Wooded Landscape
- Date
- 1931
- Material
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Paintings
- Collection
- American Art
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 37 1/4 × 72 1/4 in. (94.6 × 183.5 cm)
framed: 40 7/8 × 75 15/16 × 1 3/4 in. (103.8 × 192.9 × 4.4 cm) - Credit Line
- Gift of Jean Rauh Block and Elsie Rauh Scherck in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Aaron S. Rauh
- Rights
- © Heirs of Joe Jones
- Object Number
- 148:1972
NOTES
Sinuous tree trunks, rounded lobes of foliage, and strong color lend striking effect to this example of Joe Jones’s early style. Jones manipulates qualities of light and shadow to transform the swells of earth into radiating blade forms. "Wooded Landscape" was a commissioned work which Jones painted specifically for the living room of one of his St. Louis patrons. Although this work was intended to hang in a private home on Ladue Road, its size and decorative quality connect it to the artist’s later large-scale public murals.
Provenance
1931 - 1972
Elsie (1881-1972) and Aaron (1872-1944) Rauh, Ladue, MO, commissioned from the artist; Jean Rauh Block (1917-1992), St. Louis, MO and Elsie Rauh Scherck (1914-2008), St. Louis, MO (owned jointly), likely by gift or inheritance [1]
1972 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by Jean Rauh Block and Elsie Rauh Scherck, St. Louis, MO [2]
Notes:
[1] A 1931 article describes the commissioning of this painting for the Rauh home ["Jones Commissioned to Decorate KMOX in Modern Manner." Art World 1, no. 3 (December 1931): 3]. Jean Rauh Block and Elsie Rauh Scherck, who were sisters, likely acquired the painting from their parents, Elsie and Aaron Rauh, by gift or inheritance. According to an email dated February 2, 2005, from Ernest Stix, Mrs. Aaron Rauh had "an uncommonly long" landscape by Joe Jones, which may have passed to Jean Block or Elsie Scherck [SLAM document files]. In a later email dated February 20, 2005, Stix confirmed that "Wooded Landscape" is the painting he recalled [SLAM document files].
[2] In a letter dated November 13, 1972, Charles Buckley offers his thanks to Jean Rauh Block and her sister (Elsie Rauh Scherck) for the gift of "Wooded Landscape" [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Acquisitions Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, October 31, 1972.
Elsie (1881-1972) and Aaron (1872-1944) Rauh, Ladue, MO, commissioned from the artist; Jean Rauh Block (1917-1992), St. Louis, MO and Elsie Rauh Scherck (1914-2008), St. Louis, MO (owned jointly), likely by gift or inheritance [1]
1972 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by Jean Rauh Block and Elsie Rauh Scherck, St. Louis, MO [2]
Notes:
[1] A 1931 article describes the commissioning of this painting for the Rauh home ["Jones Commissioned to Decorate KMOX in Modern Manner." Art World 1, no. 3 (December 1931): 3]. Jean Rauh Block and Elsie Rauh Scherck, who were sisters, likely acquired the painting from their parents, Elsie and Aaron Rauh, by gift or inheritance. According to an email dated February 2, 2005, from Ernest Stix, Mrs. Aaron Rauh had "an uncommonly long" landscape by Joe Jones, which may have passed to Jean Block or Elsie Scherck [SLAM document files]. In a later email dated February 20, 2005, Stix confirmed that "Wooded Landscape" is the painting he recalled [SLAM document files].
[2] In a letter dated November 13, 1972, Charles Buckley offers his thanks to Jean Rauh Block and her sister (Elsie Rauh Scherck) for the gift of "Wooded Landscape" [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Acquisitions Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, October 31, 1972.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.