Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2014.

Cumaea

Artist Manierre Dawson (American, 1887 - 1969)

CultureAmerican

Date1911

MediumOil on board

Dimensions32 1/8 × 23 3/4 in. (81.6 × 60.3 cm)

SignedLower left: "M. Dawson '11"

InscribedFrame's upper rail verso: "272" in ink.

Credit LineAnonymous gift

Object number2014.13

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 222

DescriptionCumaea is an oil painting executed on a single 1/4 inch thick plank of solid redwood (or perhaps cedar) measuring 31 1/8 x 23 3/4 inches. It is presented in a rectangular gilt wood frame, 38 3/4 x 30 3/8 inches in size, with a flat surface and inner row of beaded ornament immediately circumscribing the painting. The painting is signed in the recto lower left corner “M. Dawson ’11.” On the verso of the panel is a stamp in black ink from Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, Ltd., and a typed paper label providing the title, date, medium, and dimensions of the work. The upper rail of the frame is inscribed on the verso with the number “272” written in ink.

Cumaea shows a woman seated and turned to her right, wearing a green dress with a brown cloak atop, with both hands prominently displayed in her lap. The figure in Cumaea is a composition loosely borrowed from Jan Vermeer’s The Geographer (1668-69, Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt).
Label TextManierre Dawson American, 1887–1969 Cumaea, 1911 Oil on board After traveling in Europe, American painter Manierre Dawson created a series of Cubist reinterpretations of famous works by the Old Masters, calling these “museum pictures.” Here a seated woman in a green dress echoes the pose of Johannes Vermeer’s Geographer (pictured below). Dawson likely enjoyed the challenge of reinterpreting this figure’s complicated twisting posture, though he altered or omitted other elements of his source image. The title Cumaea may refer to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling murals, which include an image of a seated priestess known as the Cumaean sibyl, suggesting that a variety of historical sources informed Dawson’s experiments in line, form, and color. Anonymous gift 2014.13 Catalogue raisonnéPloog and Bairstow, _Manierre Dawson (1887-1969): A Catalogue Raisonné_: p. 176, fig. 1911.12.ProvenanceFrom the artist to his estate; Dr. Lewis Obi, Frank McKeown, and Lefferts Mabie, 1978; private collection 1991; gift to Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, 2014.Exhibition History"Manierre Dawson," Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, New York, Apr. 5 – May 1, 1969. "Manierre Dawson: American Pioneer of Abstract Art," Hollis Taggart Galleries, New York, Oct. 1-30, 1999. "Manierre Dawson: American Pioneer of Abstract Art," Swope Art Museum, Terra Haute, IN, Dec. 1-30, 2000. Published References_Manierre Dawson_ (exh. cat.) Essay by Karl Nickel, statement by Manierre Dawson. (New York: Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, 1969) cat. no. 12. Abraham A. Davidson, _Early American Modernist Painting, 1910-1935_ (New York: Icon Editions, Harper and Row, 1981) p. 264, illus. p. 265, fig. 154. Mary Matthews Gedo, "Modernizing the Masters: Manierre Dawson's Cubist Transliterations" _Arts Magazine_ 55, no. 8 (Apr. 1981), illus. p. 141, fig. 26. _Manierre Dawson: American Pioneer of Abstract Art_ (exh. cat.). Foreword by Hollis Taggart and Vivian Bullaudy; essays by Henry Adams and Randy J. Ploog. (New York: Hollis Taggart Galleries, 1999) plate 24. _Manierre Dawson: American Pioneer of Abstract Art_ (special edition exh. booklet). (Terre Haute, IN: Swope Art Museum, 2000) color illus. n.p. Randy J. Ploog and Myra Bairstow, _Manierre Dawson (1887-1969): A Catalogue Raisonné_ , ed. Ani Boyajian(Jacksonville, FL: The Three Graces, 2011) 176, fig. 1911.12