Floor plan

Style galleriesEarly modernism

Early modernism

The Sprout Lot, by J. Francis Murphy, 1915
Eddyville, by Samuel Halpert, 1917
Vibrant yellow, red, blue, and green painting of landscape with trees and mountains.
Shown from the knees up, a woman sits partially covered by a black cloth as she holds one forearm across her bare breasts in this vertical painting. The woman has pale, yellow-tinged skin and long, copper-red hair and bangs. Her body faces us, but she turns her head to look off to our right with large blue, wide-set eyes. Her cheeks are flushed, and her full, dark pink lips are closed. A strand of gradually larger amber-yellow beads hangs around her neck, and she wears a gold-colored bracelet on the arm braced across her chest, her left arm, to our right. Glimpses of pale pink nipples are visible. The voluminous black cloth drapes down over one shoulder and across her hips. She wears a ring on the other hand, which emerges from the cloth to rest on that knee. Piles of garnet red, peridot green, and forest green are piled up to chest height behind her, and the background is nickel gray around her body and darkens to black around the top and side edges. The scene is loosely painted, especially in the fabric and background. The artist signed the canvas in the lower left corner, “Geo. Bellows E.S.B.”
This painting depicts a group of men and women created by a collection of angular, geometric shapes with flat planes and blocks of color. One person is standing, and they appear to be a bare-chested man with tan skin and short, dark hair, who is wearing red shorts. He has his hand on his hip and looks off to the right. At his feet appear to be several seated people, although they are only partially visible. Three women with pale skin seem to be facing away from us; we can see their legs, arms, and torsos, although these don't all fit together. The woman on the left has blonde hair, the woman on the right has brown hair, and the woman between them has short black hair. None of their faces are visible. In the middle of this group, at the center of the painting, we see the face and hand of another person who is looking to the left. This person has light brown skin, and we can't see the rest of their body. Surrounding elements include a blue sky with abstract cloud forms, an angular tree on the left, and patches of brown, white, and green on the ground, with one red flower. A tan rectangle under a red triangle on the right edge suggests a building.
Alfred Henry Maurer

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

The first decades of the twentieth century, when artists broke with the academy.

Section 1, north wall

  1. The Sprout Lot, by J. Francis Murphy, 1915
    The Sprout LotJ. Francis Murphy, 1915Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  2. Eddyville, by Samuel Halpert, 1917
    EddyvilleSamuel Halpert, 1917Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. Vibrant yellow, red, blue, and green painting of landscape with trees and mountains.
    Landscape with Two PoplarsVasily Kandinsky, 1912Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 1, south wall

  1. Shown from the knees up, a woman sits partially covered by a black cloth as she holds one forearm across her bare breasts in this vertical painting. The woman has pale, yellow-tinged skin and long, copper-red hair and bangs. Her body faces us, but she turns her head to look off to our right with large blue, wide-set eyes. Her cheeks are flushed, and her full, dark pink lips are closed. A strand of gradually larger amber-yellow beads hangs around her neck, and she wears a gold-colored bracelet on the arm braced across her chest, her left arm, to our right. Glimpses of pale pink nipples are visible. The voluminous black cloth drapes down over one shoulder and across her hips. She wears a ring on the other hand, which emerges from the cloth to rest on that knee. Piles of garnet red, peridot green, and forest green are piled up to chest height behind her, and the background is nickel gray around her body and darkens to black around the top and side edges. The scene is loosely painted, especially in the fabric and background. The artist signed the canvas in the lower left corner, “Geo. Bellows E.S.B.”
    Nude with Red HairGeorge Bellows, 1920Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. This painting depicts a group of men and women created by a collection of angular, geometric shapes with flat planes and blocks of color. One person is standing, and they appear to be a bare-chested man with tan skin and short, dark hair, who is wearing red shorts. He has his hand on his hip and looks off to the right. At his feet appear to be several seated people, although they are only partially visible. Three women with pale skin seem to be facing away from us; we can see their legs, arms, and torsos, although these don't all fit together. The woman on the left has blonde hair, the woman on the right has brown hair, and the woman between them has short black hair. None of their faces are visible. In the middle of this group, at the center of the painting, we see the face and hand of another person who is looking to the left. This person has light brown skin, and we can't see the rest of their body. Surrounding elements include a blue sky with abstract cloud forms, an angular tree on the left, and patches of brown, white, and green on the ground, with one red flower. A tan rectangle under a red triangle on the right edge suggests a building.
    The BathersRoger de La Fresnaye, 1912Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. Alfred Henry Maurer
    Woman in BlackAlfred Henry Maurer, (c. 1904)Courtesy of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution

Section 2, south wall

  1. Mary, by Henry Ossawa Tanner, ca. 1914
    MaryHenry Ossawa Tanner, ca. 1914Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  2. Dark twilight scene of a a brightly illuminated white cottage along the shore of an expansive body of water, seen through a thick of silhouetted trees.
    Fisherman's CottageHarald Oscar Sohlberg, 1906Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. October Morning, by Frank A. Bicknell, ca. 1910
    October MorningFrank A. Bicknell, ca. 1910Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  4. Golden Star (Chrysogonum virginianum), by Mary Vaux Walcott, 1922
    Golden Star (Chrysogonum virginianum)Mary Vaux Walcott, 1922Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Section 2, north wall

  1. Head of a Young Girl, by Lucia Fairchild Fuller, ca. 1900
    Head of a Young GirlLucia Fairchild Fuller, ca. 1900Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  2. Sketch for Mosaic, Wisconsin State Capital, "Justice", by Kenyon Cox, ca. 1912
    Sketch for Mosaic, Wisconsin State Capital, "Justice"Kenyon Cox, ca. 1912Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  3. Two Gulls and Cliffs, by Louis M. Eilshemius, ca. 1913-1921
    Two Gulls and CliffsLouis M. Eilshemius, ca. 1913-1921Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  4. The Hill Field, by Arthur Wesley Dow, 1908-1910
    The Hill FieldArthur Wesley Dow, 1908-1910Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Section 3, north wall

  1. Hooded Warblers, study for book Concealing Coloration in the Animal Kingdom, by Gladys Thayer, ca. 1900-1909
    Hooded Warblers, study for book Concealing Coloration in the Animal KingdomGladys Thayer, ca. 1900-1909Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  2. Admiral Sir David Beatty, Lord Beatty, by Cecilia Beaux, ca. 1920
    Admiral Sir David Beatty, Lord BeattyCecilia Beaux, ca. 1920Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum