Mahantango Valley Farm

late 19th century

We look down at a cluster of three farm buildings and across grassy fields that stretch into the distance in this horizontal landscape painting. A parchment-yellow road angles from the lower center of the composition into the upper right corner, where it meets the horizon line just below the upper edge of the painting. Closest to us, the buildings flank the road, with two barns to our left and a house to our right. The buildings all have burgundy-red roofs. The barns have brown siding, and the house has paler, tan siding. The buildings are surrounded by blue or red fences. The barns to our left have large doors and two windows are visible on one of the sides facing us. A two-story, turquoise-blue bird house is affixed to the side of the barn closer to us. To our right, the house has windows piercing both levels, and a porch facing the road, to our left. Birds gather on the roof of the house, and an American flag flies beyond the back corner of the house. A black horse and two red horses, four cows and bulls, two dogs, a dozen chickens, and two pigs occupy different areas of the fenced-in spaces around the buildings. A man stands near the dogs next to the house, and a person wearing a red-edged black garment and a red cap stands on the road between the structures. In the fields beyond, people ride horses or hunt, horses graze, and a cow frolics with a dog. More buildings dot the landscape, which is farther divided into plots of land by stone walls, black fences, and more roads. Rows of stylized trees grow in straight lines in a grove to our left. Birds and deer walk or stand among the trees, and two people stand nearby, holding rifles. The slopes of indigo-blue hills rise along the horizon, at the top of the painting. The sky to the left of blue hills is mauve pink, streaked with black clouds. The rest of the sky is pale shell pink and ivory. Many of the animals and the architectural elements are outlined in black and filled in with flat areas of color. The weave of the window shade on which this is painted is visible in many areas.

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Recorded as from a farmhouse in Mahantango Valley, Pennsylvania. (John H. Chamberlain, Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania), by whom sold in 1947 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; gift to NGA, 1953.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1954

  • American Primitive Paintings from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Part I, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1954, no. 102.

1955

  • American Primitive Pantings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1955.

1957

  • American Primitive Paintings from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Part II, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1957.

1959

  • Trustees' Choice: Painting and Sculpture from the Personal Collections of the Trustees of The American Federation of Arts, traveling exhibition, 1959-1960, no. 35.

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. 93, 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. 100. 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

  • Spokane World Exposition [Expo '74], 1974, no cat.

1978

  • The American Folk Art Tradition: Paintings from the Garbisch Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978.

1985

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, traveling exh. by the International Exhibitions Foundation, Washington, 1985-1987, no. 6, 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. 6, repro.

Bibliography

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 140, repro.

1980

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: no. 22, color repro.

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 283, repro.

1988

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 96, no. 25, 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: 536-537, color repro. 537.

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 411, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20187980

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