Drought Farmer
- Date
- c.1937
- Material
- Oil on canvas mounted on Masonite
- made in
- United States, North and Central America
- Classification
- Paintings
- Collection
- American Art
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 300 East
- Dimensions
- 20 5/8 x 14 1/4 in. (52.4 x 36.2 cm)
framed: 31 5/8 x 25 3/8 in. (80.3 x 64.5 cm) - Credit Line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pulitzer Jr.
- Rights
- © Heirs of Joe Jones
- Object Number
- 20:1948
NOTES
This farmer sits on the ground; his matter-of-fact expression is difficult to interpret. Joe Jones was a self-taught St. Louis artist whose work was strongly shaped by his leftist social and political leanings. In 1937, he received a fellowship to travel throughout the Midwest, documenting the desperate conditions created by widespread drought. Jones created a series of three paintings on this fellowship, all depicting a single farmer figure, one of which is Drought Farmer. Jones wrote that this farmer was the most adrift of all, stuck in indecision and unable to envision a better life.
Provenance
by 1937 - 1948
Joseph Pulitzer Jr. (1913-1993) and Louise Vauclain Pulitzer (1914-1968), St. Louis, MO, purchased from the artist [1]
1948 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, gift of Joseph Pulitzer Jr and Louise Vauclain Pulitzer [2]
Notes:
[1] This painting was lent by Mr. Pulitzer for Jones's A.C.A. show ["Joe Jones," A.C.A. Gallery, October 24–November 13, 1937]. An email dated April 3, 2008 from Marjorie B. Cohn, a curator of the Harvard University Art Museums, to Andrew Walker of the Saint Louis Art Museum, includes quotes from a November 11, 1947, letter from Joseph Pulitzer to Mrs. Arthur Raikes of Carroll-Knight Gallery, Inc., and states that Mr. Pulitzer had purchased the painting from the Joe Jones studio in 1936 or 1937 [SLAM document files].
[2] Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, January 8, 1948.
Joseph Pulitzer Jr. (1913-1993) and Louise Vauclain Pulitzer (1914-1968), St. Louis, MO, purchased from the artist [1]
1948 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, gift of Joseph Pulitzer Jr and Louise Vauclain Pulitzer [2]
Notes:
[1] This painting was lent by Mr. Pulitzer for Jones's A.C.A. show ["Joe Jones," A.C.A. Gallery, October 24–November 13, 1937]. An email dated April 3, 2008 from Marjorie B. Cohn, a curator of the Harvard University Art Museums, to Andrew Walker of the Saint Louis Art Museum, includes quotes from a November 11, 1947, letter from Joseph Pulitzer to Mrs. Arthur Raikes of Carroll-Knight Gallery, Inc., and states that Mr. Pulitzer had purchased the painting from the Joe Jones studio in 1936 or 1937 [SLAM document files].
[2] Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, January 8, 1948.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.