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

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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=29 May 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Boat Builder

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John George Brown

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