An abstract painting in yellow, red, blue and gray.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The painting shows a fragmented foreground of gray and blue with four irregularly shaped rectangles, from left to right, red, yellow, blue and yellow across the center. Wavy lines of black and brown rise from the foreground across the colored rectangles, a fragment of a dial with one hand reads 30 40 50 lies on its side. The background is dark gray with one square of lighter gray in the center of the left edge.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2015.107
People
Ralston Crawford, American (St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada 1906 - 1978 Houston, Texas)
Title
Air War
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1944
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/353661

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1310, Modern and Contemporary Art, Surrealism
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
40.6 x 55.9 cm (16 x 22 in.)
framed: 56.5 x 72.4 x 2.5 cm (22 1/4 x 28 1/2 x 1 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: l.l., in black paint: Crawford
  • label: On frame verso: Ralston Crawford / Air War / 1944, oil on canvas / 16 1/4 x 22 in / Reg #18784 / Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, LLC / 20 East 79th Street New York, NY 10021 / (212) 879-6606
  • label: On frame verso: Robert Miller Gallery, Inc. / 724 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10019 / Ralston Crawford / AIR WAR / oil on canvas / 16 x 22 inches / 1944 / RCE 44.3 / CRAW.0023
  • label: On backing board: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc. / 21 East 70th Street, New York, N.Y. 10021 / Ralston Crawford / (1906-1978) / APG 14378D.40 / Air War / Oil on canvas / 16 x 22 inches / 1944

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Ralston Crawford, by descent; to Robert F. Crawford, gift; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2015.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Robert F. Crawford
Copyright
© Ralston Crawford Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Accession Year
2015
Object Number
2015.107
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Rick Kinsel, Emily Schuchardt Navratil, and John Crawford, Ralston Crawford: Air + Space + War, exh. cat., Merrell Publishers Ltd. and Vilcek Foundation (New York, NY, 2019), pg. 3

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 1310 Surrealism, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/09/2016 - 10/20/2020; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/10/2022 - 01/01/2050
  • Ralston Crawford: Air & Space & War, Brandywine River Museum of Art, Chadds Ford, 06/19/2021 - 09/19/2021; Dayton Art Institute, 10/30/2021 - 01/23/2022

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 Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu