The Door Was Flung Open Suddenly, a Pair of Troubled Grey Eyes Were Looking at Him Searchingly
Artist
Frank Tenney Johnson
(American, 1874 - 1939)
Date1918
Mediumoil on canvas mounted on aluminum honeycomb panel
Dimensions27 3/4 x 19 7/8 inches (70.5 x 50.5 cm)
Credit LineBequest of H.J. Lutcher Stark, 1965
Object number31.22.19
ClassificationsPaintings
DescriptionVertical oil painting depicting an encounter between a woman and a man. A woman, wearing a gray skirt, white skirt, and red scarf, stands in a doorway looking up at a tall man who stands just outside the building, wearing black chaps, boots, and spurs, and holding his hat in one hand. Behind him his horse grazes. Mountains and a towering white clouds occupy the background.Label TextIn Johnson’s painting, the log cabin plays a role in the narrative about the West. The cowboy stands with a background of the open land. He calls on the young woman who stands within the shelter of the cabin. Her space signals the domestication of the West.
ProvenancePurchased July 8, 1958 through (C. Bland Jamison, Santa Fe, New Mexico) by H.J. Lutcher Stark [1887-1965]; bequeathed September 2, 1965 to the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation; accessioned to the Stark Museum of Art
On View
Not on view
William Herbert Dunton
c. 1950
