Provenance

Macbeth Galleries

Macbeth, William

American, est. 1892 - closed 1953

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We look beyond a cluster of flags hanging from the side of one tall building onto a wide street at a row of buildings across from us in this vertical painting. The scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes, so some details are difficult to make out. We seem to lean out a window to look along the street, so the building to our right only skims the edge of the composition and continues off the top. The three flags closest to us fly from nearly horizontal flagstaffs along the bottom edge of the painting. All the flags are in shades of scarlet red, white, and royal blue. The flag closest to us is red with the red, white, and blue Union Jack in the upper corner. Beyond it is an American flag with 49 stars, and then the French flag with the vertical bands of blue, white, and red. Those three flags are repeated about a dozen times along the building that stretches away from us, along the right edge of the painting. More of those flags are hung from the cream-white and tan buildings across the street, to our left. Some of those buildings reach off the top edge of the canvas and others come close. The shadows along moldings and the windows are painted with pale and lapis blue. Through narrow gaps left between the fluttering flags, vertical strokes of navy blue and violet purple suggest crowds of people in the street below. The sky between the buildings is ice blue. The artist signed and dated the painting in the center left, “Childe Hassam May 17 1917.”
Childe Hassam, Allies Day, May 1917, 1917, oil on canvas, Gift of Ethelyn McKinney in memory of her brother, Glenn Ford McKinney, 1943.9.1

Allies Day, May 1917

Childe Hassam · 1917 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1943.9.1

From a high vantage point, we look down ontp a group of dozens of boys who stand, sit, stretch, sprawl, or dangle their legs off a rough wooden pier that juts out from the lower left corner into a dark river in this horizonal painting. Their gangly bodies are loosely painted and brightly lit from the upper left. Most are nude, their skin tones ranging from cream white to medium brown. There are gaps between some of the planks of pier, and some of the boards hang off the sides, as if laid loosely across the supports beneath. One boy dives into the river near the center of the painting while another bends over to pull a boy back onto the pier. Several splash in the water near the right side of the painting. The river is emerald green near the brightly lit pier and becomes almost black across the upper half of the painting. An empty, small rowboat painted in stripes of white, white, and blue floats in the shadows along the top center edge of the canvas.
George Bellows, Forty-two Kids, 1907, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, William A. Clark Fund, 1931), 2014.79.2

Forty-two Kids

George Bellows · 1907 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.79.2

Shown from the knees up, a pale-skinned woman looking off to the left from her seat on a divan wears a carnation-pink gown and a fur-lined cloak in this vertical portrait painting. Her body is angled to our left, and she looks into the distance with close-set, large, gray-blue eyes. She has dark brows, a straight nose, a full lower lip, and a slight double chin in her long, oval face. Pewter-gray hair is brushed back from her high forehead and bound up under a loose swath of lace and pearls. Her loose gown is gathered under a gold, pearl-lined belt that follows the shape of her breasts along the top edge and is straight across the bottom edge. Tufts of snow-white cloth are pulled out at the neckline and at the elbow. The skirt falls loosely under the cloak, which is marine blue on the outside. The white fur interior is speckled with black, suggesting ermine. The woman holds two ends of what might be a bracelet made up of at least ten strands of fine, purple beads. Each end has a gold fitting, perhaps clasps. Her navy-blue seat curves from behind her shoulders down and across the background under a coffee bean-brown background. The woman is lit starkly from the left, throwing her ear and the far side of her face, to our right, into shadow.
John Singleton Copley, Abigail Smith Babcock (Mrs. Adam Babcock), c. 1774, oil on canvas, Gift of Mrs. Robert Low Bacon, 1985.20.1

Abigail Smith Babcock (Mrs. Adam Babcock)

John Singleton Copley · c. 1774 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1985.20.1

The painting depicts a landscape with two structures in a farm setting, surrounded by rolling hills and mountains in the distance under a dramatic sky with dark clouds and sunlight breaking through. The mountains add a deep blue tone to the scene, creating depth. The brushwork is smooth and precise, giving a solid presence to the forms, especially the buildings. The color palette consists of earth tones with deep shadows, golden yellows, and greens for the fields and a stone wall at the bottom of the painting. The textures of the wall and plants contrast with the smoother forms of the buildings.
Rockwell Kent, Adirondacks, 1928/1930, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, William A. Clark Fund, 1934), 2014.136.55

Adirondacks

Rockwell Kent · 1928/1930 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.136.55

A landscape seen through sheer lace curtains that billow in toward us from an open window nearly fills this horizontal painting. The window is angled slightly downward as it extends off the right side of the composition, so it does not line up with the edges of the rectangular painting. The narrow strip of dove-gray wall to the left of the window casement is cracked near the simple, deep gray molding that surrounds the window. Slivers of light peek through rips in the dark shade that covers upper third of the window. The right curtain panel surges toward us as the left panel flutters lightly off to our side. The inner edges are trimmed with subtle lace birds and flowers. The window looks down onto an expanse of olive-green grass and dark green trees line the far edge of the field. Tire tracks cross the field from near the lower left corner of the painting to our left, and into the distance to meet a sliver of white, perhaps a body of water.
Andrew Wyeth, Wind from the Sea, 1947, tempera on hardboard, Gift of Charles H. Morgan, 2009.13.1

Wind from the Sea

Andrew Wyeth · 1947 · tempera on hardboard ·  Accession ID  2009.13.1

This painting is a portrait of a child seen from the waist up. The child is seated, with their body turned to the left but their head facing us. They have a delicate face featuring pale skin, light eyebrows, rosy cheeks, and red lips, along with large, expressive, green eyes. Their face is in a neutral expression. The child has short, dark, curly hair framing their face. They wear a light gray garment with a high collar and a blue tie or cravat around their neck. The background is a blend of dark colors including browns, dark blues, and hints of green. The brushstrokes in the painting are thick and visible, especially those in the background and child's clothes.
Robert Henri, Catharine, 1913, oil on canvas, Given in memory of Mr. and Mrs. William J. Johnson, 1948.7.1

Catharine

Robert Henri · 1913 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1948.7.1

A tall, rocky, pyramid-shaped mountain rising sharply from flat field of snow and silhouetted against bands of steel-gray clouds nearly fills this horizontal landscape painting. Narrow bands of snow rest in the crevices of the dark brown mountain, especially on the cliff-like face to our right. A much lower, flat-topped butte in the distance to our right has cobalt-blue shadows. Near the foot of the mountain and at the bottom center of the composition, one person, tiny in scale, rides in a sled pulled by several dogs while another person pushes at the back. The horizon comes less than a quarter of the way up the composition and the sky above and around the mountain is a blanket of gray clouds shaded indigo blue on their undersides. The artist signed the work with dark paint against the white snow in the lower right corner: “Rockwell Kent.”
Rockwell Kent, Citadel, 1932-1933, oil on canvas mounted on plywood, Gift of Deborah and Edward Shein, 2013.155.1

Citadel

Rockwell Kent · 1932-1933 · oil on canvas mounted on plywood ·  Accession ID  2013.155.1

John Singleton Copley, Adam Babcock, c. 1774, oil on canvas, Gift of Henry A. and Caroline C. Murray, 1978.79.1

Adam Babcock

John Singleton Copley · c. 1774 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1978.79.1

This painting shows a sunlit plaza with low steps leading to water at the bottom of the scene. The horizon is marked by rooftops of buildings, including a large red church on the right with round windows and an arched entrance. A few people stand in front of the church in the distance, indicated with small strokes of paint. Two people are present in the center of the painting, at the top of the steps that lead to the water - one standing and another seated on the steps. We can't see their faces, but they appear to have pale skin and wear dresses with shawls in shades of red, blue, white, and tan. The buildings are mostly in shades of cream and tan, and the sky above is mostly white with some hints of pale blue. The water at the bottom is gray, with some parts reflecting the white and blue of the sky. The brushstrokes are soft and visible, giving the scene a hazy appearance.
John Singer Sargent, Campo dei Frari, Venice, c. 1880, watercolor over graphite on wove paper, Corcoran Collection (Bequest of Mabel Stevens Smithers, 1952), 2014.136.195

Campo dei Frari, Venice

John Singer Sargent · c. 1880 · watercolor over graphite on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2014.136.195

This painting shows a woman seated in a cushioned red chair, her body and head turned slightly to the right. She has pale white skin, and her dark hair is styled in an updo behind her head. She has a straight nose, small red lips, and closed eyes. She wears a long white dress with a voluminous skirt, accessorized with a black pendant on her neckline, a light blue necklace that hangs down around her neck, dark blue earrings, a blue-and-gold ring, a black bracelet, and a gold bracelet. In her right hand, she holds a section of light blue knitting with two white needles, connected to a ball of yarn by her black slippers, which poke out of the end of her skit. Behind her is a soft pink wall, with a mint green door on the right behind her chair. To her right is a wooden table covered with a white cloth. On it is a white vase filled with flowers in dark blue, green, and red, vertical shapes that may be books, and a large ornate golden clock under a clear dome. A blue, orange, and red patterned rug is visible on the floor in the bottom right corner.
Frederick Carl Frieseke, Memories, 1915, oil on canvas, Gift of Frances Frieseke Kilmer, 1969.5.1

Memories

Frederick Carl Frieseke · 1915 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1969.5.1