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Eiffel Tower #1
195543 1/2 x 35 1/2 in. (110.5 x 90.2 cm)
William Congdon
United States (Providence, RI, 1912 - 1998)
Object Type:
Painting
Medium and Support:
Oil and mixed media on composition board
Credit Line:
Marion Stratton Gould Fund
Accession Number:
1957.3
Location: Not currently on view
Once a prominent member of the New York School, William Congdon’s name has drifted into obscurity. His youthful wanderlust led him to Italy, France, Mexico, Turkey, Cambodia, and Africa on painting expeditions. Eiffel Tower #1 shows his characteristic use of a jack knife or the edge of a spatula to incise energetic lines into his paint, here suggesting the lacy ironwork of the French icon. In 1959, after years of emotional and creative turmoil, he retreated from public view and spent the last decades of his life as artist-in-residence at a Benedictine monastery near Milan. Shortly after his death, the New York Times wrote that “Most museums store their Congdons with countless other works deemed too marginal to show and too meaningful to sell.”
[Label text from It Came From the Vault exhibition, 2013]
[Label text from It Came From the Vault exhibition, 2013]
Marks
Artist's signature, verso: W C Tour Eiffel #1
Provenance
Betty Parsons Gallery; purchased from them by the Gallery in 1957
Keywords
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Additional Images
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Exhibition List
This object was included in the following exhibitions:
- Riches for Rochester: Recent Additions to the Permanent Collection 9/22/1965 - 10/31/1965
- Selections from the Permanent Collection Summer 1975
- William G. Congdon: "My Life Has Been a Painting" 11/16/2001 - 1/27/2002
- It Came from the Vault: Rarely Seen Works from MAG's Collection 3/17/2013 - 6/9/2013
Bibliography
This object has the following bibliographic references:
- Article Title: A Quartet of Contemporary Paintings. Memorial Art Gallery. Gallery Notes. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery, 1935-1995. Volume Number: 25, Issue Number: 5. Issue Date: May-June 1960.
- Article Scope: Reproduction only. Rochester Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester Handbook. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 1961.
- Article Scope: Entry and reproduction. Michael Pastizzo, S.J.. The Works of William G. Congdon from 1935-1962: A Systematic Presentation of his Art and Writings with a Chronology. Washington, DC: William G. Congdon Foundation, 2005.
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It Came from the Vault exhibition catalogue
Entry for this artwork in the It Came from the Vault exhibition catalogue. The exhibition ran from March 17-June 9, 2013