Orange Still Life

Label Text Maurer, who was born in New York in 1868, first visited Paris in 1897. His earliest works were in the fashionable academic tradition and won for him an impressive list of medals including the first prize and gold medal at the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh in 1901. By 1904 he had broken academism and in 1907 painted his first impresionist-fauvist works which were shown in America in 1909 when he had a joint show with John Marin at Alfred Steiglitz's Photo-Secession Gallery. Maurer continued to work in Paris until war forced him to return to America in 1914. He was a friend of Gertrude Stein's and was closely associated with the other Americans, who worked in the modern style in Paris, Weber, Hartley, Marin and Dove. After his return to America Maurer sought his personal expression, both in still life and in the multifaceted studies of heads which culminated in the striking portrait of George Washington completed shortly before his tragic death by suicide in 1932. The "Orange Still Life" shows the influence of the School of Paris, but carries within itself that quiet, understated, personal vision which is the essence of Maurer's greatness. Source: Bulletin, April 1961.
Exhibition History"Selected Works from the Des Moines Art Center's Permanent Collection," organized by the Waterloo Municipal Galleries, Oct. 24 - Nov. 20, 1983; (circulated to: Charles H. MacNider Museum, Mason City, Jan. 15 - Feb. 26, 1984; Muscatine Art Center, Apr. 1 - May 13, 1984; Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, May 27 - July 1, 1984; Sioux City Art Center, July 15 - Aug. 26, 1984)

"American Art: The Early Moderns," Artmobile tour organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, circulated to 40 schools and communities, Sept. 5, 1969 - May 13, 1970

"Six Decades of American Painting of the Twentieth Century," Des Moines Art Center, Feb. 10 - Mar. 12, 1961
Published ReferencesDMAC Bulletin, Apr. 1961, cover ill.

"American Art: The Early Moderns," Minneapolis Institute of Art, 1969, exh. cat. ill.

"Selected Works from the Des Moines Art Center's Permanent Collection," Waterloo Municipal Galleries, 1983, exh. cat. no.26

DES MOINES ART CENTER: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER, Des Moines Art Center, 1985, ref. p.152, b/w ill. pl.90, p.153

"Six Decades of American Painting of the Twentieth Century," Des Moines Art Center, 1961, exh. cat. no.23

DimensionsOverall: 18 1/8 × 21 7/8 in. (46 × 55.6 cm)

Accession Number 1961.26

Classificationspainting

SignedA.H. Maurer (u,r oil paint)

InscriptionsMaur (l,l oil paint)

ProvenanceArtist. (Bertha Schaefer Gallery, New York); Des Moines Art Center [purchased from the previous, 1961]