More from the Museum

On my trip last week to the Cleveland Museum of Art, I visited a couple of galleries that were devoted to 20th century American painters from 1915 to 1955.  Among those represented were a number of artists whose names were known to me, and others with whom I was unfamiliar.

 "Morning Glory with Black"

by Georgia O'Keefe

1926

O'Keefe is known for her close-up images of flowers that fill the entire canvas.

"Cliffs Beyond Abiquiu"

by Georgia O'Keefe

1943

Weary of the social pressures of New York City, O'Keefe escaped frequently to rural New Mexico and eventually moved there.  This painting was bequeathed by the artist to the Cleveland Museum of Art in gratitude for its early support of her work.

"January"

by Grant Wood

1940

Grant Wood is best known for his iconic painting "American Gothic."  This almost abstract composition of rows of corn schocks was one of the artist's last works before his death.

"Church Street EL"

by Charles Scheeler

1920

This painting of buildings and train tracks in Manhattan is typical of Scheeler's style.  He concentrates on shapes and the patterns of light and shade.

"Rock at Sea"

by Raymond Johnson

1920-22

This seascape with abstract tendencies was inspired by the coast of Maine.

"New Mexico Recollection"

by Marsden Hartley

1923

The artist was temporarily living in Berlin when he painted this landscape recalling a visit he had made to New Mexico some years before.

"A Paramount Picture"

by Reginald Marsh

1934

Marsh contrasts ordinary people with movie stars in this street scene in front of a movie theater showing Cecille B. DeMille's "Cleopatra" starring Claudette Colbert.

"Gray and Gold"

by John Rogers Cox

1942

This painting was done shortly after the U.S. entered World War II, and the ominous storm clouds over the amber waves of grain are symbolic.

"End of Olsons"

by Andrew Wyeth

1969

The well-known realistic painter focused on rural themes.  Here he painted the home in Maine of old friends.  The couple had recently died, and he symbolically portrayed the abandoned house with two swallows (one perched on the gable, the other in flight) about to leave the house for the winter.