Collection Online as of September 29, 2023

(American, 1915–1990)

Oil on canvas

Framed: 116 x 152 x 12.5 cm (45 11/16 x 59 13/16 x 4 15/16 in.); Unframed: 91.5 x 151.8 cm (36 x 59 3/4 in.)

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1943.60

Location

226B American Modern

Fun Fact

A framed reproduction of this painting is displayed on the living room walls of a farmhouse in the sci-fi film <em>Looper</em>,<em> </em>starring Bruce Willis.

Description

Cox painted Gray and Gold shortly after the United States joined the Second World War, and its image of amber waves of grain threatened by ominous storm clouds likely has symbolic overtones. The painting's foreground features an intersection of two dirt lanes, as well as a telephone pole emblazoned with political campaign posters. The artist seems to imply that American democracy is at a crossroads during this time of combat against the spread of fascism in Europe and Asia. Interestingly the work was inspired by the landscape around Cox's hometown of Terre Haute, Indiana, a location nicknamed "The Crossroads of America" due to the junction of major north-south and east-west national highways within its city limits. The museum purchased this painting out of a traveling exhibition entitled "Artists for Victory," which consisted of works by artists who wanted to assist in the war effort. The exhibition opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on the first anniversary of the bombing at Pearl Harbor.

Inscriptions

Inscription

signed lower right: John Rogers Cox 1942

Provenance

1942 -1943

(Artists for Victory, Inc., 1942-1943 exhibition, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) ¹

1943-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Provenance Footnotes

¹Purchased with income from the Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund, from Artists for Victory, Inc. The Artists for Victory exhibition, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, was also mounted at the Cleveland Museum of Art, in 1943.

Citations

Artists for Victory: An Exhibition of Contemporary American Art, Paintings, Sculpture, Prints. 2 vols. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1942.

"Victory Show Sales," Art Digest 17 (April 1, 1943) Mentioned p. 15

Korkow, Cory. “Four Curators, Four Favorites.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 62, no. 2 (2022): 29. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 29.

Metropolitan Museum of Art. Artists for Victory: An Exhibition of Contemporary American Art, A Picture Book of the Prize Winners. New York, 1942. Reproduced: fig. 15

Jewell, Edward Alden. "Artists For Victory: Metropolitan Opens Tomorrow the Huge Contemporary American Survey." The New York Times, December 6, 1942. Reproduced

"Artists for Victory Score Victory in Metropolitan Exhibition," Art Digest 17 no. 6 (December, 15 1942). Mentioned: p. 6; Reproduced: p. 8

"The Artists for Victory Exhibition: The Paintings," Art News 41 (January 1, 1943). Mentioned: p. 8-9; Reproduced: p. 9

Art News 41 (January 15, 1943). Reproduced: p. 17

"Cleveland Museum of Art Presents Paintings Selected from National Exhibition," Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 21, 1943. Reproduced

"Victory Show Sales." Art Digest 17 (April 1, 1943). Mentioned: p.15

Holme, Bryan. "New York Commentary." London Studio (July 1943). Reproduced: p. 28

West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, Westvaco Inspirations for Printers 1942-1943 (1943). Mentioned: p. 143; Reproduced: cover

Cravens, Dargan & Company Insurance Managers, Houston, Texas, Review 25 no. 5 (April 1944). Reproduced: cover

"State Artist's Work Displayed." The Indianapolis Times, October 18, 1944. Reproduced

"Grey and Gold by John Rogers Cox Voted Popular Prize," The Carnegie Magazine (December 1944). Mentioned: p. 195-7; Reproduced: p. 195

"Hoosier's Painting Carnegie Favorite." Indianapolis Star, December 5, 1944.

"Cox, Soldier-Artist, Wins Carnegie 'Popular'." Art Digest 19 (December 15, 1944). Mentioned: p. 9; Reproduced: p. 9

Time Magazine (December 18, 1944). Mentioned: p. 50

The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 32, no. 7(September 1945). Mentioned: p. 138; Reproduced: p. 134

Milliken, William M. "Place of the Museum of Art in the Life of a City." The Clevlander (August 1946). Reproduced: p. 6

"The Popular Prize." The Carnegie Magazine 20 (December 1946). Mentioned: p. 172-3

"Cox Popular Choice of Carnegie Visitors." Art Digest 21 (December 15, 1946). Mentioned: p. 9

Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, State Fair of Texas, Famous American Paintings (1948). Reproduced

Catalogue de Reproductions en Couleurs de la Peinture de 1860 a 1949. Paris: Unesco, 1949. Mentioned: p. 62-3; Reproduced: p. 63

New York Times Book Review, October 16, 1955. Reproduced

"Anniversary Year Exhibit to Open Sunday at Swope Gallery Preview." The Terre Haute Star, November 2, 1962. Reproduced

Wahl, Charles William, M.D., "Psychodynamics of Sexual Humor: Sex and the Salesman." Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality (August 1978). Reproduced: p. 26-7, cover

Szymanski, Ronald, ed. America in Literature: The Midwest. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1979. Reproduced: cover

Sheldon Swope Art Gallery. "The Sheldon Swope Art Gallery Newsletter." (May-July 1982). Reproduced: fig. 2

Kinsman, Robert D. "Art from Swope: Painting looks at forces of nature." The Tribune-Star- Terre Haute, May 16, 1982. Mentioned: p. 12; Reproduced

Hubbard, Guy. "Teaching Art with Art: Turbulent Skyscapes." Arts & Activities 103, no. 3 (April 1988). Mentioned: p. 26-7

"A final tribute." Tribune-Star, Terre Haute, February 4, 1990. Reproduced

Chong, Alan. European and American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland Museum of Art: Cleveland, 1993. Reproduced: p. 46

Chaon, Dan. Fitting Ends and Other Stories by Dan Chaon. Evanston: Northwestern University Press,1995. Reproduced: cover

Païni, Dominique, and Guy Cogeval. Hitchcock and Art: Fatal Coincidences. Montreal: The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 2000. Mentioned: p. 341

Stearns, Robert. ed. Illusions of Eden. Visions of the American Heartland. Minneapolis: Arts Midwest, 2000. Mentioned: p. 271; Reproduced: p. 94

Maciejunes, Nannette V. "Visions of the American Heartland." American Art Review 12, no. 2 (March-April 2000). Mentioned: p. 114

"Vienna and Budapest: Illusions of Eden." The Burlington Magazine (November 2000). Mentioned: p. 719

Academic Medicine: Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges. (August, 2001). Reproduced: p. 761; cover

Dijkstra, Bram. American Expressionism: Art and Social Change 1920-1950. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2003. Mentioned: p. 188, 196

Norman, Bud. The Things That Are Caesar’s: A Comic Tale of Politics, Religion, and Other Impolite Topics. Wichita: Affiliated Writers of America, 2003. Reproduced: back cover

Martha Parrish & James Reinish, Inc., 19th and 20th Century European and American Art (gallery catalogue) (February, 2005).

Chandler, Neal, ed. "Silver Apples of the Moon: Art and Poetry." Cleveland: Cleveland State Poetry Center in association with Shaker Heights Public Library, 2006. Reproduced: p. 53

Adams, Henry. What's American about American Art? A Gallery Tour in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2008. Mentioned: p. 141

Walker, Andrew, ed. Joe Jones: Radical Painter of the American Scene. Exh. cat. St. Louis: St. Louis Art Museum, 2010. Mentioned: p. 76; Reproduced: p. 75

Perry, Dee. "Personal Favorite." Cleveland Art 50 (March/April 2010). Mentioned: p. 10

"Toward the Vision: The Cleveland Museum of Art." Museum publication booklet. 2012. Reproduced: cover

Kash, Steve. "Life As an Artist." Tribune-Star- Terre Haute, October 7, 2012. Mentioned: p. D4

Cole, Mark. "American Art of the 1930s to 1950s." Cleveland Art 54 (January/February 2014). Mentioned: p. 21

Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 59

Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 23

Daiss, Susan Dodge-Peters. "Art at the Bedside: Reflections on Use of Visual Imagery in Hospital Chaplaincy." Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling 70, no. 1 (March 2016). Reproduced: p.77

Eldredge, Charles C. We Gather Together: American Artists and the Harvest. Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 89, fig. 44

Exhibition history

Toronto, Art Gallery of Toronto (February 1945).
Terre Haute, Indiana, Sheldon Swope Art Gallery (May 1945).

Columbus, OH, Columbus Museum of Art, Illusions of Eden: Visions of the American Heartland (18 February - 30 April 2000) cat. ill. cover, pp. 94, 186, p. 271 ; traveled to Vienna, Austria, Museum of Modern Art/Ludwig Foundation Vienna (1 June - 15 August 2000); traveled to Budapest, Hungary, Ludwig Museum/Museum of Contemporary Art (25 September - 26 November 2000); did not travel to Madison, Wisconsin, Madison Art Center (24 February - 13 May 2001); did not travel to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Washington Pavilion of Arts & Science (June - August 2001).

The Cleveland Museum of Art (03/01/2006 - 06/01/2006); "American Icons: American Masterworks from the 1930s"

Artists for Victory. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (co-organizer) (January 1-February 22, 1943).

54th Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture. The Art Institute of Chicago (organizer) (October 28-December 12, 1943).

Painting in the United States, 1944. Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA (organizer) (co-organizer) (September 5-December 10, 1944).

Contemporary American Painting. Rhode Island School of Design (organizer) (February 6-28, 1946).

Museum's Choice. Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA (organizer) (March 8-April 30, 1946).

The 50 Most Popular Paintings in the History of American Art. The Dallas Museum of Art (organizer) (October 9-November 7, 1948).

Life in America. Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (organizer) (co-organizer) (March 4-April 30, 1951).

Centennial Exhibition. Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE (organizer) (co-organizer) (May 11-July 4, 1954).

Illusion and Reality. Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA (organizer) (co-organizer) (June 15-July 22, 1956); Pasadena Museum of California Art (August 5-September 9, 1956); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 5-31, 1956); The Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX (October 31-November 30, 1956).

20th Anniversary Special Exhibition: 60 Terre Haute Artists. Sheldon Swope Art Museum Inc., Terra Haute, IN (organizer) (November 4-December 2, 1962).

An Unfulfilled Dream: The Neglected Generation of American Scene Painters: 1930-1948. Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS (organizer) (May 2-June 14, 1981).

A Retrospective Exhibition of the Art of John Rogers Cox. Sheldon Swope Art Museum Inc., Terra Haute, IN (organizer) (May 14-June 13, 1982).

Illusions of Eden: Visions of the American Heartland. Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH (organizer) (February 18-April 30, 2000).