Artist:
George Wesley Bellows
(American, 1882 - 1925)
Blasted Tree and Deserted House
Medium: oil on panel
Date: 1920
Dimensions:
Framed: 28 x 32 x 1/4 in. (71.1 x 81.3 x 0.6 cm)
Accession number: 2023.11
ProvenanceThe artist. Estate of the above. Emma S. Bellows, the artists’ wife. Estate of the above, until 1975. H.V Allison & Co., New York, 1975. Berry-Hill Galleries, New York, 1987. Christie’s New York, November 30, 1999, lot 118. The Doris and Herbert Sloan collection. Estate of the above. Private collection, New York. Purchased by the Brandywine Museum of Art through Heritage Auctions, 2023.
Curatorial RemarksThough clearly a stylistic work of the twentieth century that is vibrant and expressive with a bold color palette and brushwork to match, the work is deeply tied to the American landscape tradition. The blasted tree is significant reference to the artists of the nineteenth century Hudson River School, particularly Thomas Cole, who frequently used the dead tree as a device in his paintings to represent the cycles of nature and inevitable death and destruction. In his updated view of the Catskill Mountains, Bellows signals both history and renewal with the deserted house and ailing paired with the lush greenery of the scene.