Dryad

1935

Walt Kuhn

Painter, American, 1877 - 1949

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Influenced by Paul Cézanne and by the classical period of Pablo Picasso, Walt Kuhn sought to perfect his draftsmanship through rigorous drawing exercises during the mid-1930s. He developed a monumental style that emphasized mass, volume, and economy of form. This three-quarter-length nude, one of eight paintings that the artist executed in 1935, represents a studio model posing as a Greek mythological figure called a dryad, or forest nymph. Her solid, abbreviated form dominates the stark composition and is reminiscent of late Archaic or early Classical Greek sculpture.

Critics who saw Dryad exhibited in 1937 praised it highly. One opined that Kuhn achieved “a deeper characterization and a much more sweeping rhythm” than in some of his celebrated circus subjects, and another deemed it “a lovely classic figure in which Kuhn has set himself a high mark to surpass.”

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Artwork overview

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: Dryad, 1935

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist [1877-1949]; his estate; (Maynard Walker Gallery, New York); purchased 20 December 1960 by W. Averell [1891-1986] and Marie N. [1903-1970] Harriman, New York; W. Averell Harriman Foundation, New York; gift 1972 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1937

  • Walt Kuhn, Studio House [Phillips Memorial Gallery], Washington, D.C., March-April 1937, no. 6.

  • Paintings for Paris, Museum of Modern Art, New York, November-December 1937, no. 21.

  • Walt Kuhn, Marie Harriman Gallery, New York, February-March 1937, no. 4.

1958

  • Walt Kuhn, Albany Institute of History and Art, 1958, no. 11.

1960

  • Walt Kuhn 1877-1949: A Memorial Exhibition, Cincinnati Art Museum, 1960, no. 65, repro.

1961

  • Exhibition of the Marie and Averell Harriman Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1961, unnumbered catalogue, repro. 48.

1966

  • Painter of Vision: A Retrospective Exhibition of Oils, Watercolors and Drawings by Walt Kuhn, 1877-1949, The University of Arizona Art Gallery, Tucson, 1966: no. 78, repro.

1983

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

Bibliography

1980

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

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 223, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: Walt Kuhn / 1935

Wikidata ID

Q20192987

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