August Second
Artist
Albert Bloch
(American, 1882 - 1961)
Date1937
MediumOil on canvas mounted to Masonite
DimensionsUnframed: 21 3/4 × 18 inches (55.25 × 45.72 cm)
Framed: 29 1/2 × 25 3/4 inches (74.93 × 65.41 cm)
Framed: 29 1/2 × 25 3/4 inches (74.93 × 65.41 cm)
Credit LineGift of Scott Heffley in honor of Anna Bloch
Object number2017.49.1
Signed“AB” monogram incised in paint on the obverse, lower right corner; “AB, August Second, 1937” in white paint on panel reverse.
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionThis is a vertically oriented painting depicting a bouquet of flowers in a mostly blue and white ceramic vase that rests on a small, round tabletop. The flowers and greenery of the bouquet appear to spill out of the vase and they extend upward to fill the upper half of the canvas. The vegetation is painted imprecisely in a somewhat impressionistic manner. The blossoms are circular, many of them composed of concentric circles of varying colors. There are blues, greens, pinks, oranges, and browns used throughout the painting, none of them highly saturated colors. White highlights appear throughout.Gallery LabelPainted on the artist’s 55th birthday, this exuberant still life, donated by the president of the Albert Bloch Foundation, bursts from the canvas. The profusion of blossoms and the vase from which the flowers explode were gifts to Albert Bloch from Anna Sylvia Francis, whom he would marry in 1951. This birthday bouquet could be interpreted as both a painted celebration of another year and as a symbol of a budding relationship that would bring great happiness. The Mexican stoneware vase that originally held the bouquet is on view nearby.
The
artist (1881-1961), Lawrence, KS, 1937–1961;
Inherited by his wife, Anna Bloch (1913-2014), Lawrence, KS, 1961–2000;
Her gift to Scott Heffley, August 2, 2000–2017;
His gift to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2017.
Copyright© Albert Bloch Foundation
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