School of Arthur Wesley Dow (American, 1857-1922) Cottage View, Late Day

Description:

School of Arthur Wesley Dow (American, 1857-1922)

Cottage View, Late Day
Unsigned.
Charcoal on paperboard, 15 3/4 x 12 in. (40.0 x 30.4 cm),unframed.
Condition: Wear to edges, toning.

N.B. In discussing this work, Frederick C. Moffatt ties this drawing to works that, "...Dow produced in the middle 1890's while working in Ipswich. The subject of the drawing in question is typically "Ipswich." The principal house resembles any one of several seventeenth century structures preserved there, including the Emerson House, used as the site of Dow's "Ipswich School," which had a fenced-in orchard behind it. The "Art Nouveau" style of the drawing is also Dow-like in its eccentric (non-traditional) Japonisme composition and flat patterning. That Dow insisted that the Japanese pictorial principles of "notan," or the abstract, structured, quality of dark and light, not imitation, were of first importance, no matter what medium one worked in, also satisfactorily explains why the drawing resembles a print. Even that the work is unsigned does not rule out Dow's authorship. However...Dow was a teacher of hundreds of teachers who themselves became the teachers of many more third generation pupils, and...the best student work more closely resembled that of Dow's own paintings, drawings and prints..." We are grateful to Dr. Moffatt for his assistance in cataloguing this drawing.
Estimate $1,500-2,000

Keywords