Martin Johnson Heade
Magnolias on Gold Velvet Cloth

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Magnolias on Gold Velvet Cloth
Datec. 1888–1890
PlaceUnited States
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions14 13/16 × 24 in. (37.6 × 61 cm)
Frame: 21 3/8 × 30 3/8 × 2 5/8 in. (54.3 × 77.2 × 6.7 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Alice Pratt Brown Museum Fund, Isabel B. Wilson, and The Brown Foundation, Inc.
Object number99.182
Current Location
The Audrey Jones Beck Building
108 Hevrdejs Gallery
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
American Art
Object Type
Description

In this acutely observed still life, Martin Johnson Heade depicts five magnolias in various stages of blossom. The golden glow of the background and of the plush velvet sets off the various qualities of the flower: the delicate, smooth petals in creamy white; the rough stems; and the waxy finish of the leaves, one of which has been affected by a fungus.


Born in Pennsylvania to a prosperous farming family, Heade spent his early years hunting, fishing, and learning to love nature—a passion that led him to paint in landscape and still life more than other genres. Even in an age of peripatetic artists, he was more widely traveled than most, living variously in Europe and America, and traveling to South America on three occasions.


Heade moved in 1883 to Florida, where flourishing tropical flowers like magnolias both encouraged his interest in natural history and appealed to him artistically. He repeatedly painted magnolias, creating compositions that are infinitely varied and show evidence of various alterations that he made while painting. The subtle shifts within his work as a whole account in part for Heade’s appeal to modern sensibilities. Although Heade's work received only limited artistic acclaim during his lifetime, his paintings were “rediscovered” in the 1940s, and he has since evolved into an undisputed modern American master.


 


Provenance Research Ongoing Exhibition History"American Made: 250 Years of American Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 7 July 2012 - 2 January 2013.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscription: There is a gallery label on the verso of the frame from Kennedy Galleries, Inc., 730 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10019-4105.
The painting is signed in black, recto, lower left: "MJ Heade".

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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