Emil Carlsen : The miraculous drought, 1921.

 

The Miraculous Drought, 1921
Emil Carlsen [1848-1932]
Oil on Canvas
39-1/2 x 45-3/8 inches

Signed: At lower right. ‘Emil. Carlsen. 1921.’.

Archives of American Art #: 87230432, JUL J0047834

Provenance:
19xx Private collection of Arthur S. Dayton [1887-1948], Charleston, WV
1924 Art Institute of Chicago, Walter H. Schulze Memorial Collection, Chicago, IL, Accession #1924.905.
1921 Private collection of Walter H. Schulze, Chicago, IL
1921 The Macbeth Gallery, 450 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY

Exhibitions:
1948 Northern Baptist Assembly, Gallery of Religious Art, Green Lake, Wisconsin, July 12 – September 6, 1948, no catalog.
1941 The Macbeth Galleries, New York, NY, “A Memorial Exhibition of Paintings as a Tribute to the Late Robert Macbeth: Renown Dealer in American Art, Showing the Work of Eighteen American Painters Discovered By the Macbeth Gallery“, March 30 – April 29.
1922 Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, “Second Retrospective Exhibition of the Art Institute Alumni Association“, October 9.
1921 Cincinnati Museum, Cincinnati, OH, “The Twenty-Eighth Annual Exhibition of American Art“, May 28 – July 31.
1921 The Macbeth Gallery, New York, NY, “Recent Paintings by Emil Carlsen, N.A.“, February 9 – February 28.

References:
– Art Institute of Chicago, June 20, illustrated in color, 1945.
– The Macbeth Galleries, New York, NY, Exhibition Catalog, “A Memorial Exhibition of Paintings as a Tribute to the Late Robert Macbeth: Renown Dealer in American Art, Showing the Work of Eighteen American Painters Discovered By the Macbeth Gallery“, March 30 – April 29, 1941, #7, not illustrated.
– The Christian Science Monitor, New York, NY, “The Country of Youth” by FIG, March 30, 1939, page 7, not illustrated.
– Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, IL, pg. 120, 1932.
– International Studio, “The Lyricism of Emil Carlsen” by John Steele, October, 1927, volume 88, pg. 53-60, illustrated: B&W.
– Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, “Accessions and Loans“, January, 1925, volume 19, number 1, pages 62, not illustrated.
– Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, “The Walter H. Schulze Memorial Gallery of Paintings“, January, 1925, volume 19, number 1, pages 7-9, illustrated: b&w on page 9.
– Catalogue of The Walter H. Schulze Gallery of American Paintings, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 1924.
– Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, “Accessions and Loans”, December 1, 1922, volume 16, number 7, page 119, not illustrated.
– Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, “Second Retrospective Exhibition of the Art Institute Alumni Association“, October 9, 1922, #426, not illustrated.
– Cincinnati Museum, Cincinnati, OH, Exhibition Catalog, “The Twenty-Eighth Annual Exhibition of American Art“, May 28 – July 31, 1921, #14, illustrated: b&w.
– New-York Tribune, New York, NY, “Old Works by Jongkind And New Ones by Carlsen“, Sunday, February 13, 1921, page 7, illustrated: b&w on page 7.
– The Macbeth Gallery, 450 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, Exhibition Catalog, “Recent Paintings by Emil Carlsen, N.A.“, February 9 – February 28, 1921, #8, not illustrated.
– IAP Clippings File, N.D.
– Peter A. Juley & Son Collection, Archives and Special Collections, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, Image #JUL J0047834.

Notes:

The Christian Science Monitor, New York, NY, “The Country of Youth” by FIG, March 30, 1939, page 7, not illustrated.
…”The whole scene of smiling blue water and soft wind-driven clouds was reminiscent of a sea picture by Emil Carlsen, hanging in the Chicago Art Institute, called The Miraculous Draught of Fishes. It is a beautiful study of sea, sky, and cloud effects. One has the same sense of beauty, looking over the harbor as in looking at Emil Carlsen’s picture in Chicago. It was a tangible feeling that expressed the spirit of Denmark, sea-loving, laughter-loving, kindly, hospitable, contented, without racial animosities, without prejudice”…

– New-York Tribune, New York, NY, “Old Works by Jongkind And New Ones by Carlsen“, Sunday, February 13, 1921, page 7, illustrated: b&w on page 7.
…”This remains an interesting piece of painting rather than a powerful expression of nature’s mighty truth. In another big sea piece, The Miraculous Draught, realism is again subdued to the key of a romantic exercise in color. The fishermen in their boat and the tail Christ have no really dramatic significance. All that we feel is the delicate, almost Whistlerian harmony of blues and grays that the artist has achieved. To have achieved that much is something, and there is great charm in Mr. Carlsen’s landscapes, especially In those which suggest the influence of Weir. Whether painted at noon or by moonlight these pictures are poetically luminous. In them all, too, there is a certain engaging personal quality. But over them all there is spread the effect of an inelastic style—a technical method which long addiction to still life no doubt partially explains. The transition from porcelains and metals to the works of nature is not made with absolute success. Mr. Carlsen continues to produce sensuously beautiful surfaces. Even while we respond to their beguiling appeal we find ourselves wishing that his views of landscapes were bigger and freer; that he had broadened his definition of ground, tree and cloud forms.”…

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