National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Jonathan Bentham
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

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Provenance

Recorded as from New York. Descended in the family of the sitter to Walter Gay [1856-1937];[1] estate of Walter Gay. Consigned by Robert Lebel [1901-1986], New York City, in March 1948 to (M. Knoedler and Co., New York), by whom sold in 1948 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; gift to NGA, 1959.

[1] According to old Knoedler records, Jonathan Bentham was an ancestor of the American artist Walter Gay, who was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1856. Gay is said to have inherited the painting from his family and taken it with him to Paris, where he spent most of his life. No genealogical records for the Bentham family or connection between it and the Gay family have been located. The late Gary Reynolds, former curator of painting, The Newark Museum, observed that "it is a very curious painting to have come out of Walter Gay's estate. It certainly doesn't show up in the myriad paintings of his apartment and château, or in the published lists of his collection" (letter of 28 March 1990, in NGA curatorial files). A recent inquiry to Knoedler's revealed that the painting came to them from an individual whose connection to the Gay estate, if any, is unknown (Melissa De Medeiros, librarian, M. Knoedler and Co., letter of 24 April 1990, in NGA curatorial files).

Exhibition History

1954
American Primitive Painting, traveling exhibition organized by the Smithsonian Inst. for the U.S. Information Service, Washington, 1954-1955, no. 2. First venue: Kunstmuseum, Lucerne, Switzerland.
1957
American Primitive Paintings from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Part II, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1957, no. 9.
1958
American Primitive Paintings from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Springfield Art Museum, Missouri, 1958, no cat.
1961
101 Masterpieces of American Primitive Painting from the Collection of E.W. and B.C. Garbisch, traveling exh. by the Amer. Federation of Arts, New York, 1961-1964, no. 1, color repro. First venue: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y.
1967
Fifty Masterpieces of American Primitive Painting from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Florida, 1967, no cat.
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. 1, 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.
1972
American Primitive Painting, South Texas Artmobile, Corpus Christi, traveling exhibition by the International Exhibitions Foundation, Washington, 1972-1973, no cat.
1978
The American Folk Art Tradition: Paintings from the Garbisch Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978.
1981
American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, 1981-1982, no. 4, color repro, (cat. by Ronald McKnight Melvin).

Bibliography

1970
American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 126, repro.
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 265, 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: 419-421, repro. 420.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 389, repro.

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