas
24 x 31 _ inches
Signed lower right: Birger Sandzen
 
7. ALEXIS JEAN FOURNIER
(1865-1948, Active in Minnesota, New York, and Indiana)
Cloud Shadows in the Catskills, 1920
Oil on canvas
25 x 34 inches
Signed lower right: Alex Fournier 1920
 
8. JOHN WILLIAM VAWTER
(1871-1941, Active in Indiana)
Friendly Neighbors, c. 1921
Oil on canvas
30 x 36 inches
Signed lower right: Will Vawter
 
9. BERNARD PETERS
(1893 ­ 1949, Active in Missouri)
Gloucester Harbor, 1929
Oil on canvas
36 x 36 inches
Signed lower right: B. E. Peters 1929
 
10. BERNARD PETERS
(1893 ­ 1949, Active in Missouri)
Untitled (Landscape)
Oil on canvas
36 x 39 _ inches
Signed lower right: B. E. Peters
 
11. ROSS EUGENE BRAUGHT
(1898 ­ 1983, Active in Missouri and New York)
Untitled (Hills and Rocks), c. 1935
Oil on canvas
29 x 35 inches
Signed lower center: Ross Braught
 
12. JOE JONES
(1909-1963, Active in Missouri)
Missouri Autumn, 1935
Oil on canvas
25 x 30 inches
Signed lower right: Joseph Jones
 
 
AMERICANS AT WORK
 
13. ADAM LEHR
(1853-1924, Active in Ohio)
Corn Shocks (Long Island), 1910
Oil on canvas
24 x 36 inches
Signed lower right: Adam Lehr
 
14. HENRY GEORGE KELLER
(1870-1949, Active in Ohio)
Logging on the Vermilion River, c. 1910
Oil on linen
39 x 49 inches
Signed lower left: H. Keller
 
15. MAY AMES
(1869-1943, Active in Ohio)
Corn Shocks, Brecksville, 1913
Oil on canvas
23 x 35 inches
Signed lower left: May Ames 1913
 
16. ELLIOT DAINGERFIELD
(1859-1932, Active in New York and North Carolina)
The Team, c. 1915
Oil on canvas
24 x 27 inches
Signed lower right: Elliot Dangerfield
 
17. CARL GRAF
(1890-1947, Active in Indiana)
Evening Chores, c. 1920
Oil on canvas
19 x 23 inches
 
18. C. S. PRICE
(1874-1950, Active in Oregon and California)
Cloudy Evening, c. 1926
Oil on canvas
30 x 32 inches
Signed lower left: C.S. Price
 
19. CARL GAERTNER
(1898-1952, Active in Ohio)
Barn and Furrows, 1928
Oil on canvas
30 x 35 inches
Estate stamped signed verso
 
20. CARL GAERTNER
(1898-1952, Active in Ohio)
Winter Homestead, 1928
Oil on canvas
31 x 33 inches
Estate stamped signed on stretcher
 
21. CARL GAERTNER
(1898-1952, Active in Ohio)
Swamp Spur, 1944
Oil on masonite
24 x 40 inches
Signed and dated lower right: Carl Gaertner 1944
 
22. GEORGE G. ADOMEIT
(1879-1967, Active in Ohio)
Tilling the Fields, Zoar, 1931
Oil on canvas over masonite
25 x 34 inches
Signed lower right: Geo. G. Adomeit
 
23. MIRIAM McKINNIE
(1906-1987, Active in Missouri)
The Gleaners, ca. 1934
Oil on canvas
23 x 42 inches
Signed lower left: McKinnie
 
24. HALE WOODRUFF
(American, Active in Georgia and New York)
Negro Cotton Pickers, ca. 1935
Oil on canvas
35 x 24 inches
Signed lower left: Hale Woodruff
 
25. AMY JONES
(1899-1968, Active in New York)
Silk Stockings and Permanent Wave, 1937
Oil on board
20 x 24 inches
Signed lower right: Amy Jones 1937
 
26. ALEXANDER (ALEC) WATSON BAIRD
(1910-1990, Active in New York and the American South)
Cotton Pickers' Serenade, 1938
Oil on canvas
30 x 42 _ inches
Signed lower right: Alec W. Baird
 
27. JOSEPH PAUL VORST
(1897-1947, Active in Missouri)
Flood Tragedy, 1940
Oil/canvas stretched on panel
52 x 44 inches
Signed lower right: J. Vorst
 
28. JOSEPH PAUL VORST
(1897-1947, Active in Missouri)
Good Lord Gives Peace, c. 1943
Oil/canvas stretched on panel
48 x 36 inches
Signed lower right: Vorst
 
 
THE CITY OF THE AMERICAN SCENE
 
29. PAUL CORNOYER
(1864-1923, Active in Missouri, France, and New York)
Bryant Park, New York City, c. 1910
Oil on canvas
32 x 36 inches
 
30. FREDERICK GREENE CARPENTER
(1882-1965, Active in Missouri and France)
Quatre Arts Ball, 1913
Oil on canvas
36 _ x 30 _ inches
Signed lower left: F. G. Carpenter '13
 
31. GLEN COOPER HENSHAW
(1880-1946, Active in Indiana, France, Maryland, and New York)
Madison Avenue After the Rain, 1915
Oil on canvas
49 x 39 inches
Signed lower right: Henshaw 1915
 
32. WILLIAM H. KINNICUTT
(1865-1934, Active in Ohio)
Public Square, Cleveland, c. 1919
Oil on canvas
30 x 36 inches
Signed lower right: W. H. Kinnicutt
 
33. GEORGE HERBERT BAKER
(1878-1943, Active in Indiana)
Rooftops of Richmond, 1924
Oil on canvas
30 x 34 inches
Signed lower right: G. H. Baker 1924
 
34. CARL GAERTNER
(1898-1952, Active in Ohio)
Around the Bend, Cuyahoga River, 1925
Oil on canvas
24 x 30 inches
Signed verso
 
35. MARCELLINE SPENCER
(1910 ­ 1986, Active in Ohio and Indiana)
Cleveland Flats, c. 1930
Oil on board
27 x 36 inches
Signed lower left: M. Spencer
 
36. GEORGE G. ADOMEIT
(1879-1967, Active in Ohio)
A Cool, Refreshing Drink, 1931
Oil on canvas
26 _ x 31 _ inches
Signed lower right: Geo. G. Adomeit '31
 
37. E. OSCAR THALINGER
(1885-1965, Active in Missouri)
The Old Rock House, c. 1932
Oil on canvas
30 x 24 inches
Signed lower right: Thalinger
 
38. ROBERT OSBOURNE CHADEAYNE
(1897-1981, Active in Ohio)
Service Station, 1935
Oil on canvas
30 x 36 inches
Signed lower right: R.O. Chadeayne '35
 
39. JACK KEIJO STEELE
(1919 ­ 2003, Active in Washington)
Ann Arbor, c. 1945
Oil on masonite
26 x 36 inches
Signed lower left: J. Steele
 
 
CHILDREN OF THE AMERICAN SCENE
 
40. THEODORE EARL BUTLER
(1861 ­ 1936, Active in Ohio, New York, and France)
Toy Soldiers, 1896
Oil on canvas
25 _ x 32 inches
Signed lower left: T E Butler
 
41. ADAM EMORY ALBRIGHT
(1862-1957, Active in Illinois and Indiana)
Two Boys Flying a Kite, 1903
Oil on canvas
16 x 11 inches
Signed lower right: Adam Emory Albright 1903
 
42. ALICE SCHILLE
(1869-1955, Active in Ohio)
Play Time (Young Boy), c. 1908
Oil on canvas
38 _ x 31 inches
Signed lower right: A. Schille
 
43. ALICE SCHILLE
(1869-1955, Active in Ohio)
The Party Dress, c. 1910
Oil on canvas
39 _ x 31 inches
Signed lower right: A. Schille
 
44. ADA WALTER SHULZ
(1870-1928, Active in Wisconsin and Indiana)
Mother and Infant, c. 1910
Oil on canvas
30 x 24 inches
Signed lower right: Ada W. Shulz
 
45. ELIZABETH NOURSE
(1859-1938, Active in Ohio, New York and France)
Mère et Bébé, c. 1912
Oil on canvas
14 _ x 10 _ inches
Signed upper right: Elizabeth Nourse
 
46. HOVSEP PUSHMAN
(1877-1966, Active in New York, France, and California)
The Reading Lesson (Mother and Daughter), No. 773, c. 1915
Oil on canvas
28 _ x 23 _ inches
Signed lower right: Pushman
 
47. ALICE BEACH WINTER
(1877-1970, Active in Missouri and Massachusetts)
Bedtime Stories, c. 1915
Oil on canvas
30 x 24 inches
Signed lower left: Alice Beach Winter
 
48. WILLIAM S. HORTON
(1865-1936, Active in New York, England, and Switzerland)
Children on an English Beach, c. 1918
Oil on board
15 x 18 inches
 
49. MARY BRADISH TITCOMB
(1856-1927, Active in Massachusetts)
In the Dune Country, c. 1919
Oil on canvas
25 x 30 inches
Signed lower left: M. B. Titcomb
 
50. JOSEPH PAUL VORST
(1897-1947, Active in Missouri)
Untitled (Mother and Child), c. 1935
Oil on panel
27 x 18 inches
Signed lower right: Vorst
 
51. GLEN COOPER HENSHAW
(1880-1946, Active in Indiana, France, and New York)
Smiling Negro Boy, n.d.
Oil on canvas
32 x 28 inches
 
 
THE GARDEN AS REGION
 
52. GEORGE F. SCHULTZ
(1869-1934, Active in Illinois)
Summer Afternoon, c. 1905
Oil on canvas
36 x 24 inches
Signed lower left: Geo. F. Schultz
 
53. CHARLES EPHRAIM BURCHFIELD
(1893-1967, Active in Ohio and New York)
Dancing Sunflowers, 1916
Watercolor
19 x 13 inches
Signed lower right: Chas. Burchfield 1916
 
54. ALICE BEACH WINTER
(1877-1970, Active in Missouri and Massachusetts)
The Flower Garden, 1921
Oil on canvas
30 x 24 inches
Signed lower left: Alice Beach Winter
 
55. ALICE BEACH WINTER
(1877-1970, Active in Missouri and Massachusetts)
The Garden Gate, 1921
Oil on canvas
30 x 25 inches
Signed lower left: Alice Beach Winter
 
56. FRANK H. MYERS
(1899-1956, Active in Ohio and California)
Dappled Sunlight, 1925
Oil on canvas
32 x 26 inches
Signed lower left: F.H. Myers
 
57. YETEVE SMITH
(1888-1957, Active in Ohio)
Sewing in the Garden, 1925
Oil on canvas
34 x 27 inches
Signed lower right: Yeteve Smith

 

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