Pumpkins

1941

Walt Kuhn

Painter, American, 1877 - 1949

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Walt Kuhn painted Pumpkins on the porch of his cottage on Lake Buel in the Berkshires, near Great Barrington, Massachusetts, during early autumn 1941. At that time he was struggling to recover some of the creative energy of his youth, and he informed his wife that “the two pumpkin paintings have got my swing back. The swing I had 20 or 30 years ago and which I had perforce to give up for the time being to arrive at quality, precision and class.”

This large still life represents a variety of pumpkins and squash arranged before a shallow basket. The fruits are delicately balanced so that any shift would initiate a cascade toward the viewer, imbuing the still life with tension. Kuhn explored the mottled oranges, greens, and yellows and the curving stems of his subjects, treating each pumpkin or squash like a portrait. Pumpkins is one of the most imposing and important still-life paintings that Kuhn produced during the final phase of his career.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of the Avalon Foundation

  • Dimensions

    overall: 101.6 x 127.7 cm (40 x 50 1/4 in.)
    framed: 120.3 x 145.7 x 5.7 cm (47 3/8 x 57 3/8 x 2 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1968.3.1

More About this Artwork

This nearly square painting shows an industrial area with buildings, storage silos, a smokestack, and railroad tracks. A mound of brown dirt or other material is in shadow in the lower left corner of the painting. Next to the mound, railroad tracks extend diagonally from the lower center of the painting into the distance to our right. The tracks end at a white building with staggered gray rooflines to our right in the distance. A tall terracotta-red smokestack rises high beyond the white building, smoke pouring out of its top and blending into the clouds above. Just beyond the mound of dirt, piles of white material, perhaps in unseen bins, line the railroad track to our left and lead back to a row ten interconnected, coral-orange silos. The horizon comes about halfway up the painting, and it is lined with a row of long white and gray warehouses. The artist signed and dated the work with brown paint in the lower right corner: “Sheeler 31.”

Scholarly Series:  American Paintings, 1900–1945

Scholarly Article:  American Paintings, 1900–1945: Pumpkins, 1941

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist [1877-1949]; his estate; his daughter, Brenda Kuhn [1911-1993], Cape Neddick, Maine; (Kennedy Galleries, New York); purchased 1968 by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1947

  • Walt Kuhn, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center; San Francisco Mus. of Art; Santa Barbara Mus. of Art; Los Angeles County Mus. of History, Science and Art; Joslyn Memorial, Omaha; Mus. of Cranbrook Acad. of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI, 1947, no. 15, repro.

1967

  • Walt Kuhn 1877-1949, Kennedy Galleries, Inc., New York, 1967, no. 26, repro.

1969

  • In Memoriam, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1969, unnumbered checklist.

1983

  • Extended loan for use by Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, U.S. Embassy residence, The Hague, The Netherlands, 1983-1987.

1987

  • Extended loan for use by Ambassador John Shad, U.S. Embassy residence, The Hague, The Netherlands, 1987-1989.

1989

  • Extended loan for use by Ambassador Howard Wilkins, U.S. Embassy residence, The Hague, The Netherlands, 1989-1992.

1993

  • Extended loan for use by Ambassador Robert H. Pelletreau, U.S. Embassy residence, Cairo, Egypt, 1993-1994.

1996

  • Extended loan for use by Secretary Robert E. Rubin, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Washington, D.C., 1996-1998.

2001

  • Extended loan for use by Ambassador William Stamps Farish III, U.S. Embassy residence, London, England, 2001-2004.

2005

  • Extended loan for use by Secretary Mike Johanns, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., 2005-2008.

Bibliography

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 76, repro.

1978

  • Adams, Philip Rhys. Walt Kuhn, Painter: His Life and Work. Columbus, OH, 1978: 193-194, 269, no. 413, pl. 127.

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 190, repro.

1981

  • Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: color repro. 219, 225.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 224, repro.

Inscriptions

lower left: Walt Kuhn / 1941

Wikidata ID

Q20193325

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