Artist
Toni LaSelleAmerican, 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
Explore Further
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