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Lot Essay
Equally adept at landscape and still-life painting, Martin Johnson Heade enjoyed one of the longest careers of any nineteenth-century American artist. He showed regularly from 1841 until his death in 1904, traveled widely, and mastered a diversity of subject matter rivaled by few of his contemporaries.
With a reputation as a solitary artist, Heade lived only sporadically in the art centers of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. After 1883, in his later years, he settled in St. Augustine, Florida, where he directed his attentions chiefly to still-life paintings--including a body of work devoted to the cherokee rose. Captivated by this (and other) blossoms indigenous to the south, Heade made some two-dozen sketches of the cherokee rose (Rosa laevigata) in preparation for the numerous oils he completed of the subject.
Heade's still-lifes of cherokee roses tend to fall into two distinct types of compositions. In both, Heade arranges the roses on velvet-covered table-tops, using either a horizontal format, with the roses lying directly on the velvet, or, less commonly, a vertical format, in which the roses are placed in a vase or a simple glass. In the present example, painted in 1886, Heade has placed a spray of blossoms in a glass filled with water, balancing the composition with a second bud casually placed on the table, which is in turn covered with a plush, gold-colored velvet. Of the three blossoms in the glass, each represents a different moment in the unfolding of the flower, from a closed bud to a completely opened blossom. Set against a dark background, the petals are painted a brilliant white, and defined with a crisp, sinuous outline. In its seeming simplicity, the painting is a tour-de-force of Heade's best still-lifes of his Florida period.
In the current catalogue of Heade's retrospective exhibition, Janet L. Comey notes that late in his career--at a time when he had fallen into relative obscurity--Heade's cherokee rose paintings still received favorable notice in the local press: "The St. Augustine Tatler praised Heade's studies of the Cherokee rose that grows so profusely here, climbing over stumps and hedges, transforming them into things of beauty.'" Describing the still-lifes as wonderful likenesses, the reviewer praised Heade's precise draftsmanship and use of color, remarking that "the pure white petals, yellow stamens and glossy dark leaves are so natural as to deceive." (J.L. Comey, et al, Martin Johnson Heade, Boston, MA, 1999, pp 123-4).
Also noting the discovery of the Cherokee rose in Georgia in 1803, Comey explains the origin of its common name: "Many Cherokee Indian legends and traditions involve these roses, which were the only flowers that braves gathered for their brides to make garlands for their hair. Wearing these flowers ensured the bride happiness with their husbands." (Martin Johnson Heade, p.124)
According to Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., "This is Heade's earliest dated cherokee rose painting, thus supporting our theory that Heade took up the subject shortly after settling in Florida in 1883. Cherokee Roses in a Glass on Gold Velvet Plush is one of ten vertically-oriented compositions Heade painted of the subject. In his Cherokee Roses compositions, Heade used a variety of glass vases including the simple tumbler depicted here, one of his favorites." (Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., letter, October 13, 1999).
A fine example of Heade's remarkable still-lifes, Cherokee Roses in a Glass on Gold Velvet Plush also exemplifies the transformation in Heade's art during his final years in Florida. While developing his landscape painting in his newly adopted tropical climate, "an even greater change," writes Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., "is seen in Heade's Florida still-lifes. New subjects and his own new life together led him to reinvent his art once again. The late still lifes, especially the Cherokee roses and the magnolias, are the opposite of what one would expect of an aging artist in semiretirement when he depicted the flowers of Florida, his touch seems surer than ever before in his life. Finally, at the end of his life, again paying little attention to the fashionable he employed a now out-of-date realist style to produce some of the most remarkable still-lifes in our history." (Martin Johnson Heade, p. 9).
A letter from Dr. Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., discussing the work, accompanies the lot.
This Painting will be included in Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr.'s forthcoming third edition of his catalogue raisonn of Heade's work.
With a reputation as a solitary artist, Heade lived only sporadically in the art centers of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. After 1883, in his later years, he settled in St. Augustine, Florida, where he directed his attentions chiefly to still-life paintings--including a body of work devoted to the cherokee rose. Captivated by this (and other) blossoms indigenous to the south, Heade made some two-dozen sketches of the cherokee rose (Rosa laevigata) in preparation for the numerous oils he completed of the subject.
Heade's still-lifes of cherokee roses tend to fall into two distinct types of compositions. In both, Heade arranges the roses on velvet-covered table-tops, using either a horizontal format, with the roses lying directly on the velvet, or, less commonly, a vertical format, in which the roses are placed in a vase or a simple glass. In the present example, painted in 1886, Heade has placed a spray of blossoms in a glass filled with water, balancing the composition with a second bud casually placed on the table, which is in turn covered with a plush, gold-colored velvet. Of the three blossoms in the glass, each represents a different moment in the unfolding of the flower, from a closed bud to a completely opened blossom. Set against a dark background, the petals are painted a brilliant white, and defined with a crisp, sinuous outline. In its seeming simplicity, the painting is a tour-de-force of Heade's best still-lifes of his Florida period.
In the current catalogue of Heade's retrospective exhibition, Janet L. Comey notes that late in his career--at a time when he had fallen into relative obscurity--Heade's cherokee rose paintings still received favorable notice in the local press: "The St. Augustine Tatler praised Heade's studies of the Cherokee rose that grows so profusely here, climbing over stumps and hedges, transforming them into things of beauty.'" Describing the still-lifes as wonderful likenesses, the reviewer praised Heade's precise draftsmanship and use of color, remarking that "the pure white petals, yellow stamens and glossy dark leaves are so natural as to deceive." (J.L. Comey, et al, Martin Johnson Heade, Boston, MA, 1999, pp 123-4).
Also noting the discovery of the Cherokee rose in Georgia in 1803, Comey explains the origin of its common name: "Many Cherokee Indian legends and traditions involve these roses, which were the only flowers that braves gathered for their brides to make garlands for their hair. Wearing these flowers ensured the bride happiness with their husbands." (Martin Johnson Heade, p.124)
According to Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., "This is Heade's earliest dated cherokee rose painting, thus supporting our theory that Heade took up the subject shortly after settling in Florida in 1883. Cherokee Roses in a Glass on Gold Velvet Plush is one of ten vertically-oriented compositions Heade painted of the subject. In his Cherokee Roses compositions, Heade used a variety of glass vases including the simple tumbler depicted here, one of his favorites." (Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., letter, October 13, 1999).
A fine example of Heade's remarkable still-lifes, Cherokee Roses in a Glass on Gold Velvet Plush also exemplifies the transformation in Heade's art during his final years in Florida. While developing his landscape painting in his newly adopted tropical climate, "an even greater change," writes Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., "is seen in Heade's Florida still-lifes. New subjects and his own new life together led him to reinvent his art once again. The late still lifes, especially the Cherokee roses and the magnolias, are the opposite of what one would expect of an aging artist in semiretirement when he depicted the flowers of Florida, his touch seems surer than ever before in his life. Finally, at the end of his life, again paying little attention to the fashionable he employed a now out-of-date realist style to produce some of the most remarkable still-lifes in our history." (Martin Johnson Heade, p. 9).
A letter from Dr. Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., discussing the work, accompanies the lot.
This Painting will be included in Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr.'s forthcoming third edition of his catalogue raisonn of Heade's work.