Questroyal 2009

John Fabian Carlson ( 1875 – 1945 ) Plate 9 Forest Peace Oil on canvas 40 5 / 16 x 52 3 / 8 inches Signed lower right: John F. Carlson ; signed and titled on verso: Forest Peace / John F. Carlson provenance Robert Eric Carlson Macbeth Gallery, NewYork Vose Galleries, Boston Babcock Galleries, NewYork Private collection, acquired from the above exhibited Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Twelfth Exhibition of Contemporary American Oil Paintings , November 30 , 1931 – January 11 , 1932 Babcock Galleries, NewYork, John F. Carlson , February–March 1993 literature John F. Carlson , exh. cat. (NewYork: Babcock Galleries, 1992 ), n.p. Trees are a lot like human beings; rooted men, possessing character, ambitions and idiosyncrasies. Those who know trees see all their whims; see their struggles too; struggles with wind and weather; struggles to adjust themselves to their society. john f. carlson, 1942 1 fig. 8 John F. Carlson featured in Grumbacher Finest Artists’ Oil Colors advertisement from the December 1942 edition of American Artist A Beloved Figure in American Art John Fabian Carlson was a well-known and respected member of the art world during the twentieth century—a fact attested to by contemporaneous newspaper articles discussing his work, his solo exhibitions at the famous Macbeth Gallery, and his ability to attract students from across the country (he taught at bothWoodstock and Colorado Springs by the end of his career). Carlson’s paintings and reputation as a dedicated teacher were so renowned, in fact, that Grumbacher Finest Artists’ Oil Colors once employed him as its spokesperson. As seen in a 1942 advertisement from American Artist ( fig.8 ) , the painter was lauded for his “prize winning landscapes,” his inspirational book Elementary Principles of Landscape Painting , and, of course, his use of Grumbacher Finest oil colors. — jlw Carlson’s works are found in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Metro- politan Museum of Art, Dallas Museum of Art, Maier Museum of Art, and San Diego Museum of Art. 1 John Fabian Carlson, quoted in E. W. Watson, “John F. Carlson,” American Artist 6 , no. 10 (December 1942 ): 13 . 2 CharlesWharton Stork, “To John F. Carlson,” American Scandinavian Review 36 (March 1948 ): 29 .