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A lush and verdant landscape with a volcanic peak in the background.

A rocky slope starts from the upper left in rich darker greens, slopes down sharply to the right. A rocky ledge in the upper left is painted in browns with hints of yellow. There are tops of two palm trees in the distant lower left, and two more closer palm treetops in the lower right. The volcanic peak in the background on right is painted in shades of light green and chartreuse. The sky is light blue hues with a few clouds, a faint light grey-blue cloud covers the top. There’s handwriting and color patches along the bottom right margin.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.311
People
John La Farge, American (New York, NY 1835 - 1910 Providence, RI)
Title
Mount Tohivea, Island of Moorea
Other Titles
Former Title: Tahitian Landscape
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
Apr 20 1891 - Apr 21 1891
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/307978

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Watercolor and gouache over graphite on off-white wove paper
Dimensions
45.6 x 55.9 cm (17 15/16 x 22 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: lower center, graphite, erased: Higginson
  • inscription: l.r., graphite: Tohivea 1212 metres / [ ] ft.
  • inscription: lower edge, black ink, in artist's hand: Unfinished, laid out, for another afternoon. / We were called away to get back to Tahiti / on the night of the 21st & left all sketches more or less undone. / April 20 1891 and 21st afternoon light / Bay of Uponohu / Island of Moorea / Tohivea. 1212 metres high / Summit called pierced as above.
  • exhibition label: removed from backing, now in curatorial file, paper, printed, typed, handwritten: No. 2518.2. Title: "Tahiti Landscape."

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Macbeth Gallery, New York, 1907; their sale to the estate of John La Farge, 1911; estate sale, American Art Association, New York, 1911; purchased at that sale by William T. Evans, New York; his sale to Mr. Henry, 1913; his sale, American Art Association, New York, 1917, to Dorothy Weir (later Mrs. Mahroni Mackintosh Young), New York; her sale to Mrs. Barrington Moore, New York, 1922; her sale to Mrs. Richard L. Stokes, New York, before 1943; her sale to Grenville L. Winthrop, New York, 1943.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.311
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

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Descriptions

Description
Moorea is in the Society Islands, Tahiti.

Publication History

  • Henry A. La Farge, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of John La Farge, Unpublished (n.d.), card 402
  • "The Fine Arts: La Farge's Paintings of the South Sea and Japan", Boston Evening Transcript (Boston, MA, February 16, 1895), p. 6, p. 6
  • Carnegie Institute, Catalogue of the First Annual Exhibition, 1896, cat. 124
  • "Paris Exposition of 1900", American Art Annual (1900 - 1901), no. 3, p. 13, p. 13
  • Carnegie Institute, Catalogue of Works by John La Farge, exh. cat. (Pittsburgh, PA, 1901)
  • "Exhibition of La Farge's Pictures, Drawings and Sketches", Boston Evening Transcript (Boston, MA, February 26, 1904), p. 10, The Fine Arts section, p. 10
  • "La Farge Exhibits Many Paintings", The Boston Herald (Boston, MA, February 29, 1904), p. 5, p. 5
  • "Around the Galleries", New York Sun (New York, NY, December 3, 1907), p. 6, p. 6
  • "Art and Artists: La Farge's Works on Exhibition", The Boston Globe (Boston, MA, February 24, 1907), p. 51, p. 51
  • "Paintings Sold at Auction", American Art Annual (New York, NY, 1910 -1911), no. 8, pp. 372-73, pp. 372 - 373
  • "The Fine Arts: La Farge's Work", Boston Evening Transcript (Boston, MA, December 28, 1910), p. 19
  • Royal Cortissoz, "Art Exhibitions, Paintings, and Other Works Left by the Late John La Farge", New York Daily Tribune (New York, NY, March 25, 1911), p. 7
  • "La Farge Sale, $17, 738", The New York Times (New York, NY, March 31, 1911), p. 5, p. 5
  • "Paintings Sold 1912 - 1913" [William T. Evans sale], American Art Annual (New York, NY, 1914), no. 11, p. 443, p. 443
  • "Auction Sales 1916 - 1917", American Art Annual (New York, NY, 1917), no. 14, p. 370, p. 370
  • William H. Truettner, "William T. Evans, Collector of American Paintings Century", The American Art Journal (Autumn 1971), no. 3, pp. 50-79, p. 76
  • Marjorie B. Cohn, Wash and Gouache: A Study of the Development of the Materials of Watercolor, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1977), p. 43, 101, cat. 34
  • 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. 201-202, cat. no. 154, reproduced in color, p. 202

Exhibition History

  • Exhibition and Private Sale of Paintings in Water Color and Oil from the South Sea Islands and Japan, Doll and Richards Gallery, Boston, 02/14/1895 - 02/20/1895
  • Paintings, Studies, Sketches and Drawings, Mostly Records of Travel 1886 and 1890 - 91 by John La Farge, Durand-Ruel [New York], New York, 02/25/1895 - 03/25/1895; Durand-Ruel Paris, Paris, 03/31/1895 - 04/30/1895
  • First Annual Exhibition, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 11/05/1896 - 01/01/1897
  • A Group of Paintings, Studies and Sketches, Records of Travel in 1886, 1890, and 1891, Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, 03/05/1897 - 03/20/1897
  • Exposition Decennale des Beaux-Arts de 1889 a 1900, Exposition de Paris, Paris, 01/01/1900 - 12/31/1900
  • Catalogue of Works by John La Farge, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 03/27/1901 - 04/10/1901
  • Exhibition and Private Sale of Pictures, Drawings and Sketches by Mr. John La Farge, Doll and Richards Gallery, Boston, 02/26/1904 - 03/16/1904
  • Works by John La Farge, Doll and Richards Gallery, Boston, 02/21/1907 - 03/05/1907
  • Exhibition of Pictures by John La Farge, William Macbeth Gallery, New York, 11/27/1907 - 12/12/1907
  • Exhibition of Glass, Oil and Water Color Paintings and Sketches by John La Farge, Knoedler & Co. Inc., New York, 02/15/1909 - 02/28/1909
  • La Farge Memorial Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 01/01/1911 - 01/31/1911
  • Collection of Paintings made among the South Sea Islands by the late John La Farge, Loaned by Miss Grace Edith Barnes, Executrix, Natural History Museum, New York, 01/25/1911 - 02/28/1911
  • Exhibit of Paintings from the Collection of Mr. William Evans, Lotos Club, New York, 12/07/1912 - 12/31/1912
  • An Exhibition of the Work of John La Farge, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 03/23/1936 - 04/26/1936
  • Wash and Gouache: A Study of the Development of the Materials of Watercolor, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 05/12/1977 - 06/22/1977

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