Oscar Bluemner
Earth Sets on Moon

ArtistAmerican, born Germany, 1867–1938
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Earth Sets on Moon
Date1922
MediumWatercolor over graphite on laid paper
DimensionsSheet: 6 15/16 × 4 3/4 in. (17.7 × 12 cm)
Credit LineThe Alice C. Simkins Collection, gift of Alice C. Simkins
Object number2015.453
Non exposé

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Description

Oscar Bluemner was among the artists who participated in the celebrated Armory Show of 1913, and he also exhibited at Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 gallery two years later.  However, early recognition brought him little financial stability, and in 1916 he entered into a long period of depression and poverty, during which he rarely producing finished works.

"Earth Sets on Moon" is the only sketch that survives of a planned larger canvas. Earth hovers as a threateningly red planet, while the moon’s imagined peaks are rendered in fantastic colors. In his notes on painting, published only after his death, Bluemner explained:  “Look at my work in a way as you listen to music—look at the space filled with colors and try to feel; do not insist on ‘understanding’ what seems strange. When you ‘FEEL’ colors, you will understand the ‘WHY’ of their forms. It is so simple.”  


ProvenanceThe Artist; unknown collection; John Torson, New York; [Davis Galleries, New York], as of 1964; Helen W. Benjamin, 1964-1966; Sale, New York, Sotheby’s, May 1996, lot 124; [Linda Hymen Fine Arts, New York], as of 1996; Alice Simkins, 1996-2015; given to MFAH, 2015.
Exhibition History“American Modern: Works from the Collection of Alice C. Simkins,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, April 15–July 19, 2015.

"The Rise of Modernism: Europe and America," The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Oct. 28, 2020 – July 27, 2021. [Inaugural Installation: Kinder Building 207: No Catalog]
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Recto: Signed and dated in graphite, bottom right corner: OB [monogram] OB [monogram] / -22
Recto: Signed and dated in graphite, bottom right corner: OB [monogram] OB [monogram] / -22
Verso of frame: Sticker in printed ink, upper edge: [Linda Hyman Fine Arts]
Verso of frame: Sticker in printed ink, bottom edge: [Davis Galleries]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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