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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1969.185
People
John Singer Sargent, American (Florence, Italy 1856 - 1925 London, England)
Title
Lake O'Hara
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1916
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/299932

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Watercolor over graphite on off-white wove paper
Dimensions
40 x 53 cm (15 3/4 x 20 7/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: black ink, l.l.: John S. Sargent
  • inscription: l.l., black ink, in artist's hand: To Edward W. Forbes / John S. Sargent
  • inscription: u.r. of verso, graphite: C20576
  • exhibition label: back of frame (now in curatorial file), printed in red ink and inscribed in graphite and pen and black ink: C. M. A. [Cleveland Museum of Art] / 2168.17 / B-5
  • exhibition label: back of frame (now in curatorial file), printed in black ink and inscribed in pen and brown ink: Minneapolis / Institute of Arts / L18.77
  • exhibition label: back of frame (now in curatorial file), printed and typed in black ink and inscribed in pen and black ink: The Copley Society of Boston/ Exhibition of American Water Colors / Paris 1923 / Please fill in and stick on the back of picture / Title: Lake O'Hara / Artist: John Singer Sargent / Owner: Edward W. Forbes, Director, Fogg Art Museum / Address: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U. S. A. / Signed: [inscribed in pen and black ink] Paul J. Sachs, asst. curator
  • inscription: In pen and black ink on cardboard backing board (now in curatorial file), partially cut off: [?] by Edward W. For[bes] / Gerry's La[nding] / Cambri[dge] / M[ass]
  • exhibition label: back of frame (now in curatorial file), printed and typed in black ink and inscribed in pen and black ink: Please fill in and stick on back of picture / Title: Lake O'Hara / Name and address of owner: Edward W. Forbes, Gerry's Landing, Cambridge, Mass. / Where to be returned to: Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass. / Insurance Value: $2000 / Signed: [in pen and black ink] Margaret E. Gilman / Secretary, Fogg Art Museum
  • label: back of frame (now in curatorial file), printed and typed in black ink and inscribed in pen and black ink: Fogg Art Museum / Loan / 338.1930
  • label: back of frame (now in curatorial file), printed and typed in black ink and inscribed in pen and black ink: Fogg Art Museum / Loan / 628.28
  • label: back of frame (now in curatorial file), printed and typed in black ink: Fogg Art Museum / Artist: John Singer Sargent / Subject: Lake O'Hara / No. 338.1930 / Lent-E. W. Forbes, Esq.
  • gallery label: back of frame (now in curatorial file), printed and typed in black ink and inscribed in graphite: No. C.20576 / Doll & Richards. / Incorporated / 71 Newbury St. / Boston.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
John Singer Sargent, gift [1]; to Edward W. Forbes, Cambridge, MA, c. 1916, gift; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1969

[1] See Forbes's "History of the Fogg Art Museum," where he writes, "I have already spoken of our purchase of Sargent's 'Lake O'Hara.' Later he gave me his watercolor sketch of the same subject" (p. 147).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Edward W. Forbes
Accession Year
1969
Object Number
1969.185
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Copley Society, Copley Society Catalogue of Paintings in Water Color by Winslow Homer, John S. Sargent, Dodge MacKnight, exh. cat. (Boston, MA, 1921), cat. no. 50
  • A Catalogue of the Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the Late John Singer Sargent, exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, MA, 1925), no. 112
  • William Howe Downes, John S. Sargent, His Life and Work, Little, Brown & Company (Boston, MA, 1925), pp. 71, 282
  • Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, A Catalogue of the Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the Late John Singer Sargent (Boston, 1926), no. 112
  • William Howe Downes, "American Painters of Mountains", The American Magazine of Art (October 1932), vol. XXV, no. 4, pp. 193-202, ill. p. 201
  • Edward Waldo Forbes, History of the Fogg Art Museum, Unpublished (1956), p. 147, vol. I
  • Acquisitions, 1969-1970, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1970), p. 117
  • Karen Wilkin, Art in Alberta: Paul Kane to the Present, exh. cat., Edmonton Art Gallery (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 1973), ill. n.p.
  • Rebecca W. Karo, "Ah Wilderness! Sargent in the Rockies, 1916", Fenway Court; Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, MA, 1977), pp. 21-29, pp. 27-29
  • John Singer Sargent, His Own Work, exh. cat., Coe Kerr Gallery, Inc. (New York, NY, 1980), no. 60, repr.
  • Carter Ratcliff, John Singer Sargent, Abbeville Press (New York, 1982), p. 33, fig. 41
  • Carl Little, The Watercolors of John Singer Sargent, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA, 1998), repr. p. 149 (color)
  • Stephanie Herdrich and Helen Barbara Weinberg, American Drawings and Watercolors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: John Singer Sargent, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY, 2000), p. 349-350, under no. 331
  • John Esten, Sargent: Painting Out-of-Doors, Universe Press (New York, NY, 2000), repr. in color p. 65
  • Lisa Christensen, The Lake O'Hara Art of J.E.H. MacDonald and Hiker's Guide, Fifth House (Calgary, 2003), p. 12, repr. p. 13
  • Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., Virginia Anderson, and Kimberly Orcutt, ed., American Paintings at Harvard, Volume Two, Paintings, Drawings, Pastels and Stained Glass by Artists Born 1826-1856, Harvard Art Museums and Yale University Press (U.S.) (Cambridge, MA and New Haven, CT, 2008), p. 337-339, cat. 355, ill. p. 338
  • Hilliard T. Goldfarb, Expanding Horizons: American and Canadian Painting and Photography, 1860-1918, exh. cat., The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal, 2009), p. 186, repr. p. 185 as fig. 3
  • Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: Figures and Landscapes, 1914-1925, Yale University Press (New Haven, 2016), no. 1798, repr. p. 150, p. 306

Exhibition History

  • Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent: An Exhibition of Water Colors, Carnegie Institute, 11/01/1917 - 11/27/1917; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, 11/30/1917 - 12/31/1917; Detroit Institute of Arts, 02/02/1918 - 02/28/1918; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 03/07/1918 - 04/01/1918; Milwaukee Art Institute, 04/07/1918 - 04/27/1918; City Art Museum of St. Louis, 05/05/1918 - 05/28/1918; Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, 06/04/1918 - 07/01/1918
  • Paintings in Water Color by Winslow Homer, John S. Sargent, Dodge MacKnight, Copley Society of Boston, 03/05/1921 - 03/22/1921
  • Thirty-Fourth Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture, The Art Institute of Chicago, 11/03/1921 - 12/11/1921
  • Exposition d'Art Américain John S. Sargent, R. A., Dodge MacKnight, Winslow Homer, Paul Manship, Association Franco-Américaine d'Expositions, Paris, 05/18/1923 - 06/25/1923
  • Exhibition of Paintings by American Artists, Crandall Free Library, Glens Falls, 03/01/1933 - 03/31/1933
  • Loan Exhibition of Sargent Water Colors, Fogg Art Museum, 05/01/1933 - 06/30/1933
  • Unidentified Exhibition, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, 1933, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art (now Nelson-Atkins), Kansas City, 12/01/1933 - 03/31/1934
  • Unidentified Exhibition, Lawrence College, 1935, Lawrence University, Appleton, 03/01/1935 - 04/30/1935
  • Unidentified Exhibition, Phillips Exeter Academy, 1935, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, 10/14/1935 - 11/16/1935
  • Unidentified Exhibition, Symphony Hall, 1928, Symphony Hall, Boston, 11/01/1938 - 12/31/1938
  • Unidentified Exhibition, Lyman Allyn Museum, 1940, Lyman Allen Museum, New London, 01/01/1940 - 12/31/1940
  • Watercolors from the Fogg: An Historical Collection, St. Paul's School, Concord, 10/12/1971 - 11/20/1971
  • Gallery's Fiftieth Anniversary, Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, 04/06/1973 - 08/15/1973; Glenbow Museum, Calgary, 07/01/1973 - 08/15/1973
  • Art in Alberta: Paul Kane to the Present, Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, 04/06/1973 - 05/10/1973; Glenbow Museum, Calgary, 07/01/1973 - 08/25/1973
  • John Singer Sargent, his own work, Coe Kerr Gallery, Inc., 05/27/1980 - 06/30/1980
  • 32Q: 2700 Impressionism, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/13/2019 - 12/16/2020

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu