Residence of Mr. and Mrs. I. Snell

Date1896

Artist Fritz G. Vogt (1842-1900)

MediumGraphite and colored pencils on wove paper

DimensionsPrimary Support: 26 15/16 x 39 1/2in. (68.4 x 100.3cm); Pictorial Composition: 22 3/8 x 37 3/8in. (56.8 x 94.9cm); and Framed: 35 1/2 x 48 11/16in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1978.202.1,A&B

DescriptionPainting in its original frame. A.)Depiction of the Snell house occupies much of the right half of the picture area. The front section of the house that is closest to the main road is of brick, while a wing jutting out behind is frame. Both sections are red-colored and the rear section appears to be flat-roofed, as is the front. The style is ornately Victorian, with "icicle" decorations hanging from the eave edges and window frames. The windows are arched with green shutters. An L-shaped porch is on the front of the house, a smaller, plainer, rectangular one on the wing, facing the side and road to the barn. A main dirt road runs horizontally across the front of the picture plane, while the road to the barn curves off it and beside the house. A neat white picket fence encloses a garden plot beside the main road at LL. The barn has two cupolas, a corn cirb in front, and a wing running back behind it. Trees are scattered throughout the composition, and signs of a well-kept and busy farmyard are readily apparent; a man leads a horse up the road toward the barn, a woman and child stand on the side porch, 2 dogs and a cat are in evidence, sunflowers grow in the side yard, chickens peck the ground outside their coop at l., etc. A figure of a man or boy also appears in (or next to) a hammock outside the garden plot. Overall coloration is fairly subtle, but the house steps are a very bright blue. Framed measurements given are for a modern replacement 2 1/2-inch wide black-painted frame of cyma recta molding with raised corner blocks. This was put on the piece when the original frame, which was received on the piece in 1978, was removed for exhibition purposes (curator and director decided that the original frame detracted too much from the drawing and so ordered the replacement; the original frame is still in AARFAC storage as of this cataloging. The original frame measures 35 1/2 x 48 5/8" and is 4 1/2" wide. It consists of an ornately-molded inner lip painted white-gold, followed by a wide band of golden oak, followed by a recessed strip of ornate pseudo-baroque molding, painted brown, followed by a narrow band of golden oak, followed by an antiqued and gold-painted outer border of ornately molded flower, leaf, and vine design. Slides of the actual house and barn, still standing, were provided courtesy of Myron Saltsman (see letter of 9/28/81) and these reveal Vogt's close attention to actual detail, siting, etc. The inscription over the barn doorway is still intact.

B) The original frame measures 35 1/2 x 48 5/8" and is 4 1/2" wide. It consists of an ornately-molded inner lip painted white-gold, followed by a wide band of golden oak, followed by a recessed strip of ornate pseudo-baroque molding, painted brown, followed by a narrow band of golden oak, followed by an antiqued and gold-painted outer border of ornately molded flower, leaf, and vine design. The frame in which this drawing was acquired is believed to be its original frame; it bears faux-grained oak printing over a different light hardwood.
Label TextRecords of the Montgomery County Almshouse in Mohawk, New York, indicate that Fritz G. Vogt died there on January 1, 1900. He is listed as having been single and born in Germany. Appended to his signature on one drawing is the cryptic phrase "Germ. Professor." The recorded comments of several elderly New York State residents who actually remember Vogt reveal that he was short, loved children, played the organ, and had a drinking problem. He is also said to have refused rides from place to place, preferring instead to walk, and to have accepted room and board in partial--if not sometimes total --payment for his drawings.
This drawing is typical of Vogt's close attention to architectural detail, his disregard of perspective, and his deptiction of an upstate New York farm as a scene of rural contentment and prosperity. As in all Vogt's drawings that include human figures, the Snell family members are shown as subordinate to their setting. Dwarfed by house and farm, they offer only token reference to the source of the scene's harmony and orderliness.
Inscribed"Fritz G. Vogt." appears in penciled script in the lower right corner of the composition. "August 4, 1896." appears in penciled script in the lower left corner of the composition. "Residence of Mr. and Mrs. I. Snell. __Minden, N.Y.__" appears in pencil script in the lower margin. Penciled in block letters on a sign over the barn doorway is "1866/I. SNELL."
ProvenanceOwnership prior to CWF's source, Richard and Eileen Dubrow, Whitestone, NY, is undocumented.