Images

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=E29B9892CDDE97404936B355E484DFEDDE8A3B585AA44BAAFFC9E48232FF7CCE&s=24247294&se=1215636534&v=4&f=905.1972_o2.jpg

Alternate Views

Apr 21, 2010

Boat Builder

c. 1904

John George Brown

(American, 1831–1913)

America, late 19th-early 20th Century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 98 x 120 x 11 cm (38 9/16 x 47 1/4 x 4 5/16 in.); Unframed: 80 x 101.6 cm (31 1/2 x 40 in.)

Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection 1972.905

Location

207 American Realism

Did you know?

The object held in the sitter’s right hand is a drawing compass.

Description

Brown's preference for rural subjects in a time when the United States was undergoing rapid industrialization suggests nostalgia for the past. Indeed, Boat Builder, an image of an elderly craftsman working alone with hand tools in a tranquil setting replete with his sleeping dog, offered its contemporary audience a distinct alternative to mechanized factory production.

Inscriptions

Inscription

signed lower right: J.G. Brown N.A.

Provenance

1972-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

American Federation of Arts. American Art Annual. Florence N. Levy, ed. volume XI. Boston: Noyes, Platt & Co, 1914. Mentioned: p. 479

Cleveland Museum of Art. "A Check List: American Paintings and Water Colors of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Early Twentieth Centuries in The Cleveland Museum of Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 60:1 (January, 1973). pp. 1-36. Mentioned: p. 23

Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1972." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 60:3 (March, 1973). pp. 63-115. Reproduced: p. 82, fig. 115; Mentioned: p. 109

"Recent Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, July-September, 1972." The Art Quarterly. 36 (Spring/Summer, 1973). Mentioned: p. 114

Lurie, Ann Tzeutschler and William S. "Annual Report for 1972." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 60:6 (June, 1973). pp. 171-205. Mentioned: p. 178

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 231 archive.org

Rice, Pierce, "J. G. Brown, The Bootblack Raphael." American Art & Antiques. 2:3 (May/June, 1979). Reproduced

Placidi, Kathleen S. "Beyond Bootblacks: The Boatbuilder and the Art of John George Brown." The Cleveland Museum of Art Bulletin. 77:10 (December, 1990). pp. 366-382. Mentioned: pp. 366-368; Reproduced: p. 367 www.jstor.org

Chong, Alan. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993. Reproduced: p. 24

Truettner, William H., and Roger B. Stein. Picturing Old New England: Image and Memory. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution; New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999. Reproduced: p. 154, fig. 172

Hoppin, Martha J. The World of J.G. Brown. Chesterfield, MA: Chameleon Books, 2010. Reproduced: p. 222, 244, fig. 10-18

Exhibition history

CMA 1973: "Year in Review for 1972," Bulletin, LX (March, 1973), p. 82, no. 115.

Atlanta, High Museum of Art, April 2 - July 31, 1994: "John George Brown: The Dignity of Years".

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Boat Builder|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1972.905|author=John George Brown|year=c. 1904|access-date=30 November 2022|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Contact us

The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.

You are here:

Images

Boat Builder

Boat Builder

John George Brown

Location

Download and Share

Did you know?

Description

Inscription

Contact us