About the Object

The fifth in The Sonnet Series, a group of 12 sketches for paintings, this work includes two anthropomorphic trees in a landscape. The trunk of the tree in the foreground appears bent forward, a large knot suggestive of a head. Two large branches reach upwards, framed by a cloud of foliage. The other tree, off in the right distance, is devoid of leaves, a thick trunk with two arm-like branches thrown up to the sky. The trees are separated by a path that curves through the landscape, drawing the viewer’s eye further into the background. Bluemner envisioned the series as three groups of four works, each group defined by color. This group of four, which included scenes from sunrise to sunset, would be marked by greens.

Additional Information

Bluemner created The Sonnet Series based on 12 sonnets by the poet Eirene Mungo-Park. He began work on the drawings for “The 12 Sonnet Paintings” on March 8, 1935, and although he recorded their completion in his painting diary on October 28, 1935, five of the works are dated 1936, suggesting he continued to refine them. He made pages of notes while he worked on the series. These notes include preparatory sketches, illustrating his process as he clarified each composition. Bluemner conceived of the paintings as 15 x 20 inches, three times the size of the finished sketches, but would not live long enough to realize them.