About the Object
A portrait of the artist’s son, Alfred, done in a muted palette of blues and browns. Alfred looks straight at the viewer, a sad, somewhat distant, expression on his face. Originally a full-length seated portrait, it was reproduced in the July 1924 issue of Arts. At some point, Dasburg cut the composition down to create this more focused version, which he was also dissatisfied with. One of his students, Earl Stroh, saved the work from being totally destroyed.
Additional Information
The background of the painting, with its flat planes of color notched together, resembles the one that appears in Dasburg’s Portrait of Judson Smith, 1923, in the Dallas Museum of Art.
The Artist;
Private Collection, Taos, NM;
[Salander O’Reilly Galleries, New York, NY];
Private Collection, Minneapolis, MN;
[Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM];
Jan T. and Marica Vilcek Collection, New York, NY, 2012;
Santa Fe. Museum of New Mexico, School of American Research. Twelfth Annual Exhibit, Painters of the Southwest. August 2-16, 1925, cat. no. 26.
Albuquerque. Art Museum, University of New Mexico. Andrew Dasburg: A Retrospective Exhibition (October 28-December 2, 1979); San Antonio, Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute (January 1-February 15, 1980); Austin, University Art Museum, University of Texas at Austin (March 10-April 25, 1980); Amarillo, Amarillo Art Center (May 14-June 22, 1980); Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum (August 1-August 30, 1980); Lincoln, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska (October 14-November 16, 1980); Denver, The Denver Art Museum (December 10, 1980-January 31, 1981); Santa Fe, Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of New Mexico (February 25-March 31, 1981), 5.
Tulsa. 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. Phoenix Art Museum (June 5-September 6, 2015).
Mozley, Loren. “Modern Art in the Southwest,” The Echo, Colorado’s Magazine of Comment and The Arts, 1924, p. 19.
Brook, Alexander. “Andrew Dasburg,” Arts, July 1924, 19-26, ill. p. 23.
“Oil Paintings by Andrew Dasburg. List dictated by Dasburg at Ranchos, December 21, 1947.” Andrew Dasburg and Grace Mott Johnson Papers. Biographical Material & Business Records: Lists of Artwork, 1947, 1977-1980. Box 1, Folder 10, Frame 1. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Bywaters, Jerry. Andrew Dasburg. Dallas: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1957, np.
Coke, Van Deren. Andrew Dasburg. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1979, p. 75-76, ill. P. 76.
Reich, Sheldon. Andrew Dasburg: His Life and Art. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1989, p. 50-51, ill. p. 50.
Agee, William C. and Lewis Kachur. Masterpieces of American Modernism: From the Vilcek Collection. London: Merrell, 2013, pp. 29, 30, 146-147, 236, 263, ill. p. 147.
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