Suspended Forms (Still Life)
- Date
- 1922
- Classification
- Drawings & watercolors
- Collection
- Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 19 x 15 3/16 in. (48.3 x 38.6 cm)
framed: 28 x 24 x 2 in. (71.1 x 61 x 5.1 cm) - Credit Line
- Bequest of Marie Setz Hertslet
- Rights
- © The Lane Collection, Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Object Number
- 123:1972
NOTES
The restrained elegance of this image is typical of the still-life drawings Charles Sheeler made in the 1920s. The composition is comprised of just four elements - a dark pitcher, a glass, an apple, and a candy dish - each a study in symmetry and roundness and grounded by a simple horizon line. All evidence of shadow has been carefully suppressed, creating a pervasive air of unreality. In addition, all four items are flattened and tipped up slightly, defying linear perspective and adding to the work's abstract feeling.
When it was first exhibited in April 1922, this drawing was praised by one reviewer for its "brightly deceptive appearance of simplicity and the commonplace." It is arguably a measure of its success that Sheeler initially refused to sell it, instead keeping it for his own private enjoyment.
Provenance
- 1965
Charles Sheeler, New York, NY
1965
Downtown Gallery (Edith Halpert), New York, NY [1]
1965 - 1972
G. Gordon Hertslet (1901-1979) and Marie Setz Hertslet (d.1972), St. Louis, MO, purchased from the Downtown Gallery (Edith Halpert) [2]
1972 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, bequest of Marie Setz Hertslet [3]
Notes:
[1] This watercolor was still in Sheeler's possession at the time of his death in 1965 [Troyen, Carol and Erica Hirshler. "Charles Sheeler: Paintings and Drawings." Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1987, p. 86]. The Downtown Gallery probably acquired the watercolor from Sheeler's estate. Sheeler had been associated with Edith Halpert and the Downtown Gallery since 1931, when he had his first solo exhibition [Karen Lucic. "Charles Sheeler and the Cult of the Machine." Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1991, p. 157].
[2] An unsigned information sheet dated May 25, 1970, perhaps from the Hertslets, indicates that G. Gordon and Marie Setz Hertslet obtained the watercolor from Downtown Gallery [SLAM document files]. The fact that the painting was with the artist until his death in 1965 (see note [1]) refutes the unsigned and undated document "Information for Appraisal," which claims G. Gordon and Marie Setz Hertslet purchased the watercolor in 1956, perhaps a transposition of the digits of 1965 [SLAM document files].
[3] Minutes of the Acquisitions Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, July 20, 1972.
Charles Sheeler, New York, NY
1965
Downtown Gallery (Edith Halpert), New York, NY [1]
1965 - 1972
G. Gordon Hertslet (1901-1979) and Marie Setz Hertslet (d.1972), St. Louis, MO, purchased from the Downtown Gallery (Edith Halpert) [2]
1972 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, bequest of Marie Setz Hertslet [3]
Notes:
[1] This watercolor was still in Sheeler's possession at the time of his death in 1965 [Troyen, Carol and Erica Hirshler. "Charles Sheeler: Paintings and Drawings." Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1987, p. 86]. The Downtown Gallery probably acquired the watercolor from Sheeler's estate. Sheeler had been associated with Edith Halpert and the Downtown Gallery since 1931, when he had his first solo exhibition [Karen Lucic. "Charles Sheeler and the Cult of the Machine." Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1991, p. 157].
[2] An unsigned information sheet dated May 25, 1970, perhaps from the Hertslets, indicates that G. Gordon and Marie Setz Hertslet obtained the watercolor from Downtown Gallery [SLAM document files]. The fact that the painting was with the artist until his death in 1965 (see note [1]) refutes the unsigned and undated document "Information for Appraisal," which claims G. Gordon and Marie Setz Hertslet purchased the watercolor in 1956, perhaps a transposition of the digits of 1965 [SLAM document files].
[3] Minutes of the Acquisitions Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, July 20, 1972.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.