National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Flax Scutching Bee
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

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Provenance

Recorded as from Pennsylvania. Purchased from the artist by John Houk; Mrs. Nanny Sedgwick, Indiana County, Pennsylvania; John Houk, until 1936;[1] sold to (Mrs. Bessie B. Mollard, Zelienople, Pennsylvania, 1936-1938/39). (Michael de Sherbinen, New York City, 1939).[2] (Harry Stone, New York, by 1942).[3] Purchased in 1948 by Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; gift to NGA, 1953.

[1] Katherine Royer, in the Marion Center Independent (Thursday, 8 Aug. 1940), explains the transactions between Houk and Sedgwick, based on detailed notes by Irene Barbor (who was assisting Royer in research) taken during a 28 July 1939 interview with John Houk. William W. Betts, Jr., summarizes this portion of the provenance in a letter of 15 May 1983 (in NGA curatorial files): "In the course of the interview he told her that Linton Park had come to him (we don't know when, but certainly between 1885 and 1904), insisting that he was `badly in need of money,' and that he would like to have Houk purchase The Flax Scutching for $10.00. So Houk did buy the painting...." "John Houk told Mrs. Barbor also that a Mrs. Nanny Sedgwick, who had lived in Indiana County and had seen The Flax Scutching in the Houk Hotel and had admired it, bought the painting from Houk (for $10.00) and took it to St. Louis, Missouri. After her death, her attorney inquired of Houk whether he would like to have the painting back. He did take it back, and Mrs. Barbor presumes that he did so for the same $10.00 and possibly shipping expenses....This is all, of course, before the paintings were sold to Mrs. Mollard (1936)."

[2] "A Pennsylvania Primitive Painter: A Gallery Note," Antiques 35 (February 1939): 85, gives the [then] current owner as de Sherbinin.

[3] In which year Stone included the work in an "Exhibition of One Hundred and Fifty Years of American Primitives" at The Primitives Gallery of Harry Stone, New York (4 March-15 April), cat. no. 12.

Exhibition History

1885
Indiana County Fair, 1885.
1942
Exhibition of One-hundred and Fifty Years of American Primitives, The Primitives Gallery of Harry Stone, New York, 1942, no. 12.
1950
American Processional, 1492-1900, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1950, no. 171, repro.
1951
Art in America, Denver Art Museum, Colorado, 1951, no cat.
1954
American Primitive Paintings from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Part I, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1954, no. 107.
1955
American Primitive Pantings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1955.
1955
Pennsylvania Painters, an exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Pennsylvania State University, Mineral Industries Gallery, University Park, 1955, no. 23, repro.
1956
Pennsylvania Painters, travelling exhibition organized by Smithsonian Institution Travelling Exhibition Service, 8 venues, 1956-1957.
1957
American Primitive Paintings from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Part II, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1957.
1958
American Folk Art. Part of American Art. Four Exhibitions, Brussels Universal and International Exhibition, Belgium, 1958, no. 96, 49.
1959
Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Art in Pennsylvania, Westmoreland County Museum of Art, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, 1959, no. 85, pl. 62.
1961
101 Masterpieces of American Primitive Painting from the Collection of E.W. and B.C. Garbisch, traveling exh. by Amer. Federation of Arts, New York, 1961-1964, no. 90, color repro. First venue: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y.
1968
American Naive Painting of the 18th and 19th Centuries: 111 Masterpieces from the Collection of E.W. and B.C. Garbisch, traveling exh. by Amer. Fed. of Arts, N.Y., 1968-1970, no. 96, repro. First venue: Grand Palais, Paris.
1970
American Naive Painting of the 18th and 19th Centuries: Masterpieces from the Collection of E.W. and B.C. Garbisch, organized by the Amer. Fed. of Arts, N.Y., and Mainichi News., Nihobashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, 1970, no cat.
1974
Die Kunst der Naiven--Themen und Beziehungen, Haus der Kunst Munich; Kunsthaus, Zurich, 1974-1975, no. 38.
1978
The American Folk Art Tradition: Paintings from the Garbisch Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978.
1981
Southwestern Pennsylvania Painters, 1800-1945, Westmoreland County Museum of Art, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, 1981, no. 179.
1982
Celebration II: A World of Art and Ritual, Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art, Washington, 1982, no. 223a.
1985
American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Exh. cat. Travelling exh. by the International Exhibitions Foundation, Washington, 1985-1987, no. 45, color repro. First venue: Museum of American Folk Art, New York.
1988
La Nascita di Una Nazione: Pittori americani dalla National Gallery of Art di Washington 1730-1880, Palazzo Pepoli Campogrande, Bologna; Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna di Ca'Pesaro, Venice, 1988-1989, no. 45, repro.

Bibliography

1885
Marion Center Independent (3 October 1885).
1939
"A Pennsylvania Primitive Painter: A Gallery Note." Antiques 35 (February): 84-86.
1962
Cooke, Hereward Lester, Jr. "Early America Through the Eyes of Her Native Artists." National Geographic 122 (September 1962): 372-373.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 283, repro.
1970
Graebner, Norman A., Gilbert C. Fite, and Philip L. White. A History of the United States. New York, 1970: 413-415.
1970
American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 86, repro.
1975
Watkins, C. Malcolm. "Homeland and Handiwork." In The Craftsman in America. Mary Ann Harrell, ed. Washington, D.C., 1975: 14.
1979
Watson, Ross. National Gallery of Art. London, 1979: 122, pl. 111, color repro.
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 204, repro.
1980
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: no. 20, color repro.
1981
Mann, Donna. "American Naive Paintings in the National Gallery of Art." 26th Annual Washington Antiques Show Catalogue (January 1981): 42-43.
1981
Smith, Jean. "Linton Park, Pennsylvania Painter." Antiques 120 (November 1981): 1207, 1209.
1982
Blum, Jerome, ed. Our Forgotten Past: Seven Centuries of Life on the Land. London, 1982: 9, 201.
1982
Griffith, J. Neal. Linton Park: American Primitive. Indiana, Pennsylvania., 1982: 76, 79-82.
1982
Jones, Louis C. Three Eyes on the Past: Exploring New York Folk Life. Syracuse, 1982: 175-178.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 540, no. 814, color repro.
1988
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 92, no. 23, color repro.
1992
Chotner, Deborah, with contributions by Julie Aronson, Sarah D. Cash, and Laurie Weitzenkorn. American Naive Paintings. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 266-268, color repro. 267.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 254, repro.

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