A painting of the head and front paws of a dog.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The painting shows the head and front paws of a dog. The head faces left from the right edge. The ears are short and point right, the dog’s mouth is slightly open, the eyes are closed, a white patch is on the cheek. Across the lower portion of the painting is a dark band on which the dog’s paws rest. The dog is brown with black highlights, the background behind and to the left is a pinkish brown.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2006.19
People
Joseph Stella, American (Muro Lurcano Italy 1877 - 1946 Astoria NY)
Title
Dog in Motion
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
c. 1914
Places
Creation Place: North America, United States
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/7556

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
21 x 32.2 cm (8 1/4 x 12 11/16 in.)
framed: 32.9 x 44 x 3.5 cm (12 15/16 x 17 5/16 x 1 3/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Estate of Joseph Stella; to his nephew, Giovanni Stella, M.D.; to Mrs. Giovanni Stella; to Josephine M. Lettera, New Rochelle, New York; to Private collector, Maryland, (1990 - 2006); to
Menconi & Schoelkopf Fine Art, llc., New York, sold; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2006.


Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Dr. Ernest G. Stillman, Class of 1907, by exchange
Accession Year
2006
Object Number
2006.19
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Commentary
The importance of this painting is belied by its size, for it is one of the few truly Futurist canvases by an artist known primarily for being the first American Futurist. The painting ranks as one of the more successful attempts to capture speed and movement in paint, perhaps in part because of its quick execution. The blurred features of the dog and the vigorous scrubbing of the landscape combine to create an impression of tremendous vitality.

Born near Naples in 1877, Stella emigrated to New York City in 1896, where he studied with William Merritt Chase and may have been influenced by Robert Henri as well, witness his preference for contemporary urban subjects. He encountered European modernism during a 1909-13 trip to Europe and was especially taken with a show of Fururist paintings at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery in Paris in 1912. On his return in 1913, he experienced the further shock of the Armory Show, and for several years painted in a Futurist style, which gradually became more hieratic and stylized by the end of the decade with his famous works based on the Brooklyn Bridge, of which the Fogg owns three drawings. For the remainder of his career Stella vacillated wildly between styles and never recaptured the intensity of the work he did in the teens. Dating his works is difficult, so the "circa 1914" is an educated guess open to revision pending further research.

Publication History

  • Joseph Stella: Paintings and Works on Paper, exh. cat., Pensler Galleries (Wash DC, 1990), cat. 8

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 1300 Early Modernism, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/14/2015 - 04/13/2016

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