Martin Johnson Heade
Fighting Hummingbirds with Pink Orchid, c. 1875-1890
Oil on canvas
16 1/4 x 14 inches
41.3 x 35.6 cm
41.3 x 35.6 cm
Signed at lower right: M. J. Heade
Theodore Stebbins, the leading scholar on Martin Johnson Heade, dates the work to between 1875 and 1890, when the artist's experimentation with format and arrangement moved past his initial compositions...
Theodore Stebbins, the leading scholar on Martin Johnson Heade, dates the work to between 1875 and 1890, when the artist's experimentation with format and arrangement moved past his initial compositions for the unrealized "Gems of Brazil" portfolio. Stebbins wrote of the work:
Heade continued to experiment with the compositions of his orchid-and-hummingbird paintings, trying out different combinations of birds and flowers and a variety of settings. In Fighitng Hummingbirds with Pink Orchid, in the less typical vertical format), Heade pulled the birds and orchid close together and cut off the distance with dense foliage, creating a private glimpse into the natural world [Theodore Jr. Stebbins, Martin Johnson Heade,(1999), pp. 110-111].
Heade continued to experiment with the compositions of his orchid-and-hummingbird paintings, trying out different combinations of birds and flowers and a variety of settings. In Fighitng Hummingbirds with Pink Orchid, in the less typical vertical format), Heade pulled the birds and orchid close together and cut off the distance with dense foliage, creating a private glimpse into the natural world [Theodore Jr. Stebbins, Martin Johnson Heade,(1999), pp. 110-111].
Provenance
Ramon Paez; toCatalina Paez MacManus (his daughter); to
Marakita MacManus and Patricia MacManus (her daughters); to
[Coe Kerr Gallery, New York]; to
[Kennedy Galleries, Inc., New York]; to
Private collection, Texas; to
[Sale: Christie’s, New York, May 28, 1992, lot 51 (as Still Life with Orchid and Pair of Hummingbirds)]; to
[Vose Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts]; to
Private collection, Kingston, Massachusetts, until the present
Exhibitions
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and Los Angeles County Art Museum, Martin Johnson Heade, September 29, 1999-August 17, 2000, no. 59Literature
Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., Martin Johnson Heade, Boston, Massachusetts: Museum of Fine Arts, 1999, no. 59, pp. 110, 193, illus. p. 116 // Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., The Life and Works of Martin Johnson Heade: A Critical Analysis and Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2000, p. 325, no. 500, illus.
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