The Hudson River Museum
Cattle in American Art 1820 −20 0 0
Lenders to the Exhibition
Addison Gallery of American Art, Philips Academy, Andover, MA The Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, St. Joseph, MO Alexandre Gallery, New York, NY Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA American Illustrators Gallery, New York, NY Janine Antoni Patricia Bellan-Gillen Sean A. Cavanaugh Childs Gallery, Boston, MA Shevlin and Diane Ciral Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH The Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE Richard Deon Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, CT Frank E. Fowler, representing Andrew Wyeth Leslie Galluzzo Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, CA Red and Lysiane Luong Grooms Richard Haas Gloria Houng Alan Kessler Kiechel Fine Art, Lincoln, NE Susan Leopold
Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York, NY Peter Max The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY The Milton Avery Trust, NY Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI The Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, MI National Museum of American Illustration, Newport, RI New Arts Gallery, Litchfield, CT The Old Print Shop, New York, NY Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, NY The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA Private Collections Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND George Rodrigue Patterson Sims and Katy Homans Mr. and Mrs. Edward Byron Smith, Jr. Spanierman Gallery, New York, NY The Staten Island Museum, Staten Island, NY Immi Storrs Arthur Tress The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA Cindy Pettinaro Wilkinson
ISBN: 0-943651-32-8 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Copyright 2006 The Hudson River Museum 511 Warburton Avenue Yonkers, NY 10701-1899 (914) 963-4550 www.hrm.org Catalogue Design by James Monroe www.jameshmonroe.com
The Hudson River Museum
Cattle in American Art 1820 −20 0 0
June 24 – September 10, 2006
Got Cow? Cattle in American Art, 1820-2000, was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Charles and Mildred Schnurmacher Foundation, Inc. 1
Director’s Foreward
Exhibitions that focus on domesticated animals seem easy and accessible. We transfer our affection for the living creatures to the objects on display. But, of course, that is not always the artist’s intention. Got Cow? takes us through the bovine world, and also through the variety of artists’ ideas and methods. The one constant in the work that follows is the subject—the cow (or bull). See how innovative each artist’s approach can be as that self-same cow moves from ornament to metaphor; dominates the landscape, then disappears into it; appears solid, dimensional with texture one moment, and deconstructed and abstracted the next. With Bessie as our guide, we make a virtual tour of American art. No exhibition of this kind would be possible without the cooperation of a large group of lenders who have our grateful thanks. Annette Fortin, the museum’s Registrar, mastered the many complications of getting all of the works together with her characteristic effectiveness. James Cullinane, Chief Preparator, helped organize a well-designed show. Jean-Paul Maitinsky, Assistant Director, Programs and Exhibitions, has contributed a thought-provoking introduction in addition to his duties as the head of the museum’s programmatic and educational activities. But credit for the exhibition’s existence is wholly due to the efforts and insights of Bartholomew Bland, Curator of Exhibitions. He brought together the research and the artwork, and wrote the major essay of this publication. We hope you enjoy Got Cow? as much as all of us have enjoyed working on it.
Michael Botwinick
2
Introduction: Cow Logic
Among the many animals humans
Jean-Paul Maitinsky Assistant Director, Exhibitions and Programs
Andy Warhol is the fulcrum of this
have domesticated, cows have turned out to
exhibition. Before him lie variations of
be surprisingly remarkable multitaskers:
representational art and after him lie the use
they produce dairy and meat products, are
of cows in what Arthur Danto has called a
working animals, and tickle our senses as
“post-historical” period. Danto’s seminal work,
they graze in meadows. But cows also have a
Beyond the Brillo Box, applies nineteenth-
subtle, unexpected capacity to be imbued with
century German philosopher Friedrich Hegel’s
matters of humanity. They are domesticated
theory of history to the history of art. Danto
mammals of our own making and serve
explicates that when “art gives rise to the
our hubris. We breed them according to
question of its true identity,” it is no longer
specifications such as color, size, texture, and
about the enterprise of solving this or that
temperament, then judge our success in beauty
pictorial problem per se. Warhol’s irreverent
pageants called country fairs. Therefore, it’s
work succeeded in bring this question to our
natural that cows would be especially popular
attention. To be sure, it had been building
among artists.
up throughout the twentieth century and
The very mention of an exhibition
could easily be attributed to other artists of
featuring cows in American art invariably
the time. As Danto suggests, by entering this
elicits a smile, however our bovine companions
post-historical period, artists, and perhaps
are far more than cute and funny (although
museums as well, were liberated to follow a
they are that too). Got Cow? raises some
nonlinear narrative independent of stylistic
serious issues and makes some new discoveries
lines and historical themes.
along the way. It gathers work as far-reaching
Art was no longer possible in terms of a
as Hudson River school paintings dotted with
progressive historical narrative. The narrative
cows signifying the idealized domesticated
had come to an end. But this, in fact, was a
landscape to a stretched cow hide with cut-out
liberating idea, or I thought it could be. It
shapes of leather backpacks, a violent sign of our penchant for consuming the cow. While the subject is alluring, Got Cow? presents serious and sometimes startling juxtapositions. How could it be possible to compare the
liberated artists from the task of making more history. It liberated artists from having to follow the “correct historical line.” It really did mean that anything could be art, in the sense that nothing could any longer be excluded. It was a moment—I would say it was
pastoral landscape paintings of Samuel
the moment—when perfect artistic freedom
Coleman or George Inness to the conceptual
had become real. . . . Everything was permitted,
works of Janine Antonie’s cow hide or Gloria
since nothing any longer was historically
Houng’s melting cows? What forces permitted
mandated. I call this the post-historical period
such divergent works to be brought together?
of art, and there is no reason for it to ever
Enter Andy Warhol and Arthur Danto.
come to an end.1
3
Danto suggests that when Andy Warhol
nonhistorical lines. This method creates novel
created his now infamous Brillo Boxes in
opportunities for viewers to free-associate and
1964, he achieved the moment in which art
make new interpretations.
had attained full self-consciousness. Warhol’s
Compare Andy Warhol’s cow wallpaper
Cow Wallpaper (1964), a signature image of
and Red Groom’s fanciful sculpture Elsie
this exhibition, follows in the same spirit.
(figure 26), grazing on blades of grass, with
Warhol’s cow is removed from the landscape
the treatment of cows in nineteenth-century
and treated as a decorative motif; against a
landscapes; or a Hudson River School painting
background of pink and yellow, she instantly
with Tom Althouse’s (figure 1) full-scale solid
and unforgettably pops.
oak Cow, whose stomach reveals a digested facsimile of a folk art nineteenth-century idyll. These experiences are a visual feast, facilitating new connections about the cow in American culture, which is arguably one of the most exciting aspects of viewing art in the first place. While Got Cow? owes its inspiration to Mark Tansey’s painting The Innocent Eye Test (1981) and its highly postmodern stance, that the Hudson River Museum has mounted an
Andy Warhol (1928-1987) Cow Wallpaper, 1966
Andy Warhol (1928-1987) Brillo Soap Pads Box, 1964
Wallpaper, installation of 264 x 132 in. Reproduced by the Andy Warhol Museum © 2006 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / ARS, New York
Silkscreen ink and house paint on plywood, 17 x 17 x 14 in. The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., 1998.1.709 © 2006 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / ARS, New York
exhibition dedicated to the cow in art should come as no surprise. After all, the cow has been among the most popular subjects of Hudson River school artists. Cows signify a desire for nature and innocence; they elicit memory, nostalgia, and reverie; they are soulful and spirited. Got Cow? achieves the dual goal of celebrating the cow’s story in art
Got Cow? illustrates this narrative of art’s development. It presents the lineage of both pre- and post-historical art, tracing
4
while also raising the question of art in a posthistorical age. Tansey’s monochromatic painting is full
the treatment of cows in nineteenth-century
of innocence and humor. It moves in many
landscape painting, American regionalism
directions and therefore asks us to look at
and folk art, pop art, and contemporary
both our history and our future through the
conceptual works. If Danto is right, then not
actions of its human and bovine subjects.
only artists but also museums can work along
In this painting within a painting, a group
of scientists unveil Paulus Potter’s painting Young Bull (1647) before a cow with obviously swollen belly and udders. The scientists— one equipped with a mop, another in a lab coat taking notes—anxiously await the animal’s reaction. Tansey is testing not only the cow’s but also our own instinct and knowledge. The Innocent Eye Test suggests that art can be pleasurable, ironic, and deeply philosophical in its outlook. The cow serves this enterprise well; she lures us with her warmth and gently takes us to a new realm of seeing.
Mark Tansey (1949–) The Innocent Eye Test, 1981 Oil on canvas, 78 x 120 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Partial and Promised gift of Jan Cowles and Charles Cowles, in honor Williams S. Lieberman, 1988 (1988.183) Photograph © 1984 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Jean-Paul Maitinsky
1. Arthur C. Danto, Beyond the Brillo Box: The Visual Arts in Post-Historical Perspective (New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1992), 9.
5
Portrait of Bessie: The Cow in American Art Consider the cow, one of the most ubi-
represented by cattle was most famously
quitous figures in the history of art. From
expressed in Edward Hick’s The Peaceable
the drawings of cattle depicted in the caves
Kingdom series, in which different variations
of Lascaux through the sliced-up bovines
and combinations of cattle appear in dozens of
floating in Damien Hirst’s formaldehyde,
canvases, each scene illustrating the biblical
the cow has consistently proved compelling
parable that “the lion shall eat straw like the
subject matter for the broadest possible range
ox.” Despite the stylization, Hicks managed to
of artists. Why is this? The cow lacks both the
capture animal personalities. His cattle appear
noble magnificence of the horse and the overt
healthy, and each animal painted by Hicks is
affection of the dog, probably the only two
recognizable as an individual, like each face
other animals that rival its artistic popularity.
in a group portrait by a minor Dutch master.1
Instead, the cow represents a simple kind of
Cow and Baby Calf (c. 1850) (fig. 62), by an
soothing domesticity, an earthiness—and
unknown painter who was a contemporary of
despite its various guises, its common touch
Hicks, reflects the famous artist’s style, but
is the secret of its enduring artistic appeal.
also suggests a greater degree of animation
The exhibition Got Cow? explores some of
than is found in The Peaceable Kingdom series.
the many different ways cattle, both bulls and
The mother cow looms almost absurdly large
cows, have been portrayed in American art.
on the landscape, suggesting the centrality
Some of the broad archetypes include: a tool
of the animal in American agricultural life.
to achieve economic independence; a beast of
While sheep graze placidly in the foreground,
burden toiling for the betterment of mankind;
the cow displays a strong protective feeling
a subordinate and sometimes subtle figure
toward her calf, encircling it with her body,
that suggests the hand of civilization in the
echoing the way that the fence protectively
American landscape; an erotic or mythological
encircles the paddock. The charming picture
muse; an innocent stooge or foil for sharp
and the “baby” of its title suggest the not-
wits; a mother figure and source of comfort; an
so-subtle anthropomorphizing of motherhood
abstracted pop canvas for modernist patterns
in many images that include cows, and the
and designs; a memento mori for the small
work depicts a degree of tenderness unusual
farm in the modern world; a mocked symbol
in folk animal painting. Cow and Baby Calf
of artistic conservatism; an innocent victim of
bears a striking similarity to an Edward Hicks
brutality; and steak on a plate—a reliable food
painting entitled Pastoral Landscape with
source for a hungry populace.
Two Cows, underscoring that this unknown
The cow’s close connection to the “common man” can be seen in its frequent appearances
6
Bartholomew F. Bland Curator of Exhibitions
artist was influenced by Hicks’s work.2 Alan Kessler’s Cow Painting and Shelf
in American folk art of the second quarter of
(1983) (fig. 39) serves as a late twentieth-
the nineteenth century: the stylized tranquility
century comment on the American folk art
tradition. The piece—an elaborate trompe
dairy cow drinks from a pond. The English
l’oeil—includes both the real and the unreal.
proverb of the title, which suggests the endless
Folk art has often been celebrated for its
labor necessary to make a living from the land
honesty, sometimes considered earnest art
and the central role played by the cow, dates
of the people, and Kessler’s carefully carved
to the 1670s, but was popularized in America
wooden “objects” and faux-naïve bull painting
by Benjamin Franklin, who first published it
fool viewers into believing they are in the
in his Poor Richard’s Almanac of 1747.3
presence of “authenticity.” The bull’s simple,
This artistic tradition of the beast of
central image in the painting suggests the
burden, an economic engine that could
degree to which cattle have become a modern
be literally harnessed for improving and
visual shorthand for folk art.
transforming the human condition, has
During the first half of the nineteenth
contemporary counterpoints. Norman
century, as the market for genre scenes
Rockwell’s The Peace Corp in Ethiopia (1966)
and landscapes developed, the cow evolved
(fig. 55) forgoes the cuteness that runs through
as a symbolic instrument necessary to achieve
much of Rockwell’s popular illustration
the agrarian ideal popularized by Thomas
and makes a striking pendant with He that
Jefferson. This symbolism is artistically
by the plough would thrive. . . . Like much
summarized in depictions of cattle as beasts
of Rockwell’s later work, The Peace Corps
of burden. Representing the toil embodied
in Ethiopia shares a sense of middle-class
in the American Protestant work ethic, oxen
postwar American optimism (in this case
(castrated bulls), yoked and pulling plows
illustrated by the Kennedyesque central figure
for farm work, were frequently subjects for
literally bathed in light from the upper –left-
painters. The toil of the ox is often depicted
hand corner of the picture). The cattle are
in sharp contrast with the life of intact bulls
harnessed to modern plow technology, leading
or dairy cows, usually shown peacefully
to the betterment of the developing world.
grazing in the fields. He that by the plough would thrive—
Created only three years after Rockwell’s Ethiopia canvas, Neil Jenney’s study for Beasts
Himself must either hold or drive (c. 1825–
and Burdens (c. 1969–1970) (fig. 37) signaled
1850) (fig. 2) is an exceptionally fine example
the contemporary art world’s renewed interest
of this genre. The picture is a veritable
in elements of folk, common, “outsider,”
panorama celebrating humankind’s progress
or plain style art. Lacking Rockwell’s overtly
through agricultural pursuits. In the distance
inspirational message, Jenney’s ox is shown
the stumps of felled trees, the by-product
alone in profile, a dark, somewhat anonymous
of clearing the land, are burned while in the
mass representing the arduousness of
middle ground, the plowing is under way.
farm work. The presence of nearby laborers
The work and sex of the cattle mimic the
is suggested by the straw hat and red cloth
gendered division of human labor on pioneer
hanging on the temporarily abandoned plow.
farms as two men, one holding, one driving,
With its thick, streaky strokes and bold
work a team of oxen through the center of the
simplified color palette that suggests finger
picture, while in the foreground a dairy cow
paint, the study for Beasts and Burdens is as
is milked by a bonneted woman and a second
evocative, in its simple and stolid depiction
7
of animal toil, as is He that by the plough
dramatic low perspective just in front of the
would thrive.
oncoming oxen—suggesting that the viewer is
In Sodbuster Study (1979)(fig. 38), another artist working in the late twentieth century,
Cattle were not uncommon subjects for
Luis Jimenez, makes an overt connection
Tiffany, and Study for Family Group with Cow
with the labor often depicted in regionalist
(1888) (fig. 59) shows the artist working in a
art of the 1930s. Although Jimenez’s final
more “feminine” aspect of the cattle theme.
monumental sculpture uses kitschy colors to
In contrast to surging and agitated oxen,
make a bold artistic statement, the coloration
his pretty white dairy cow, which reappears
in this pastel is more muted. Ironically,
in other of his canvases, is as quiet and gentle
this tribute to the American agrarian hero
as any household pet—a suitable playmate
was originally commissioned as a public
for mothers and young children. This softly
sculpture for a shopping mall in Fargo, North
rendered pastel of Tiffany’s family in a
Dakota. Sodbuster is now recognized as one
lovely domestic scene carries echoes of French
of Jimenez’s major accomplishments. The
eighteenth-century pastorals. Tiffany’s
sculpture is brutal in its representation of
white cow would have been at home in Marie
animals straining to turn the heavy sod of the
Antoinette’s hamlet.
prairie with almost demonic determination.
The cozy, domestic, and “safe” cow
The popular conception of this agricultural
appeared frequently in barnyard genre
labor as central to the prairie experience
scenes of the nineteenth century, such as
can be seen in the rejection of Jimenez’s first
John Whetten Ehninger’s Farmyard Scenes—
idea for the site (a group of square dancers
Milking the Cows (1855) (fig. 21), which shows
and a fiddle player).4 Jimenez’s work is
the cattle literally lying down on the job.
extremely informed by his Mexican roots,
The farm family spends a moment of relaxation
but his empathy for the working class is not
with the animals: the woman turns from
necessarily related to any single geographic
her milking and rests, and the plow and yoke
locale, and his final sculpture acknowledges the universality of the artist’s agrarian hero.
have symbolically been cast aside to the 5
An American artist whom the general
margins of the picture. In Amon’s Orchard (1964) (fig. 64), artist
public may not readily associate with this
Neil Welliver goes one step further and
beast of burden archetype is Louis Comfort
actually makes the cow part of the nuclear
Tiffany. While his stained-glass windows
family. His cow’s orange and white patterning
represented the pinnacle of bourgeois refine-
pointedly mimics the contented tabby cat in
ment and fin-de-siècle glamour in the late
the foreground of the picture. This overriding
nineteenth century, his painted canvases often
cozy quality of many cow depictions certainly
dealt with more varied subject matter.
risks falling into kitsch—witness the many
Two Oxen (1889) (fig. 60) shows cattle tossing
big-eyed cow figurines and “country” kitchen
and pulling their heads, constrained by
curtains sold every year.
the yoke, against a cloudy sky that suggests
8
in danger of being tilled under with the soil.
The idea of the cow as gentle, innocent,
the animals’ balkiness portends an oncoming
and therefore a suitable companion for delicate
storm. Tiffany paints the scene from a
womanhood was popular in the nineteenth
century, as can be seen in George Inness’s
Blithely chomping on daisies, she may offer
Woman with Calf (1886) (fig. 36), a pairing
little protection, so Rockwell leaves it to the
of two young, innocent figures cocooned in
barnyard fowl to raise the alarm.
the protected safety of a meadow. Inness
The cow is not always the innocent,
frequently painted cows, and, unlike many of
how-ever, and may represent grave danger,
the Hudson River school painters, preferred
sometimes in disguise, although it is more
gentle landscapes to rugged and grand
often the bull that is depicted as cunning and
terrain. Cows were a perfect accompaniment,
dangerous, as in Paul Manship’s The Flight of
and Woman with Calf is as a much a study
Europa (1928) (fig. 44). The sculpture, of which
of pastoral greens and their infinite tonal
there are a number of variations, is one of
variations as it is a depiction of the figures of
the artist’s most important works. It depicts
the title. The young white calf (white being a
the abduction of a princess who, according to
color of innocence) stands with a young woman
Greek myth, became intrigued by the docile na-
in the shady meadow, but, tellingly, the calf’s
ture of a bull (who was actually the god Zeus in
face can be seen while the woman’s face is
disguise) and climbed on his back. The moment
obscured by her bonnet. Everything the viewer
Europa mounted, the beast sprang into the
knows about her is conferred through her
water and carried her away to the island
interaction with the calf. The woman acts as
of Crete, where Zeus took Europa as his lover.
an accessory to the scene, and the viewer does not question her activities.
6
Questionable activity can be found in
Manship sculpted two versions of this tale. The first was completed in 1923 and was overtly sensual, with Europa affectionately
Norman Rockwell’s study for Travelling
grasping the bull’s head. Two years later
Salesman (1964) (fig. 56). This work on paper
he did the more stylized version, in which
is typical of Rockwell’s Americana, reflecting
Europa sits serenely on the bull’s back. What
stereotypes that flirt with kitsch. The innocent
is remarkable about this representation, which
milkmaid and her cow are visited by a dashing
reflects both Manship’s classicizing tendencies
traveling salesman, carpet bag and ledger book
and a certain prim reluctance of early
eagerly in hand, although it is unclear if the
twentieth-century American artists to fully
salesman’s bow and doffed hat are an amorous
engage the more brutal aspects of classical
gesture or a polite opening to a sales pitch.
mythology, is Europa’s calm demeanor atop the
Either way, the milkmaid does not appear
racing bull, in marked contrast to portrayals of
pleased to see him, turning away with a look
a terrified woman being dragged away in
that is more sullen than coy. The illustration
other artistic representations of the myth.
also serves as a study of the differences
Europa’s noble poise is reflected in
between city and country—the polished
J. C. Leyendecker’s Goddess Diana (1929)
clothes of the salesman versus the gingham
(fig. 41), which was originally painted for a
dress and bare feet of the milkmaid. The
Thanksgiving Saturday Evening Post cover.
cow is the central figure in this illustration,
Despite the title traditionally given to the
acting as a physical barrier between the
painting, the goddess depicted is probably not
maid and the salesman’s advances. Like her
Diana. She and her accompanying cows, their
mistress, the cow appears to be an innocent.
yokes laden with wreaths of plenty, suggest the
9
“domestic” Greek goddess Demeter (known to
echoed in the photograph View of Trevor
the Romans as Ceres), rather than the wildness
Property and River—Summer House and Cow
associated with Diana, the huntress. The
on Lawn (c. 1880)(fig. 13), the area surrounding
torch the figure carries presumably refers to
Glenview, the home of the of the Trevor family
Demeter’s search for her daughter, Persephone,
estate, where dairy cows were kept to provide
when the latter was abducted to the under-
fresh milk. Fittingly, the estate is the current
world. For a magazine cover celebrating
home of the Hudson River Museum.
Thanksgiving, Leyendecker probably felt that
works as Landscape and Cattle (fig. 15), an
reserved for the horse, was a more appropriate
example of the numerous prints produced
animal to accompany Demeter than her
by Currier and Ives that would have been
traditional, sacred snake and pig. Similarly,
available to families of moderate means who
the cow’s stately progression through Susan
could not afford fine art. Ironically, these
Leopold’s fragmented architecture in the
cow-filled scenes were often most popular
elegant Cows in Kutch (1990) (fig. 40) suggests
in the rapidly urbanizing cities where the
the dignity achieved by the cow in nations
daily connection to agrarian life was already
where it is a revered animal.
beginning to fade, making them sentimental
While Norman Rockwell’s The Peace Corps
memories of the farms left behind. Images
in Ethiopia represented the mid-twentieth-
of cows were thought suitable for the entire
century desire to export American agricultural
family, and “the cow portrait in all its sundry
bounty to the developing world, the landscape
forms was an almost obligatory component
paintings of the nineteenth-century Hudson
of the décor of well-furnished American
River school represented the cultivation
dining rooms and parlors during the Gilded
of American soil in that century. Looking North
Age. Horse portraits, on the other hand, were
from Ossining (c. 1867) (fig. 14) by Samuel
commissioned for hanging in tack rooms
Colman is a good example of this visually
or, somewhat later, chambers set aside for
soothing presence. The cows in the sunlight
masculine activities.”7
soften the hills of the valley—without them,
10
Cow images were popularized in such
the cow, here given a noble magnificence often
Thomas Hewes Hinckley’s beautiful
the empty land would appear more ominous
Landscape: Cattle, Woman, Boy and
and heavy in shadow. In Hudson River school
Newfoundland Dog (1850) (fig. 31) is a fine
paintings, the railroad is frequently contrasted
example of this Victorian predilection. Today,
with the cow as a machine versus agrarian
Hinckley is considered a rather minor figure in
nature, although both indicate the presence of
American art, but in the nineteenth century
man. In Westchester, cows like those seen in
he was thought one of the greatest interpreters
Colman’s painting produced fresh milk for New
of animal nature. He became “the most
York City’s urban dwellers, regularly brought
successful barnyard portraitist of his time
into the city by “milk trains.”
with a large and affluent clientele of landed
George Hurbery McCord’s Hudson River
gentry. . . . Best of all they liked his portraits of
View (1870)(fig. 46), a scene probably painted in
cattle . . . as the pioneer collector and art critic
Yonkers, shows the presence of cattle opposite
James Jackson Jarves pointed out Hinckley
the Palisades—an artistic representation
could paint animals with the animal left out.”8
Like Hinckley, James M. Hart found
depictions isolated from the greater landscape,
success with the pastoral scenes in vogue
an enduringly popular image that can be
with wealthy collectors, although, in work
seen in such late twentieth-century works as
such as Landscape with Cows (1887) (fig. 30),
Cow Shed in Winter (1977) (fig. 65) by Andrew
he gradually developed a softer style, almost
Wyeth and 97, 88, and 79, 1986 (fig. 66) by
exclusively depicting meadows filled with
Jamie Wyeth.
cows, which reflected the growing American
The popularity of both animal painting
affinity for French Barbizon painting. Hart
and landscape during the nineteenth century
once described the soothing qualities he
aside, not all artists who included the cow met
wanted his cows to convey, saying, “I aimed
with critical success. The great Philadelphia
at the listless influence of an Indian-summer
painter Thomas Eakins added cows to his
day.” He began to seriously study cattle in
only major large-scale exhibited landscape,
1871 and his finest efforts, such as those in
The Meadows, Gloucester (1882–1883) (fig. 20).
From Shifting Shade (1887) (fig. 29), summon
Compared to the large canvases of Hinckley,
the viewer to wonder, “Who that has seen these
Hart, and Howe, where the cows are the focal
creatures can be indifferent to the steadfast
point of the composition, in Eakins’s canvas
grandeur of their nature?”10
the cows recede into relatively minor figures
9
A third American artist who specialized
on the landscape, and the resulting void
in the growing nineteenth-century market for
perhaps partly explains the lukewarm critical
cow paintings was William Henry Howe, and
reaction: “The painting, with its fashionable
until the market for cow art suddenly collapsed
French emptiness and lack of incident brought
just after the turn of the century, Howe could
Eakin’s Gloucester series to a close.”13
barely keep up with the demand. Untitled 11
The demand for landscapes with cows
Pastoral Scene (1900) (fig. 35) was painted just
tapered off dramatically in the years after
as this mania for cow paintings was cresting.
1900. Although conservative artists such
Many American artists, Howe among them,
as Edith Prellwitz, who had studied at the
traveled to Holland during the late nineteenth
French Academie Julian with such stalwarts
century, establishing art colonies that they
as William Adolphe Bouguereau, continued
returned to repeatedly; Howe painted in the
painting traditional works like Landscape
town of Laren, in North Holland.
with Cows (fig. 53) into the first decades of
Around the time Untitled Pastoral Scene
the twentieth century, the American art world
was painted, Howe helped found an art colony
shifted in response to the landmark Armory
in Old Lyme, Connecticut. Its attractive rural
Show of 1913.14 Artists of the so-called “ashcan
setting may have reminded the artists of
school” were more concerned with modern
scenic Holland, and the Griswold House acted
life in the nation’s rapidly growing cities than
as a magnet for artists. Howe continued
with pretty rural scenes, and suddenly the
painting cows in Old Lyme, reportedly even
cow in art seemed hopelessly old-fashioned, a
renting them from local farmers as models,
figure literally left behind down on the farm by
which people in the neighborhood called
the thousands of former agricultural workers
“Howe’s Cows.” Despite the vagaries of fashion,
moving to the cities for industrial jobs. By
cows have continued to appear in barnyard
the 1920s, works like Alphonso Palumbo’s
12
11
California Landscape (c. 1929–1930) (fig. 52)
tension as the farmhand prepares to lasso the
seemed quaint. Nevertheless, the American
angry animal for the camera.
landscape and the cow continued to fascinate an array of artists, including George Bellows,
Benton presents another archetype of the cow
one of those most associated with modern
in American art—as the ward of the cowboy,
urban concerns in the early twentieth century.
who both protects his charges and drives them
Hudson at Saugerties (1920) (fig. 8) and
on to the slaughterhouse. The small group of
Cornfield and Harvest (1921) (fig. 9) were both
cattle grazing across the West in Wyoming
painted during the summers Bellows spent
Autumn becomes a thundering herd in Richard
living in Woodstock, New York in the years
Haas’s contemporary Chisholm Trail Study
immediately after World War I. Bellows had
(1985) (fig. 28), as the cattle approach their
become “a more contemplative man seeking
slaughterhouse destination. The contemporary
something more profound, more universal
mural was commissioned to commemorate the
than the crowded streets and shifting light of
Chisholm Trail of the late nineteenth century,
a fast moving city.”15 He found serenity in the
used to bring cattle safely and quickly through
countryside and was clearly charmed by the
Texas and open Indian territories to the
abundance of the region; and Cornfield and
railroad hubs in Kansas for shipment east.
Harvests, which depicts cows hungrily grazing
Haas’s use of cattle imagery for a
near ripened crops, is, in fact, “a sly visual
contemporary public commission has historic
pun suggesting disorder in order (the cow’s
roots. Cows appear in public murals from
in the corn).”16
the 1930s, favored by regionalist painters as
Bellows’s landscapes of the 1920s
signifiers of an area’s historically agricultural
presage a renewed interest in agrarian
roots. John Steuart Curry created one such
life that developed into the widely popular
mural with Study for Kansas Pastoral: The
regionalist art movement that was spurred
Unmortgaged Farm (c. 1936) (fig. 16), for the
on by the Great Depression and, although
Kansas Statehouse in Topeka. The mural, in
scorned by modernists, embraced realism
which Ajax, Curry’s oft-painted bull, appears,
and provided the cow with an entrée back
depicts a peaceful and prosperous-looking
onto the center stage of an art movement.
farm; the title of the painting hints at the
Although Thomas Hart Benton is more closely
problem of many heavily mortagaged farms
associated with horse images, cows do crop
being reclaimed by banks during the Great
up frequently in many of the lithographs
Depression and emphasizes the importance of
based on his paintings. White Calf (1945) (fig.
farmers not falling into ruinous debt.
11) and Photographing the Bull (1950) (fig. 10)
12
In Wyoming Autumn (1974) (fig. 12),
Curry depicted Ajax as a symbol of virile
beautifully illustrate the contrasting nature
power in a number of paintings, but the bull
of male and female cattle on the farm: the soft,
also ended up making his owner the object
gentle calf (albeit with the strangely porcine
of ridicule. The same year that Curry created
face Benton occasionally gave his cows) sleeps,
Study for Kansas Pastoral, he accepted a
while its mother contentedly munches grass
position as an artist in residence at the
and is milked. Benton’s bull is less docile,
University of Wisconsin. There he met the
and Photographing the Bull is full of coiled
artist Marshall Glasier, a biting satirist
who found regionalist painting superficial and
rendered landscape homages, such as
felt insulted by Curry’s university appoint-
Rackstraw Downes’s delightful Maynard
ment. After Curry’s death, Glasier painted the
Fenwick’s Farm Pond (1973) (fig. 19) , which,
vicious John Steuart Curry and the University
with its soft light and watery surfaces,
of Wisconsin Bull-Breeding Machine (1948)
echoes the luminist vision of Edward Moran’s
(fig. 25), with Curry as “a naïve country yokel
South Beach, Staten Island (fig. 49), painted
mystified by the grotesque, flayed, headless
approximately one hundred years earlier.
seed repository before him. Puzzling with
Lois Dodd’s Cows (1963) (fig. 18) suggests a
brushes in hand he is literally unable to make
more modernist approach, in which the figures
head nor tail out of the surrogate beast.”17
of the cows, though looming large in the
Despite the economic crisis in American
landscape, have been flattened and abstracted,
agriculture during the 1930s, there was still
suggesting Dodd’s greater interest in the
an active market for paintings that depicted
pattern and form of a terrain that succeeds in
the small American farm as postcard perfect.
almost camouflaging the cows. Gloria Houng’s
Molly Luce’s Autumn Farm (1929–1930) (fig.
Another Dilemma for L (2005) (figs. 32 and 33)
43) looks as though it could be a toy farm or a
suggest another type of camouflage—the cow
stage set, with a red barn and contented cows
reduced in scale, literally hidden in a welter
straight from central casting. The painter
of industry. Although Houng has noted the
owes a debt to Grant Wood’s softly rounded
ambiguous nature of her industrial landscapes,
and repeated forms, particularly the perfect
heightened by the veiled, opaque quality of
spherical trees and conic corn sheaves.
her wax method, the produced sensation is of
Compared with Autumn Farm, Milton
an elegiac lament.18 Tyler Fenn’s small Cows
Avery’s Connecticut Cattle (1933) (fig. 6) seems
(2005) (fig. 22) are the diminutive animals that
particularly modern: the simplified planes of
roam through Houng’s landscapes, only
color on the landscape are bold, and the two
here they have been made three-dimensional,
languid cows, one facing the viewer, the other
and instead of roaming an industrial
turned away, fairly quiver with individual
landscape, they are made of industrial steel,
personality. Connecticut Cattle makes an
their rough-hewn edges precluding their
interesting contrast with Seven White Cows
possible use as toys.
(1953) (fig. 5), which illustrates the more
If Gloria Houng sees the cow as a
simplified forms of the artist’s mature work:
shrinking figure on the landscape, literally
the gleaming white cows on the hillside are
dwarfed by modernity, Tom Althouse has
reduced to profiles and the background is even
taken the opposite point of view. No longer a
more simplified, with the strong diagonals
subordinate element, in Cow (1976) (fig. 1),
of the painting suggesting sun and shade on
the bovine has broken free of the picture
the severe landscape.
frame, consuming the landscape in its belly.
Despite the relative decline of realist
In roughly carved oak that suggests a debt
painting in the postwar era, contemporary
to folk art, Althouse’s Cow suggests that
landscapes featuring cows continued to
traditional landscape has literally been turned
have cultural currency. Sometimes cows
inside out. Don Nice is another artist who has
appeared in straightforward, albeit expertly
pulled the cow from its traditional landscape,
13
in order to focus the viewer’s attention on
subject is cows.” Warhol immediately grasped
the animal while simultaneously suggesting
his spin on the outmoded subject matter and
its displacement. In Longhorn Steer, Western
proclaimed, “New Cows! Fresh Cows!”20 Critics
Series, American Predella #6 (1975) (fig. 50),
noted the lulling effects of Warhol’s wallpaper
the steer is ennobled as Nice consciously
installation. “It is a known fact that dairy cows
adopts the predella format most frequently
are acutely sensitive to their surroundings.
associated with the lives of saints, although
If soft Muzak piped into the barn can increase
here the hagiography is of the American
the production of milk, perhaps humans too
West. Still, the painting is ambiguous—the
can achieve a measure of bovine contentment
rattlesnake and the small landscape are
by wallpapering their bedchambers with
suggestive of where the cow lives, although the
enlarged images of Elsie, the Borden cow.”21
presence of the package of chewing gum and the apple is open to interpretation.19 Likewise, Robert Rauschenburg in
created his famous Bull Series (fig. 42) , which
Calf Startena (1977) (fig. 54), from the artist’s
“was much indebted to Picasso’s series of
Chow Bag series, extracts the young calf
eleven Bull lithographs, in which the bull
from both the landscape and its mother.
moves from relative mimesis to a severely
He then fragments and combines elements
minimal rendering.”22 Lichtenstein continued
drawn from animal food packaging, both
developing this theme of abstracted cattle
real and imaginary, in order to question the
imagery the following year with his painting
relationship between fantasy and reality.
Cow Triptych (Cow Going Abstract).
But rather than ennobling the animal,
Both series systematically simplify the image
Rauschenburg has the calf appear vulner-
and break the cow down into its essential
able and alone—the victim of modern
forms, thereby demonstrating the modernity
farming practices.
of an animal strongly associated with
The most instantly recognizable image of a cow in twentieth-century art is Andy
traditional painting. There is something very amusing in
Warhol’s Cow Wallpaper (1966) (fig. 63), which
Cow Wallpaper that gives the bovine face the
represents the cow’s definitive separation
same iconographic glamour as Marilyn Monroe
from its landscape. Warhol’s initial theme was
and Elizabeth Taylor, and the cow’s funny side
a pink cow on a yellow background.
has been highlighted by many modern artists.
It first appeared in 1966 in an installation in
Red Grooms’s sculpture Elsie (2001) (fig. 26)
Leo Castelli’s gallery. Five years later,
is a wonderfully comic cow displaying much
Warhol returned to this image, reproducing the
of Grooms’s trademark wit. Her brilliant white
ordinariness of the cow in yellow and blue.
teeth razoring emerald green grass, her yellow
Like many of Warhol’s designs, the
and brown spotted hide and brilliant pink
inspiration for Cow Wallpaper came quickly.
udder, all underscore the animal’s cartoon
Ivan Karp, one of Warhol’s close friends,
quality—she seems possessed of a quickness
remembered that in the 1960s he said to the
and determination not to be found in her more
artist, “The only thing that no one deals with
placid sisters.
now these days is pastorals. My favorite
14
Warhol was not the only pop artist to embrace the cow. In 1973, Roy Lichtenstein
Arthur Tress’s Fish Tank Sonata Piece
(1988) (fig. 61), part of a large series utilizing
contemporary artists engage with the issue
fish tanks in different environments, playfully
of cow as both food source and consumable
explores the stereotype of the cow as a placid
product, in a variety of different ways that
animal and the horse as a traditional military
all recognize the cow’s sacrifice to people.
accompaniment. Here, a small figurine riding
The poet Griffen Hansbury has described
a rearing horse, based on Jacques-Louis
this essential relationship: “Sisters, forever
David’s painting of Napoleon at St. Bernard,
offering up your bodies for hamburger,
tries to rally his “people” (a herd of cow
bone china, Jell-O, and glue, we love you.
creamers), to no avail. As Tress writes of
How closer can we get than this?”25
petty tyrants, “Generals rallied their people
The approach to cow as food source
to war, and set out to settle old scores. But the
includes political condemnations of meat
people didn’t give a care, being bored with
eating, such as Peter Max’s Cindy Woo (2002)
the general’s old wars.”23
(fig. 45), a hagiographic portrait of a white
Many artists have infused their cows with
cow that the artist rescued after it escaped on
a sense of fun. Janet Fish combines traditional
its way to the slaughterhouse. Less obliquely,
landscape with humor in her clever trompe
Diana Michener in her black-and-white Head
l’oeil painting Cows (1990) (fig. 23), in which
photographs (1985–1986) (figs. 47 and 48) turns
a translucent glass pitcher decorated with a
an unflinching eye on the slaughterhouse and
cow becomes part of a “real” herd. Immi Storrs
gives a nobility and sculptural magnificence
plays with the concept of the Bull Box (1989)
to the dead cows, seeing their slaughter as
(fig. 58), reinterpreting it to hold not only bulls
one of many things from which people flinch
but also the landscape, fossils, and houses. Her
and noting, “If we can allow ourselves to
boxes suggest the hidden depth and layering
not turn away and not close our eyes, we will
of history; they are filled with surprises that
come to meet this unknown.”26
link her work to that of such artists as Joseph
Gloria Houng’s Untitled (2003) (fig. 34)
Cornell. George Rodrigue’s Tee George and
seemingly pictures cows as innocents and
the Bull (1996) (fig. 57) ironically combines
as symbols of victimization—being blindly
patriotism and portraiture as the artist’s
being led to slaughter, although the artist
young self rides a huge, yellow-eyed, and
has noted that perhaps they are moving to
staring blue bull, an apparent close cousin of
destruction of their own accord.27 Richard
Rodrigue’s whimsical and haunting blue dog.
Deon’s Death in the Long Grass (2001) (fig. 17)
24
Leslie Galluzzo wittily comments on the
shares the same sense of ambiguity about the
cow’s relationship to food in Cow and Ice
cow’s victimhood. Deon has noted that cattle
Cream (2005–2006) (fig. 24), while Janine
are the perfect transition from foreground
Antoni’s unnervingly funny yet beautiful
to background, between civilization and
2038 (fig. 3) implies a role reversal in the
wilderness, and here the Hollywood leading
relationship between humans and cows. 2038
man wearing primitive garb prepares
ironically suggests that cows take nourishment
an obscure ritual that seems to require the
from humans, and Antoni’s Bridle, also from
cow’s sacrifice.28
2000 (fig. 4), confronts the viewer with the visual evidence of consumption. Indeed, many
This same ambiguity can be seen in Patricia Bellan-Gillen’s Totem (1998) (fig. 7)
15
and Didier Nolet’s The Two Individuals (1981) (fig. 51). Both dreamlike works impart an unease ameliorated by a sense of whimsy. In the nearly monochromatic Totem, the huge cow stands precariously, wobbling on tiny jack-o’-lanterns. The applied cow hide and the presence of the tiny lamb would suggest Christianity being contrasted with paganism, but the unusual cropping of the cow and the sense of imbalance “reminds us of the significance and ceremony in the struggle for civilization.”29 The backdrop of The Two Individuals suggests a surreal stage set of a barn or manger. It is unclear if the small child is leading the cow or the reverse, although there would appear to be elements of the Christ child in the figure’s precociousness. Both are gentle beings under the ominously stormy skies, but the brown spotted cow engages the viewer with a cheeky gaze that almost invites the question, “How now?”30 “What now?” might be a better question, for what place does the cow hold in art today? Its many appearances in American art underscore its continuing appeal to both artists and the public at large. Part of the reason for this may be that the cow’s size and shape make it an ideal canvas, as the many “Cow Parades” that have been staged in cities around the world attest. In fact, the “Cow Parades” have proven to be the literal response to Andy Warhol’s ironic commentary on the public’s embrace of kitsch. But whether a subordinate element on the American landscape or freed from the countryside to become a subject in its own right, the cow remains a populist animal, full of nuance, yet understood by all. Bartholomew F. Bland
1. Oto Bihalji-Merin, Modern Primitives: Masters of Naïve Painting (New York: Abrams, 1959), 85. 2. J. Lee Drexler, “Appraisal of American Primitive Folk Art Painting” (unpublished appraisal for The Hudson River Museum, November 21, 1985). 3. Charlotte Emans Moore, catalogue entry in Addison Gallery of American Art 65 Years—A Selective Catalogue, by Susan C. Faxon, Avis Berman, and Jock Reynolds (Andover, MA: Addison Gallery of American Art, 1996, 316. 4. Janna Q. Anderson, “‘Sodbuster’ Pays Earthy Tribute to This Region,” The Forum of FargoMorehead, September 17, 1982. 5. Online Wichita State University Sculpture Tour, http://webs. wichita.edu/?u=mark2&p=/ sodbuster/ (accessed May 1, 2006). 6. Adrienne Baxter Bell, George Inness and the Visionary Landscape (New York: National Academy of Design, 2003), 58. 7. Mary Sayre Haverstock, An American Bestiary (New York: Abrams, 1979), 150. 8. Ibid., 152. 9. James M. Hart, quoted in All That Is Glorious Around Us: Paintings from The Hudson River School on Loan from a Friend of the Museum of Art, by John Paul Driscoll (University Park, PA: The Palmer Museum of Art, 1981). 10. Jeffrey H. Pettus, ed., Roads Less Traveled: American Paintings, 1833–1935 (Ithaca, NY: Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, 1998), 27. 11. Annette Stott, Holland Mania: The Unknown Dutch Period in American Art and Culture (Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 1998), 56.
16. Marjorie B. Searl and Ronald Netsky, Leaving for the Country: George Bellows at Woodstock (Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, 2003), 74. 17. Robert Cozzolino, With Friends: Six Magic Realists 1940–1965 (Madison: Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of WisconsinMadison, 2005), 58–59. 18. Gloria Houng, phone interview by Bartholomew Bland, May 2, 2006. 19. John Driscoll, Don Nice: The Nature of Art (San Francisco: Pomegranate, 2004), 77. 20. Patrick S. Smith, Warhol: Conversations About the Artist (Ann Arbor, MI: U.M.I. Research Press, 1988), 217. 21. Haverstock, An American Bestiary, 211. 22. Ruth E. Fine, catalogue entry in The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection 1945–1955 by Mark Rosenthal (Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1996), 113. 23. Arthur Tress, Fish Tank Sonata (Boston: Bullfinch Press, 2000), 52. 24. Ronny Cohen, Two Decades of Sculpture by Immi Storrs (New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2006). 25. Griffin Hansbury, “Stepping in the Cow: Looking at Damien Hirst’s ‘Some Comfort Gained . . .’ (1996, glass, steel, formaldehyde, two cows) at the Brooklyn Museum of Art,” La Petite Zine 8 (2001), http://www.lapetitezine.org/ GriffinHansbury.htm (accessed April 1, 2006)). 26. Diana Michener: Photographs (Lynchburg, VA: Maier Museum of Art, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, 1999).
12. Ibid., 77.
27. Gloria Houng, phone interview by Bartholomew Bland, May 2, 2006.
13. Marc Simpson, “The 1880s,” in Thomas Eakins, ed. Darrel Sewell (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2001), 112.
28. Peter Dudek, The Paintings of Richard Deon: Paradox and Conformity (Dover Plains, NY: Deon, 2006).
14. Ronald G. Pisano, Painters of Peconic: Edith Prellwitz and Henry Prellwitz (New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2002), 12.
29. Paul Krainack, Patricia Bellan-Gillen: (not really) Animal Stories (Edinboro, PA: Bruce Gallery of Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, 2005), 7.
15. Virginia M. Mecklenburg, “Bellows Before Woodstcock,” in Leaving for the Country: George Bellows at Woodstock by Marjorie B. Searl and Ronald Netsky (Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery of the University of 16
Rochester, 2003), 18.
30. Lanny Silverman, Didier Nolet: Dreams of a Man Awake (Chicago: City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, 1990), 12.
Exhibition Images
17
Tom Althouse (b. 1925) Cow, 1976 Oak and acrylic 42 1⁄ 2 x 80 x 15 1⁄ 2 in. Collection of the Allentown Art Museum Gift of Robert W. and Nancy B. Lockwood, 1992 (1992.07)
Anonymous He that by the plough would thrive— Himself must either hold or drive, c. 1825-1850 Oil on canvas, 34 3 ⁄4 x 84 1/8 in. Collection of the Addison Gallery of American Art, Philips Academy, Andover, MA, Purchased as the gift of Mrs. Evelyn L. Roberts
18
Figures 1-2
Janine Antoni (b. 1964) 2038, 2000 C-print Artist’s proof, 20 x 20 in. Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, NY
Janine Antoni (b. 1964) Bridle, 2000 Full Tri-color Hide 117 X 98 X 14 in. Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, NY
Figures 3-4
19
Milton Avery (1885-1965) Seven White Cows, 1953 Oil on canvas, 28 x 43 in. Collection of Sean A. Cavanaugh © 2006 Milton Avery Trust / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York
Milton Avery (1885-1965) Connecticut Cattle, 1933 Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 in. Collection of the Milton Avery Trust © 2006 Milton Avery Trust / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York
20
Figures 5-6
Patricia Bellan-Gillen (b. 1952) Totem, 1998 Acrylic, oil, fake fur on canvas 95 x 112 in. Collection of the artist
George Wesley Bellows (1882- 1925) Hudson at Saugerties, 1920 Oil on canvas, 16 1⁄ 2 x 23 3 ⁄4 in. Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio Museum purchase, Howald Fund, 1947.095
Figures 7-8
21
George Wesley Bellows (1882- 1925) Cornfield and Harvest, 1921 Oil on masonite, 17 11/16 x 21 5/8 in. Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio Museum purchase, Howald Fund, 1947.096
Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) Photographing the Bull, 1950 Lithograph, 11 3/4 x 16 in. Courtesy of Kiechel Fine Art 22
Figures 9-10
Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) White Calf, 1945 Lithograph, 10 x 12 3 â „4 in. Courtesy The Old Print Shop, Kenneth M. Newman
Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) Wyoming Autumn, 1974 Lithograph, 17 x 23 1/4 in. Courtesy of Kiechel Fine Art
Figures 11-12
23
James C. Colgate (attributed) View of Trevor Property and River—Summer House and Cow on Lawn, c.1880 Black-and-white photograph on mount board, 6 1⠄4 x 8 3/8 in. Collection of the Hudson River Museum A Gift from the Colgate Estate 37.46 d
Samuel Colman (1832- 1920) Looking North from Ossining, New York, 1867 Oil on canvas; 16 3/8 x 30 3/16 in. Collection of the Hudson River Museum Gift of the Estate of Miss. Sarah Williams, 44.100 A
24
Figures 13-14
Currier and Ives Landscape and Cattle, n.d. Lithograph, handcolored, 9 9/16 x 16 7/8 in. Courtesy The Old Print Shop, Kenneth M. Newman
John Steuart Curry (1897-1946) Study for “Kansas Pastoral: The Unmortgaged Farm”, c. 1936 Graphite on paper, 23 x 58 in. Courtesy of Kiechel Fine Art
Figures 15-16
25
Richard Deon (b. 1956) Death in the Long Grass, 2001 Acrylic on canvas, 58 x 37 1â „ 2 in. Collection of the artist
Lois Dodd (b.1927) Cows, 1963 Oil on linen, 72 x76 in. Courtesy of Alexandre Gallery
26
Figures 17-18
Rackstraw Downes (b. 1939) Maynard Fenwick’s Farm Pond, 1973 Oil on canvas, 23 x 46 in. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Byron Smith, Jr.
Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) The Meadows, Gloucester, 1882-83 Oil on canvas, 31 15/16 x 45 1/8 in. Philadelphia Museum of Art Gift of Mrs. Thomas Eakins and Miss. Mary Adeline Williams, 1929 Photo by Graydon Wood
Figures 19-20
27
John Whetten Ehninger (1827-1889) Farmyard Scenes— Milking the Cows, 1855 Wash on Bristol board, 11 1⁄4 x 15 1/8 in. Collection of the Staten Island Museum, A1968.24.1
Tyler Fenn (b. 1968) Cows, 2005 8 flame cut mild steel statuettes, each approx. 8 x 3 x 4 in. Courtesy of New Arts Gallery 28
Figures 21-22
Janet Fish (b.1938) Cows, 1990 Oil on canvas, 56 x 50 x 1 in. Collection of The Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, St. Joseph, MO. Purchased with funds from the William T. Kemper Foundation Art Š Janet Fish/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Leslie Galluzzo Cow and Ice Cream 2005-2006 Silver gelatin prints, 20 x 30 in. Collection of the Artist
Figures 23-24
29
Marshall Glasier (1902-1988) John Steuar t Curry and the University of Wisconsin Bull-Breeding Machine, 1948 Oil on masonite panel, 19 5/16 x 25 1â „ 2 in. Collection of the Milwaukee Art Museum Gift of Gimbel Bros., Milwaukee, M1959.50
Red Grooms (b. 1937) Elsie, 2001 Painted aluminum, 15 x 28 x 7 in. Collection of the artist and Lysiane Luong Grooms
30
Figures 25-26
Richard Haas (b. 1936) Chisholm Trail, Sundance Square, 1989 Silkscreen, 29 1⁄ 2 x 27 in. Collection of the artist
Richard Haas (b. 1936) Chisholm Trail Study, 1985 Pastel on paper 20 1⁄4 x 45 3 ⁄4 in. Collection of the artist
Figures 27-28
31
James M. Hart (1828–1901) From Shif ting Shade, 1887 Oil on canvas, 36 x 54 1/4 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bequest of DeLancey Thorn Grant, in memory of his mother, Louise Floyd-Jones Thorn, 1990 (1990.197.3) Photograph © 2006 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
James M. Hart (1828–1901) Landscape with Cows, 1887 Oil on canvas; 21 x 16 1/4 in. Purchased by exchange 54.31.1
32
Figures 29-30
Thomas Hewes Hinckley (1813-1896) Landscape: Cattle, Woman, Boy and Newfoundland Dog, 1850 Oil on canvas, 36 1/8 x 48 1/8 in. Courtesy of the Childs Gallery
Gloria Houng (b. 1970) Another Dilemma for L, I, 2005 Acrylic and wax medium on board 9 x12 in., Collection of the artist Figures 31-32
33
Gloria Houng (b. 1970) Another Dilemma for L, III, 2005 Acrylic and wax medium on board, 9 x12 in. Collection of the artist
Gloria Houng (b. 1970) Untitled, 2003 Wax, gauze, heat lamp, dimensions variable Collection of the artist
34
Figures 33-34
William Henry Howe (1846-1929) Untitled Pastoral Scene, 1900 Oil on canvas, 16 x 20 in. Collection of the Florence Griswold Museum
George Inness (1825-1894) Woman with Calf, 1886 Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in. Private Collection
Figures 35-36
35
Neil Jenney (b. 1945) Beasts and Burdens (Study), c. 1969-70 Oil on canvas, 28 x 58 in. Collection of Patterson Sims and Katy Homans
Luis Jimenez, Jr. (b. 1940) Sodbuster Study, 1979 Pastel on paper, 31 x 40 1⁄ 2 in. Collection of the Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND. Gift of Kenneth S. Umbehocker, 1982.023.0001 © 2006 Luis Jimenez / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York
Alan Kessler (b. 1945) Cow Painting and Shelf, 1983 Oil paint on wood 30 x 40 x 11 in. Collection of the artist
36
Figures 37, 38, 39
Susan Leopold (b. 1960) Cows in Kutch, 1990 Handmade paper, acrylic paint, Xerox, 33 x 40 in. Collection of the artist
J.C. Leyendecker (1874-1954) Goddess Diana, 1929 Oil on canvas, 28 x 21 in. Painted for Saturday Evening Post cover – Nov. 23, 1929 Courtesy of American Illustrators Gallery Š 1929 SEPS: Licensed by Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN. All rights reserved. www.curtispublishing.com
Figures 40-41
37
Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) Bull I, From Bull Profile Series, 1973 Color linecut on Arjomari paper, ed. 100, 27 x 35 in. Bull II, From Bull Profile Series, 1973 2-color lithograph/linecut on Arjomari paper, ed. 100, 27 x 35 in. Bull III, From Bull Profile Series, 1973 6-color lithograph/silkscreen/linecut on Arjomari paper, ed. 100, 27 x 35 in. Bull IV, From Bull Profile Series, 1973 5-color lithograph/silkscreen/linecut on Arjomari paper, ed. 100, 27 x 35 in. Bull V, From Bull Profile Series, 1973 6-color lithograph/silkscreen/linecut on Arjomari paper, ed. 100, 27 x 35 in. Bull VI, From Bull Profile Series, 1973 5-color lithograph/silkscreen/linecut on Arjomari paper, ed. 100, 27 x 35 in. Bull VII, From Bull Profile Series, 1973 4-color lithograph/silkscreen/linecut on Arjomari paper, ed. 26, 27 x 35 in. Collection of Gemini G.E.L, Los Angeles, CA Š Estate of Roy Lichtenstein / Gemini G.E.L.
38
Figure 42
Molly Luce (1896-1986) Autumn Farm, 1929-1930 Oil on canvas, 28 x 32 in. Courtesy the Childs Gallery
Paul Manship (1885-1966) The Flight of Europa, 1928 Gilt Bronze, 12 in. high Collection of the Muskegon Museum of Art Gift of the Friends of Art, 1944.1
Figures 43-44
39
Peter Max (b. 1937) Cindy Woo, 2002 Mixed media on canvas 24 x 32 in. Collection of the artist Š Peter Max 2006
George Herbert McCord (1848-1909) Hudson River View, c. 1870 Oil on board; 7 1/4 x 12 in. Collection of the Hudson River Museum Gift of Mrs. Grace Varian Stengel, 43.62
40
Figures 45-46
Diana Michener (b. 1940) Head, 1985-86
Diana Michener (b. 1940) Head, 1985-1986
Black-and-white photograph, 39 3 ⁄4 x 39 3/8 in. Courtesy of Pace/MacGill Gallery
Black-and-white photograph, 22 7/8 x 23 1⁄4 in. Courtesy of Pace/MacGill Gallery
Edward Moran (1829-1901) South Beach, Staten Island, 19th c. Oil on canvas, 18 x 36 in. Collection of the Staten Island Museum, A1948:3924
Figures 47, 48, 49
41
Don Nice (b. 1932) Longhorn Steer, Western Series, American Predella #6, 1975 Oil on canvas, 71 x 120 in. Watercolor on paper 4 watercolors each 20 x 28 1⁄ 2 in. Collection of the Delaware Museum of Art, purchased with funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and contributions
Didier Nolet (b. 1953) The Two Individuals, 1981 Oil on canvas 79 1⁄ 2 x 110 1⁄4 in. Collection of Shevlin and Diane Ciral
42
Figures 50-51
Alphonso Palumbo (1890-1934) California Landscape, ca. 1920-29 Oil on canvas, 30 x 33 7/8 in. Courtesy of Spanierman Gallery
Edith Mitchill Prellwitz (1864-1944) Landscape with Cows, n.d. Oil on canvas, 21 x 26 in. Courtesy of Spanierman Gallery Robert Rauschenburg (b.1925) Calf Startena (Chow Series), 1977 Silkscreen, 48 1/8 x 36 3/8 in. Printer: Styria Studios, 60/100 Collection of the Hudson River Museum Gift of John Rosenthal, 81.10.2 f Art Š Robert Rauschenberg/ Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Figures 52, 53, 54
43
Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) The Peace Corps in Ethiopia, 1966 Oil on canvas, 17 x 25 in. Painted for LOOK Magazine, 14 June 1966 Collection of National Museum of American Illustration, Newport, RI. Licensed by Norman Rockwell Licensing, Niles, IL.
Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) Traveling Salesman (Salesman: The Milkmaid) – Study, 1964 Tempera and pencil on paper, 15 1⁄ 2 x 15 1⁄ 2 Illustrated for Brown and Bigelow Four Seasons Calendar/ Spring. Courtesy of American Illustrators Gallery
44
Figures 55-56
George Rodrigue (b. 1944) Tee George on the Bull (Self-Portrait), 1996 Acrylic on canvas, 72 x 96 in. Collection of the artist
Immi Storrs Bull Box, No. 1, 1989 Bronze, edition 2 of 8, 14 x 18 x 12 in. Courtesy of the artist and Spanierman Gallery
Figures 57-58
45
Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) Study for Family Group with a Cow, c. 1888 Pastel on paper, 11 x 16 in. Private Collection
Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) Two Oxen, 1889 Oil on canvas, 33 x 48 in Private Collection
46
Figures 59-60
Arthur Tress (b. 1940) Fish Tank Sonata Piece, 1988 Cibacrome print, 16 x 20 in. Collection of the artist
Unknown Cow and Baby Calf, c. 1850 Oil on canvas, 22 1/8 x 30 1â „4 in. Collection of the Hudson River Museum, Gift of Sula and David Kaufman, 85.8.2
Figures 61-62
47
Neil Welliver (1929-2005) Amon’s Orchard, 1964 Oil on canvas, 80 x 83 1/4 in. Courtesy of Alexandre Gallery
Andy Warhol (1928-1987) Cow Wallpaper, 1966 Wallpaper, installation of 264 x 132 in. Reproduced by the Andy Warhol Museum © 2006 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / ARS, New York
48
Figures 63-64
Andrew Wyeth (b. 1917) Cow Shed in Winter, 1977 Watercolor, 22 1⁄ 2 x 29 1⁄ 2 in. Courtesy Frank E. Fowler Company, Lookout Mountain, TN
Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946) 97, 88 and 79, 1986 Mixed media on board, 16 x 20 in. Collection of Cindy Pettinaro Wilkinson
Figures 65-66
49
Acknowledgements
The staff members of many museums and galleries contributed to the successful completion of this exhibition and catalogue. I would like to express my gratitude for their support of this project and their assistance in securing loans and images. At the Hudson River Museum, Michael Botwinick, Director, has provided insight and enthusiasm for the project since it began. Jean-Paul Maitinsky, Assistant Director, Exhibitions and Programs, first proposed a cow-themed exhibition and gave me the support needed to develop a project of this size in a relatively short period of time. Laura L. Vookles, Chief Curator of Collections, provided valuable suggestions, and Brenda Houck, Curatorial Intern, worked diligently preparing loan requests and conducting research. Linda Locke, Director of Public Relations, offered her editorial insights, and James Cullinane, Chief Preparator, skillfully assisted in the design of the installation. I owe my deepest debt of thanks at the museum to Annette Fortin, Registrar, who worked tirelessly under tight deadlines arranging the myriad details of this project. She successfully managed every challenge as it arose and has made my job much easier. James Monroe’s creative graphic design for the catalogue has enhanced the project and Leslie Kriesel copyedited the catalogue text, offering many helpful suggestions. Marie Evans, Olivia Georgia, Gina Greer, Vivian Kiechel, Edward Byron Smith Jr., Kevin Stapp, and Alice Wiedman all proposed artists for inclusion in the show. Finally, I would like to thank A. J. Minogue and Penelope Fritzer, whose cheerful good will meant engaging in many long conversations about cows since the day I began working on this project.
Bartholomew F. Bland
moo. 50
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