ENOCH WOOD PERRY (1831-1915)

Details
ENOCH WOOD PERRY (1831-1915)

Pastoral-He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

oil on canvas
28 x 22in. (71.2 x 56cm.)
Provenance
The Old Print Shop, Inc., New York
Harry King Cochran, Little Rock, Arkansas
Bess C. Cochran, Little Rock, Arkansas
by descent in the family to the present owner
Literature
Art Digest, New York, March 15, 1945, V. 19, p. 2
B. Cowdrey, "The Discovery of Enoch Wood Perry", The Old Print Shop Portfolio, New York, April 1945, vol. IV, no. 8, pp. 171-181, illus. (cover)
Exhibited
New York, The Old Print Shop, Inc., Enoch Wood Perry, April 1945, illus. (cover)

Lot Essay

RELATED LITERATURE:
M.T. Earle, Monthly Illustration, New York, V. 12, July 1896, p. 531-537

Recorded:
New York, Frick Art Reference Library, Photofile, April 1945, no. 38842

This painting was one of a large group of works by Enoch Wood Perry that the Old Print Shop acquired in the early 1940s. This group included thirty paintings, as well as a great many drawings, photographs, letters and other memorabilia from the artist's family.

In July of 1896, Monthly Illustration accurately summarized Mr. Perry's fascination with the chance encounters on the homestead:
"Mr. Perry has a liking for quiet quaint interiors, and often paints the domestic side of life, both in and out of doors. Venturing to interpret the purpose of his work, his frequent choice of pastoral and homely figures would seem to suggest a belief that, though they are no longer as much painted or as blindly accepted by the public, in themselves they must always be legitimate material for an artist, because they are so essentially human." (p. 533-534)