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 × 19 7/8 inches (70.5 × 50.5 cm)
Frame: 36 3/8 × 28 1/2 inches (92.4 × 72.4 cm)
Frame: 36 3/8 × 28 1/2 inches (92.4 × 72.4 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 TextWhen Lutcher Stark acquired this painting from an art dealer, it came with the title Orange Mountain. Museum staff researched this painting to find the artist’s original title or the first published title. There was no evidence that the artist called his painting Orange Mountain. Johnson painted this work to illustrate Jackson Gregory’s novel Six Foot Four. The caption under the illustration provided the first published title. Yet the old title points to the importance of orange in this painting. In a story with much tension and danger, the hero stands tall with a bright, sunny landscape in the distance. The story will have a happy ending.
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
On view
William Herbert Dunton
c. 1950
