Title:
Half Dome of Yosemite
Creator/Contributor:
Sugimoto, Henry
Date:
ca. 1935
Identifier:
92.97.134
Format:
painting
oil on canvas
California
Inscription:
Written on back, top left center: Half Dome of Yosemite, 39" x 31"
Description:
Stretched and framed. View of Half Dome in Yosemite, with Merced (?) bridge. Half Dome looms up on right under cloudy sky.
In foreground, river flows under bridge past brown banks where trees of various types, including pine, grow and are reflected
in water.
Historical Note:
The conservative, closely framed composition, with expressive brushstrokes and thick application of paint, is typical of Sugimoto's
early period. The heavy sky and white and blue tones in the water are also common to Sugimoto's treatments of landscape and
natural subjects in this period. Flat applications of color, as in the pine trees at center left, tend toward abstraction.
As with other early landscapes, the question arises as to how much time Sugimoto spent working on composition in the studio
and how much time was spent outdoors painting or sketching. The choice of Yosemite's Half Dome points toward the artist's
interest in more sublime American landscapes for his early works (his renditions of Carmel and the Northern California coastline
date to the same period, for example), and begs comparison to Sugimoto's work with European landscapes.
Subject:
Yosemite, Calif.
Half Dome (Yosemite, Calif.)
Landscapes (representations)
Mountains
Rivers
Trees
Bridges