Summer 2020 Preview

14 www.antiquesandfineart.com Summer DISCOVERIES Louise Nevelson Sculpture Acquired Snite Museum of Art The University of Notre Dame 100 Moose Krause Circle, Notre Dame, IN For information, visit sniteartmuseum.nd.edu or call 574.631.5466 The Snite Museum of Art has acquired Sky Sentinels, a 1976 work by the iconic sculptor Louise Nevelson (1899–1988). One of the most remarkable and pioneering artists of the twentieth century, Nevelson studied as a dancer, actress, ceramist, and painter before embarking on a career as a sculptor. Born in what is present-day Ukraine, she emigrated with her family from Czarist Russia to Rockland, Maine, where they were among the few Jewish families. Louise briefly married and moved to New York where she was drawn to the art world. She moved to Munich in the 1930s to study with Hans Hofmann where she was introduced to collage and assemblage art. Returning to New York in 1932, she began to combine large compositions of found objects, primarily of wood, which she painted a uniform black, establishing her definitive abstract style by the late 1950s. In the 1970s, Nevelson began working out of doors where she utilized sheets of steel, aluminum, and plexiglass in her sculpture, all often painted in her signature black. The year 1976 was a critical one for the artist: her work was selected for a major retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art, solidifying her stature as one of the most important artists of the age. Sky Sentinels is currently on view in the Snite Museum atrium. Masterwork by Gilbert Stuart Acquired Reynolda House Museum of American Art 2250 Reynolda Road, Winston-Salem, N.C. For information, visit www.reynolda.org or call 888.663.1149 Reynolda House Museum of American Art has acquired Gilbert Stuart’s double portrait Anna Dorothea Foster and Charlotte Anna Dick , (1790– 1791). The portrait was executed in Dublin, where Stuart lived from 1787 until 1793, previously having studied in London where he assisted Benjamin West with his artistic commissions. Stuart’s painting improved immeasurably during this time, developing a sophistication that was not present in his early works executed in America. He went on to paint for prominent political figures and social elites, including George Washington. The identities of the sitters had been unknown other than by the names Miss Dick and Miss Forster, written on the back, likely years later. There was no further identification about the girls or their families. Carrie Rebora Barratt, formerly curator of American paintings at The Met, went to Dublin and found a receipt from former Speaker of the House John Foster commissioning portraits of his family members. Using this record and other portraits of Foster’s family members, she identified the girl on the right as his daughter Anna Dorothea and the girl on the left as her cousin Charlotte Anna Dick. This work has been featured previously in exhibitions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Yale University Art Gallery. The portrait has been installed in the library of the historic Reynolda House. Gilbert Stuart, Anna Dorothea Foster and Charlotte Anna Dick, 1790-1791. Oil on canvas. Gift of Charlotte Hanes in honor of Philip and Joan Hanes, who had the vision of Winston-Salem being the City of the Arts. Courtesy of Reynolda House. Louise Nevelson (1899–1988), Sky Sentinels, 1976. Painted aluminum. Promised gift of Charles S. Hayes ‘65, in memory of Burton and Naomi Kanter (IL2019.006.002).