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With the “Staats Zeitung”

Date
1890
Material
Oil on canvas
Classification
Paintings
Collection
American Art
Current Location
On View, Gallery 329
Dimensions
14 1/4 x 20 1/4 in. (36.2 x 51.4 cm)
framed: 21 3/8 x 27 7/16 x 3 1/2 in. (54.3 x 69.7 x 8.9 cm)
Credit Line
Museum Purchase
Rights
Public Domain
Object Number
26:1945
NOTES
Light enters from the left side of this composition, illuminating the metal bands on the pipe, the newspaper’s deckle edge, and the joints of the tankard. The items arranged on the simple wooden tabletop would have been read as symbols of masculine repose. William Michael Harnett usually depicted worn objects whose value seemed to be sentimental, rather than new consumer goods.
c.1900 - c.1943
Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Ruckstull, New York, NY

c.1943 - 1945
Downtown Gallery, New York, NY; purchased from Mrs. F. W. Ruckstull [1]

1945 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from the Downtown Gallery [2]


Notes:
[1] According to Edith Halpert of the Downtown Gallery, "With the 'Staats Zeitung'" was purchased by Mr. F. W. Ruckstull, American sculptor and author, around 1900. Mrs. F. W. Ruckstull later sold it to the Downtown Gallery [letter from Edith Halpert of the Downtown Gallery, March 10, 1945, Director's Correspondence, SLAM Archives]. The Downtown Gallery stock records are somewhat difficult to read, but it appears that the painting was purchased from Mrs. Ruckstull in October of 1943 [photocopy of record page, SLAM document files].

[2] Letter from Charles Nagel to Edith Halpert, April 17, 1945 [SLAM Archives]. Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, April 5, 1945.

We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.