Smelt Brook Falls
- Date
- 1937
- Material
- Oil on board
- depicts
- Georgetown, Maine, United States, North and Central America
- made in
- United States, North and Central America
- Classification
- Paintings
- Collection
- American Art
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 334
- Dimensions
- 28 x 22 7/8 in. (71.1 x 58.1 cm)
framed: 38 1/2 x 32 9/16 x 3 1/8 in. (97.8 x 82.7 x 7.9 cm) - Credit Line
- Eliza McMillan Trust
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 9:1939
NOTES
A jagged, rushing waterfall fills this canvas. Its stark white forms, heavy black outlines, and bold rust surroundings evoke the severity and ruggedness of the Maine landscape. Marsden Hartley lived with the Mason family in Nova Scotia when, in 1936, two of the grown sons and their cousin drowned in a boating accident. Hartley channeled his grief into a series of brooding landscapes and seascapes, one of which is this painting. The work symbolizes characteristics he associated with the family: “Every one of ‘em like rocks from which fresh springs flow without hindrance."
Provenance
by 1938 - 1939
Hudson D. Walker Gallery, New York, NY [1]
1939 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Hudson D. Walker [2]
Notes:
[1] This painting was exhibited in March, 1938 at Hudson D. Walker Gallery ["Marsden Hartley: Recent Paintings of Maine." New York: Hudson D. Walker Gallery, February 28 - April 2, 1938, cat. 14]. The invoice from Hudson D. Walker is dated January 18, 1939 [SLAM document files].
[2] Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, January 5, 1939.
Hudson D. Walker Gallery, New York, NY [1]
1939 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Hudson D. Walker [2]
Notes:
[1] This painting was exhibited in March, 1938 at Hudson D. Walker Gallery ["Marsden Hartley: Recent Paintings of Maine." New York: Hudson D. Walker Gallery, February 28 - April 2, 1938, cat. 14]. The invoice from Hudson D. Walker is dated January 18, 1939 [SLAM document files].
[2] Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, January 5, 1939.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.