Artist
Toni LaSelle (American, 1901–2002)American, 1901–2002
CultureAmerican
Titles
- Puritan
Date1947–1950
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsCanvas: 30 1/8 × 25 in. (76.5 × 63.5 cm)
Frame (outer): 30 11/16 × 25 9/16 × 1 3/8 in. (77.9 × 64.9 × 3.5 cm)
Frame (outer): 30 11/16 × 25 9/16 × 1 3/8 in. (77.9 × 64.9 × 3.5 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Frank Freed Memorial Painting Fund
Object number95.45
Not on view
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Department
Modern and Contemporary ArtObject Type
Toni LaSelle was among the first artists working in Texas to commit to pure abstraction. Having studied with László Moholy-Nagy in Chicago and Hans Hofmann in Provincetown, Massachusetts, she brought a deep understanding of non-objective composition and painterly sophistication to her elemental canvases.
LaSelle painted Puritan over several summer visits to Provincetown. As the title suggests, the composition has a stringent and pared-down purity. As is typical of LaSelle's canvases, the scale is intimate, but the bold, color-saturated forms instill the work with a quiet monumentality.
Provenance[Barry Whistler Gallery, Dallas]; purchased by MFAH, 1995.
Exhibition History"Toni La Selle," The Pinoteca / Rose Fried Gallery, New York, June 5–29, 1950.
"Paintings by Toni LaSelle," Fort Worth Art Center, March 22–April 11, 1959.
"Texas Modern and Post-Modern," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, January 21–March 3, 1996.
“Crossing State Lines: Texas Art from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, September 23, 2000–March 18, 2001.
"Texas Modern: The Rediscovery of Early Texas Abstraction (1935-1965)," Martin Museum of Art, Baylor University, Waco, Texas, January 18–March 3, 2007; Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, September 17, 2009–January 3, 2010.
"American Made: 250 Years of American Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, July 7, 2012–January 2, 2013.
"Texas Women: A New History of Abstract Art," San Antonio Museum of Art, February 7– September 6, 2020.
"The Marzio Years: Transforming the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1982–2010," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 25, 2020–January 10, 2021.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Verso: Signed in brown ink, upper left corner of canvas: Toni LaSelle [surrounded by rectangle]
Verso: Signed in black and brown ink, upper right corner of canvas: Puritan / 1947-1950 [circled]
Verso: Signed in ink, upper left of frame: Toni LaSelle
Verso: Signed in red pencil, center left of frame: Toni LaSelle
Verso: Signed in black and brown ink, upper right corner of canvas: Puritan / 1947-1950 [circled]
Verso: Signed in ink, upper left of frame: Toni LaSelle
Verso: Signed in red pencil, center left of frame: Toni LaSelle
Verso: Stamp in ink, center left of frame: 25 warp, proof Treated ANCO, Inc Glendale, L.D.
Verso: Label in printed ink, upper right of frame: 10. Toni La Selle / Puritan, 1947-50 / 25" x 30", Oil/Canvas
Verso: Label in printed ink, upper right of frame: 10. Toni La Selle / Puritan, 1947-50 / 25" x 30", Oil/Canvas
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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Final version/Preparatory work