Provenance
The artist; consigned to (Downtown Gallery, New York); sold c. 1926 to George Biddle [1885-1973], Croton-on-Hudson, New York;[1] gift 23 June 1964, subject to life estate, to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washingon; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art.
[1] Biddle notes that he acquired the painting "from Kuniyoshi directly, who had it at the time with Downtown Gallery; I think about 1926-1928." See Whitney Museum of American Art Artists' Files and Records, 1914-1966, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington: "Kuniyoshi: Oils, 1917-1926 [1948]," reel N688, frames 215 (illus.), 216.
Accession Number
2014.136.94
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 51.12 × 76.52 cm (20 1/8 × 30 1/8 in.) | framed: 24 × 33.94 × 2.19 cm (9 7/16 × 13 3/8 × 7/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Corcoran Collection (Gift of George Biddle)
Tags
Painting Early Modern (1901–1950) Oil Painting Canvas American
Background & Context
Background Story
Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1889-1953) was a Japanese-American painter known for the whimsical, sometimes melancholy figure paintings and still lifes that combine the precision of American Realism with the decorative pattern of Japanese art. Cows in Pasture from 1923 depicts a pastoral subject in the whimsical, slightly melancholy manner that distinguishes Kuniyoshi's best work. The 1923 date places this in Kuniyoshi's early period, when he was developing the combination of American Realism and Japanese decorative pattern that would define his mature work, and the pastoral subject allows him to exercise his talent for combining whimsy with melancholy.
Cultural Impact
Cows in Pasture is important in Kuniyoshi's early development because it demonstrates the whimsical, slightly melancholy manner that he was developing in the 1920s. The pastoral subject allows Kuniyoshi to exercise his talent for combining American Realism with Japanese decorative pattern, creating a type of painting that is simultaneously precise and whimsical—a combination that would define his mature work.
Why It Matters
Cows in Pasture is Kuniyoshi's whimsical melancholy emerging: a pastoral subject rendered with the combination of American Realist precision and Japanese decorative pattern that would define his mature work. The 1923 painting shows the whimsy and melancholy that distinguish Kuniyoshi from other American Modernists.
