Blue Compote Filled with Fruit

Dateca. 1840

MediumWatercolor and pencil on wove paper

DimensionsPrimary Support: 13 7/16 x 15 1/4in. (34.1 x 38.7cm) and Framed: 15 x 16 3/4in.

Credit LineFrom the collection of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller; gift of the Museum of Modern Art

Object number1933.303.4

DescriptionA blue, footed compote filled with fruit, including grapes, plums or blueberries, peaches, pears, a pineapple, cherries, and strawberries. Some of the sprays of fruit bear foliage. No tabletop or other support is visible. Faint pencil lines are visible around strawberries and on the bowl. Artist unidentified.

The 1 1/4-inch gilded and molded frame is possibly original.
Label TextEffective composition, detail, and balance make this free and bold fruit painting an excellent nonacademic still life. Its spirited image reflecs the efforts of an unidentified artist whose affinity for gravity-defying fruit and detailed foliage resulted in unintentional abstraction. This effect is heightened by a frontal view, which gives no indication of a back rim for the bowl.
Uneven edges, visible sketch lines, and the cramped apple at left indicate that the composition, although mostly stenciled, was completed freehand. The concentric, vibrant blue lines of the footed container dominate the painting and direct the viewer's eye upward to the fruit that appears to be hovering above the compote in a topsy-turvy fashion. This pleasing combination of bold colors and highly stylized forms suggests the innovative potential of the stenciling technique.
Three similar works exist on velvet (see "Related Works"), implying a possible print source.
ProvenanceIsabel Carleton Wilde, Cambridge, Mass.; John Becker, New York, NY; Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.; given by the latter to the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, in 1939; given to CWF by the MoMA in June 1954.