- 20
Sanford Robinson Gifford 1823-1880
Description
- Sanford Robinson Gifford
- Sketch for the Woods in Autumn
- signed S.R. Gifford and dated Oct 23, 1878, l.l.
- oil on canvas
- 5 by 4 in.
- (12.7 by 10.2 cm)
Condition
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Catalogue Note
The present work is a study for The Woods in Autumn (1878, Private Collection), a subject which Gifford explored in several works in the late 1870s. Dr. Ila Weiss writes: "The inclusion of the specific date on the small sketch strongly suggests that it was painted outdoors on that day. The known larger painting would have been developed in his studio on the basis of the preliminary sketch.
"A comparison of the two known versions of The Woods in Autumn demonstrates Gifford's procedure. The original sketch records the arrangement of trees and certain specifics of their shapes that interested him (such as the abrupt curve before straightening of two tree trunks at the left, echoing each other), retained in the later interpretation. The concept of shady woods framing a light-filled center distance, as well as the highlights on the bark and roots of the nearest tree at the right, are established in the small sketch and repeated in the larger version. Even the two figures on the path - one in white shirt and hat, picturesquely reflecting the light - appear in both. However, the larger work diminished the relative size of the figures to imply deeper, grander space; and it explicates details that are economically suggested in the sketch, and smoothes and elongates the lines of tree trunks to emphasize the striking aesthetic qualities of this appealing fragment of nature - implying spiritual content. The implication is intensified by transforming the originally observed distance of colorful autumn foliage and gray-blue sky into a transcendent golden luminosity, offset by the dim woods. In contrast, the small Sketch for Woods in Autumn captures the immediacy and intimacy of the artist's actual experience of the Catskills on Oct. 23, 1878."