Driveway: Newark

Artist

George Ault

Date

1931

Medium

Oil on canvas

Object Type

Painting

Dimensions

H- 21 1/2 x W-15 1/2 in. (54.6 x 39.4 cm)

Artist's Country of Birth

United States

Collecting Area

American Modernism

Credit Line

The Jan T. and Marica Vilcek Collection, Promised gift to The Vilcek Foundation

Accession Number

2011.02.01

Copyright

About the Object

In this painting, a driveway squeezed between two buildings gives way to a view of a fenced-in backyard with buildings and trees beyond it. The driveway curves to the right, disappearing behind the tan building. Every building features Ault’s characteristic treatment of windows: black rectangles, no indication of panes, curtains, or the lives contained within. The blue sky with two fluffy clouds, their curves echoed in the trees, contrasts the somewhat ominous feeling of the seemingly empty buildings.

Additional Information

In 1911, Ault’s family moved back to the United States from London and settled in Hillside, New Jersey.

The Artist;
Louise Ault, the Artist’s widow;
Mrs. Herbert Thorn, New York, NY, November 1960;
Private Collection, Woodstock, NY;
[Vered Gallery, East Hampton, NY, July 4, 2010, lot 49];
[James Reinish & Associates, Inc., New York, NY];

Tulsa, OK. Philbrook Museum of Art. From New York to New Mexico: Masterworks of American Modernism from the Vilcek Foundation Collection (February 8-May 3, 2015); Phoenix, AZ. Phoenix Art Museum (June 5-September 6, 2015); Santa Fe, NM. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum (September 25, 2015-January 10, 2016).

Correspondence in George Ault Papers, Reel D247, Frames 776-778, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Louise Ault, “Ault Estate, Record of Works of Art by George C. Ault” as “Driveway; Newark. Oil 22 x 16, produced 1931. Sold: Mrs. Herbert Thorn, New York City, 150.00.” George Ault Papers, Reel 1927, Frame 756, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Agee, William C. and Lewis Kachur. Masterpieces of American Modernism: From the Vilcek Collection. London: Merrell, 2013, pp. 174-175, 262, ill. p. 175.

Abatemarco, Michael. “Assimilation Through Art: The Modernist Collection of Marica and Jan Vilcek,” Pasatiempo, September 25, 2015, p.1, ill. front cover.