Walt Kuhn painted two major still-life compositions during the summer of 1939 when he was in Ogunquit, Maine: Still Life with Apples ^[fig1] and Green Apples and Scoop. The Gallery’s painting consists of a basket of apples in the upper left portion of the horizontal composition, a large wooden scoop that crosses it on a slightly diagonal axis, and a loose group of 18 apples arranged in the middle and at the lower right; the head of the scoop rests on a blue cloth.

Apples appear in abundance in Kuhn’s still lifes, and he once commented that “they reminded him of backsides,” a statement that Philip Rhys Adams dismissed as “a bawdy brush-off of a difficult question.” ^[1] According to Adams, Kuhn often had his wife or daughter arrange his fruit pieces “so that the unintended grouping could surprise him with a new idea. Then he might make a few adjustments, while avoiding the danger of unconsciously repeating himself.” ^[2] In 1948 the artist commented that his Red Apples (1944, location unknown) was the result of “at least four years of investigating apples in general,” ^[3] so the Gallery’s painting represents an earlier phase of an intensive, lengthy process.

Reflecting Kuhn’s lofty ambitions as a still-life painter, the subject, emphasis on plastic form, organic tonality, and monumental quality of Green Apples and Scoop clearly reflect the influence of the great French precursor of cubism Paul Cézanne. Kuhn strove to imbue his fruit still lifes with “dynamism,” or expressive power, and described his Apples and Pineapple (1933, formerly W. Averell Harriman Collection) as “a plate of bombs and a hand grenade!” ^[4] When Green Apples and Scoop was exhibited at Durand-Ruel Galleries in 1946, a critic deemed it an example of “solid and magnificent painting” that was “built from simple grandeur and its color fairly sings with joy.” ^[5] Another critic noted how Kuhn’s iconic circus clowns achieved emotional impact through human interest and dramatic overtones, while in the still lifes “structural organization and the bold handling of pigment are so electrifying in their effect that no other dramatic associations are needed.” ^[6] William H. Gerdts and Russell Burke also elevated the status of Kuhn’s still lifes when they selected the Gallery’s painting to represent Kuhn’s contribution to the genre in their classic study American Still-Life Painting (1971): “The emphasis on plastic form is very evident in Kuhn’s famous series of clowns and circus performers, but is more vivid still in his brilliant still lifes of green apples.” ^[7]

The finely woven, medium-weight fabric support has been lined with wax and remounted on a nonoriginal stretcher. The right tacking margin was inscribed “Apple and Scoop,” followed by some illegible writing. The artist applied paint in thick layers of impasto over a commercially prepared off-white ground. He followed a strongly delineated outline executed with a fine brush in black paint. Visible pentimenti indicate changes in the drawing and modeling of the scoop. ^[9] The painting is in excellent condition. The surface was coated with a synthetic resin varnish.