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Buildings with Water Tank (Bellevue Plantation, Virginia)

Henry Lee McFee

Artwork Details

Buildings with Water Tank (Bellevue Plantation, Virginia)
circa 1930-1931
Henry Lee McFee
oil on canvas
29 15/16 in x 24 3/16 in (76.04 cm x 61.44 cm);35 3/8 in x 29 1/2 in (89.85 cm x 74.93 cm)
Gift of The Ann Arbor Art Association, in memory of Ruby S. Churchhill
1972/2.21

On Display

Not currently on display

Description

Subject Matter:

Henry Lee McFee was influenced by artists including Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Italian Renaissance painters, however he was most influenced by Paul Cézanne. This work resembles some of Cezanne's houses in Provence in their simple blocky forms and the trees breaking up the foreground space.

McFee primarily painted still lifes and landscapes. His formal art training included his attendance at the School of Fine Arts in St. Louis, the Stevenson Art School in Pittsburgh, and in 1908, Birge Harrrison's landscape class at the Art Students League in Woodstock (where McFee spent two summers, before eventually settling in Woodstock). McFee was a leader of Woodstock's modernist Rock City Group; other members included Andrew Dasburg (who originally introuced McFee to European modernism), Konrad Cramer, and Eugene Speicher. McFee moved to Los Angeles, CA in 1940 where he became a prominent painter and teacher in the Southern California arts scene.

Physical Description:

In this painting there are six buildings surrounded by green grass and tall tress without leaves. On the right side of the painting, a green and brown water tank rises out of and stands above the buildings at the height of a tree house. A brown fence separates the water tank from the buildings behind it.

Usage Rights:

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