Poverty Hump, Maine

Artist George Benjamin Luks (American, 1867-1933)

CultureAmerican

Dateca. 1922

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions25 × 30 in. (63.5 × 76.2 cm)
Overall, Frame: 34 1/2 × 39 1/2 × 2 3/4 in. (87.6 × 100.3 × 7 cm)

SignedSigned lower right: George Luks

Credit LineGift of the Macon and Joan Brock Collection of American Art

Object number2021.25

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 218

DescriptionThis is an oil-on-canvas painting of a large rock formation at the edge of a churning sea. Two figures appear in the foreground, one of whom is reaching into a small rowboat. The painting is signed in the lower right “George Luks” and inscribed on the reverse “Poverty Hump / Maine / by George Luks.”
Label TextGeorge Benjamin Luks American, 1867–1922 Poverty Hump, Maine, ca. 1922 Oil on canvas Two hardy figures struggle amidst a rocky shore and churning sea in George Luks’s vibrant and forceful seascape set along the Maine Coast. Luks was associated with the Ashcan School, a group of artists known for their unflinching depictions of urban life in the United States at the start of the twentieth century. Like other members of the group, including George Bellows and William Glackens, Luks was also drawn to subjects in nature, finding them equally potent sources for his forceful realism. Gift of the Macon and Joan Brock Collection 2021.25ProvenanceParke Bernet, Sale Catalogue, no. 1170, lot 357. Private Collection, 1970 until 2009. Michael Altman Fine Art and Advisory, New York, 2009. Private collection, Pennsylvania. Exhibition History"A Shared Vision: The Macon and Joan Brock Collection of American Art," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, December 8, 2023 — March 10, 2024.