Covered Wagon under Clouds in Desert Landscape
Artist
Albert Lorey Groll
(American, 1866 - 1952)
Datec. 1945
Mediumoil on paperboard, mounted on hardboard
Dimensions20 × 24 inches (50.8 × 61 cm)
Frame: 27 1/8 × 31 1/8 inches (68.9 × 79.1 cm)
Frame: 27 1/8 × 31 1/8 inches (68.9 × 79.1 cm)
Credit LineGift of Rob Clark in memory of Laurence R. David, Director of Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation (1990 – 2020)
Object number2020.3.1
ClassificationsPaintings
DescriptionHorizontal oil painting depicts an expansive desert landscape with rock formations and mountains in the distance. A single covered wagon traverses the landscape in the distance. The majority of the work is composed of the sky, populated with fluffy white clouds.Label TextThe blue skies and fluffy clouds dominate the dry desert land in Groll’s painting. They seem to promise a brighter future for that small element in the foreground. A solitary covered wagon winds its way through the empty expanse, heading toward a new home on the other side of mountains. The artist’s style of loose brushstrokes and unconventional composition is modern in approach. The idea that settlers came into an uninhabited land conveys a persistent and misleading message. It sends a signal about who has the opportunity to make a home here.
ProvenanceArtist; possibly sold as of 1948 through (Grand Central Galleries, New York, New York); acquired at least by 1980 by Leta Nell Steger [1929-2018], Houston, Texas; by descent January 2, 2018 to John Carl Steger, Wauchula, Florida; purchased February 16, 2020 through (Simpson Galleries, Houston, Texas) by J. Robert Clark, Beaumont, Texas; gifted April 20, 2020 to the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation
On View
Not on view
Fremont F. Ellis
Ralph Albert Blakelock
