Turkey Pasture in Kentucky

Artist George Fuller (American, 1822-1884)

Date1878

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 27 1/2 x 40 1/2 in. (69.9 x 102.9 cm)
Overall, Frame: 36 3/4 x 49 3/4 in. (93.3 x 126.4 cm)

ClassificationsAmerican art

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.649

Terms

African-American Theme
Pasture
People
Animals
Turkeys
Brown
Green
Black
Yellow
Cream
Kentucky
Massachusetts

On View

On view

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting. It is pastoral scene with several turkeys in the foreground. There are at least four figures, and all appear to be female. The young girl in the foreground is biracial. The lighting is quiet and subdued. The last rays of the sun are gently highlighting the figures in the mid-ground. The top quarter of the canvas shows trees silhouetted against the yellowish sky.

Label TextGeorge Fuller American, 1822–1884 Turkey Pasture in Kentucky, 1878 Oil on canvas George Fuller’s ethereal style of painting features loose, painterly brushstrokes and subtle gradients of color, creating an evocative vision that fuses memory and imagination. After a promising start to his career, Fuller abandoned the artistic profession for more than a decade. Instead, he returned to his family’s farm, where he practiced agriculture and pursued painting as a means of personal inquiry and expression. In the late 1870s, he mounted a triumphant return to the art world, exhibiting a group of landscape scenes like this one based upon his memories of trips through the South before the Civil War. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.649