Photographed by Scott Wolff. Scanned from a slide. Color corrected by Pat Cagney.

In the Hills

Artist Leon Kroll (American, 1884-1974)

CultureAmerican

Date1920-21

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 51 3/8 x 74 5/8 in. (130.5 x 189.5 cm)
Overall, Frame: 56 x 78 1/2 in. (142.2 x 199.4 cm)

InscribedSigned lower right: LEON KROLL

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.668

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 218

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting of two young women walking. The older one holds in her right hand a wide-brimmed hat with a red flower, which is shown in the lower left corner. Her arm is around the younger girl, who is in a white polka-dot dress with red buttons and has a red purse hanging from her forearm. Behind them are several apple trees; seated under the trees and behind the girls is a couple. The man is in a green shirt and brown pants and the woman in a red dress, and they are talking. This location is identified as Woodstock, New York. In the distance, Cooper Lake and the Catskill Mountains are visible.

Label TextLeon Kroll American, 1884–1974 In the Hills, 1920–21 Oil on canvas Beyond a thicket of apple trees, the Catskill Mountains provide a color-saturated backdrop to this portrait of two young women. The solidity of these figures indicates Leon Kroll’s training in the traditional art academies of New York and Paris, but the landscape, painted in short choppy brushstrokes, reveals his admiration for French Impressionism and the work of Paul Cezanne. Both of these girls are children of artists who joined Kroll for summer retreats in Woodstock, New York—the younger is Anne, daughter of George Bellows, whose works hang to the right. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.668 ProvenanceArtist, 1921-at least 1926; ...; Hammer Galleries, New York, December 20, 1966; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, MA, December 20, 1966; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, 1971. Exhibition HistoryArt Institute of Chicago, Ill., 1921, no. 115. "National Academy of Design Annual Exhibition," New York, N.Y., March - April, 1921. Reproduced in catalog and received the Thomas B. Clark Prize "awarded for artistic merit for the best figure composition painted in the United States by an American citizen." "Twentieth Annual International Exhibition of Paintings," Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pa., April 28 - June 30, 1921, no. 168. Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Annual Exhibition, 1923, no. 255. "First Pan-American Exhibition of Oil Paintings," Los Angeles Museum, Calif., November 27, 1925 - January 31, 1926, no. 27. Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design, date unknown. "Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. "Images of Childhood from The Chrysler Museum," The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, July 29 - Sept. 16, 1990. "Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 21, 2005 - February 19, 2006. Published References_Twentieth Annual International Exhibition of Paintings_, exh. cat., Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1921, no. 168. _Art Institute of Chicago Bulletin_ Vol. 15 (December 1921), p. 173. _First Pan-American Exhibition of Oil Paintings_, exh. cat., Los Angeles Museum, Calif., 1925, no. 27. Dennis R. Anderson, _Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum_, exh. cat., Norfolk, Va., 1975, 195. Fredson Bowers and Nancy Hale, eds., _Leon Kroll: A Spoken Memoir_ (Charlottesville, VA: The University Press of Virginia, 1983), plate 70. ISBN: 0813909929 Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 160-161, no. 100. ISBN: 0-940744-71-6 Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 71, fig. 78. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1