Lot 37
  • 37

Theodore Robinson

Estimate
400,000 - 600,000 USD
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Description

  • Theodore Robinson
  • Nantucket Pump
  • signed; titled and inscribed with the artist's notes on his calling card tacked to the stretcher
  • oil on canvas
  • 17 1/4 by 13 1/4 in.
  • 43.8 ny 33.7 cm.
  • Executed circa 1882, this work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's work being compiled by Ira Spanierman and Sona Johnston.

Provenance

(probably) William F. Perkins
Spaulding Memorial Library, Athens, Pennsylvania (probably a gift from the above)
Paul Magriel, New York
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (acquired from the above in March 1978)

Exhibited

Framingham, Massachusetts, Danforth Museum of Art, 1978

Literature

Robert A. diCurcio, Art on Nantucket: The History of Painting on Nantucket Island, Nantucket, 1982, fig. 169, p. 144, illustrated in color and p. 145 (dated circa 1895)

Condition

This work is in very good condition. The canvas is unlined, and there is some craquelure at the lower center and lower right by the figure’s pant leg. Under UV: there is one spot of inpainting at the lower right, some spots at the edges primarily on the upper right, and 2 thin vertical lines of inpainting in the sky in the upper left quadrant; these are all somewhat visible to the naked eye.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

Throughout his career, Theodore Robinson was inspired by outdoor subjects in the American realist tradition and took as his primary subject matter figures set in country landscapes. Painted circa 1882, Nantucket Pump reveals the artist’s interest in rural naturalism and his commitment to figurative subject matter, both of which remained constant through developments in his technique and palette inspired by his later years in Giverny.  According to John I.H. Baur, “The pictures Robinson turned out in these years [1880-1884]…were light in key and essentially realistic.  But they also show a change in important respects.  They are more broadly painted, more firmly constructed and more immediately concerned with specific effects of sunlight and atmosphere.  They are already impressionist, not with the capital “I” of French Impressionism’s broken color, but in the soberer tradition of American plein-air painting.  While they are somewhat higher in key and brighter in color than the contemporary work of Winslow Homer or Eastman Johnson or Thomas Eakins, they give evidence of much the same kind of vision” (Theodore Robinson, Brooklyn, New York, pp. 20-21).  Homer's influence is evident not only in Robinson’s choice of subject matter, but also in the composition of Nantucket Pump, which depicts a farm boy who has stopped for a cup of water, resting his hoe at his feet while he operates the pump.  The strong central vertical of the pump and single figure are countered by the horizontal fence boards, which also enclose the composition, leaving the viewer with just a glimpse of a farmhouse and the fields beyond.

After pursuing his early education primarily at the National Academy of Design in New York, Robinson was introduced to European art circles in 1876 when he joined a coterie of American artists studying in the Paris studio of Carolus-Duran.  He later transferred to Jean-Léon Gérôme’s atelier where he mastered the academic principles of draftsmanship, tonality, and solidity of form.  In mid-1877, Robinson traveled to the French village of Grez, which was home to an artist’s colony frequented by Americans seeking to paint rural landscapes.  The plein air technique was common in Grez and Robinson embraced the method of painting outdoors, directly from nature.  Following his return to New York in 1879, Robinson found steady employment as a decorative painter, working on interior projects for John La Farge and Prentice Treadwell in New York and Boston.  As was typical for artists in the late 19th century, Robinson often retreated from the city for the summer months, and he spent the summer of 1882 with a number of artist friends on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket.  Released from the requirements of his decorating commissions, Robinson was free to pursue his interest in agrarian subjects and again afforded the opportunity to paint the rural farm scenes that most appealed to him (figure 1).  In Nantucket Pump, he maintains the spontaneous feel of plein air painting, employing a palette akin to the clear light and fresh air of the island.

Though he preferred to paint from life, Robinson often used photography in composing his works, writing, "Painting directly from nature is difficult, as things do not remain the same, the camera helps to retain the picture in your mind" (ibid., p. 36).  The simple form of the straw hat seen in Nantucket Pump reappears frequently in both the artist’s photographs and paintings (figure 2).  It is featured in other works from this same summer on Nantucket and in numerous later pictures dating to his extended stays in France.  Even after adopting a brighter sun-dappled palette and more impressionistic handling subsequent to his travels to Giverny, where he formed a close friendship with Claude Monet, Robinson never abandoned the individual figure in a country landscape that was his favored subject throughout his career.