Walt Kuhn’s interest in still-life painting intensified throughout his career. Influenced by synthetic cubism, Flower and Forms (1915) was his first floral subject and the lone still life among his many figurative paintings and landscapes of that year. ^[1] But in 1933, the date of Zinnias, more than half of Kuhn’s output were still lifes. ^[2] During an extended stay in Paris in the summer of 1933, Kuhn wrote to his wife and daughter, Vera and Brenda, about plans for his return: “Personally I feel the thing to do is to buy a second hand car and go to Ogunquit, [Maine,] and go strong on the still life idea, (I want to do some outdoors) lay in a big stock of still lifes, so as to have a big selection, and give a bang-up still life show next winter.” ^[3] He painted Zinnias once he was back stateside, at his studio in Ogunquit. The Kuhns kept meticulous records and recorded that the “models” for this work were purchased in town. They described the painting matter-of-factly: “Bunch of multi-colored zinnias in earthen pot in center of canvas. Black background behind flowers. Red cloth draped across foreground in front of pot.” ^[4]

The brilliantly colored zinnias are painted in profile, three-quarter view, and frontally, as if Kuhn was indeed treating each as a model. Softly formed petals contrast with sharp, spiky green leaves. The flowers are tightly arranged with a few outliers, three orange and yellow zinnias that protrude from the group, and the small, squat pot appears ill-equipped to hold such a plentiful bouquet. The ripples of the folded cloth in the foreground of the composition mimic the organic shapes of the flowers and the undefined edge of the table or backdrop, which the artist has obscured in shadow. This dark background allows the zinnias to stand out, their abbreviated forms built up with thickly applied paint. Kuhn’s style has been compared to that of the Spanish 17th-century master of still life Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664), as both artists shared a penchant for austere, powerful compositions characterized by strong contrasts of light and dark. ^[5] Kuhn continued painting zinnias in the 1940s, experimenting with different arrangements, vessels, and backdrops.

The painting is executed on a fine plain-weave canvas that is lined with a wax adhesive onto a more heavily woven fabric. The tacking margins are damaged, but it appears that the canvas was commercially primed with an off-white ground. ^[6] Extra pinholes around the tacking margins and an artist-applied pencil line marking out the dimensions of the area to be painted suggest that the painting was executed while the canvas was pinned to a board and stretched after its completion. Infrared reflectography confirmed that Kuhn used dark strokes of black paint to outline his forms in the process of laying in his composition. A muted red-brown wash was then used to block in the vase, flowers, and table, while thin black washes were applied to the background. More opaque, thick touches of paint were added on top of the washes to execute the finer details of the flowers and leaves. The whites of the flowers fluoresce quite strongly under longwave ultraviolet light, suggesting the use of zinc white in these areas. The ultraviolet examination also showed that the uneven layer of varnish coating the painting is composed of a natural resin. The infrared examination did not reveal artist changes; there was no examination with x-radiography conducted. Lining has imparted a stronger impression of the canvas weave to the painting. It has also flattened some of the areas of higher impasto. There is scattered inpainting throughout much of the background and a substantial amount of old retouching in the tabletop.

Michael Swicklik

July 24, 2024