Landzicht Farm: Compositional Study

Description

This drawing relates closely to a painting in the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague (25.1995) in both subject matter and style. However, it is nearly impossible to establish when the drawing was made or whether the drawing or painting came first. Prior to 1908, Piet Mondrian rarely dated his work; moreover, his artistic evolution is hard to trace chronologically since he made two kinds of work simultaneously: formally experimental landscapes and—forced by his meager finances to appeal to buyers—naturalistic scenes. Based on stylistic similarities to other works of that time, Robert Welsh, a scholar of Mondrian’s early work, dated the sheet to around 1905.

Provenance

Johannes Samuel Fredericus Esser (1877-1946), Amsterdam, by 1912 [Joosten and Welsh 1996]; Esser estate, from 1946 [Joosten and Welsh 1996]. Sold by Allan Frumkin Gallery, New York, to the Art Institute, 1962.

Landzicht Farm: Compositional Study

Piet Mondrian

c. 1905

Accession Number

88464

Medium

Fabricated charcoal on blue laid paper

Dimensions

46.8 × 62.3 cm (18 7/16 × 24 9/16 in.)

Classification

charcoal

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Edward E. Ayer Endowment Fund in memory of Charles L. Hutchinson