Floor plan

Style galleriesEarly modernism

Early modernism

Hillside, by Edward Gay, 1908
Artist: Philip Alexius de László, Sitter: Clara Margaret Cook Kellogg, Current owner: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Artist: Marion H. Beckett, Sitter: Theresa Helburn, Current owner: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Shown from the lap up, a person with peach-colored skin sits facing us as he looks down and to our left in this vertical, stylized, portrait painting. The person’s clothing and features are outlined with thin black lines, and areas are filled in with mottled, streaked color painted with visible strokes. The person has a round face with a double chin and a small red mouth. The eyes are painted as slate-blue slivers under thin brows, one of which is cocked. The man’s short black hair is parted to one side and combed across the top of his head. He wears a white cravat tied at his neck under a rust-red jacket or shirt. Two rounded, muted blue forms below suggest crossed knees. The man’s right elbow rests next to his body, and that hand is near his lap. The background is painted with pecan brown on the left third and gray-blue on the right two-thirds.
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.”
In the Cascade Mountains, by Edward Bruce, 1931

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.

First room, north wall

  1. Hillside, by Edward Gay, 1908
    HillsideEdward Gay, 1908Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  2. Artist: Philip Alexius de László, Sitter: Clara Margaret Cook Kellogg, Current owner: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
    Clara Cook KelloggPhilip Alexius de László, 1929Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
  3. Artist: Marion H. Beckett, Sitter: Theresa Helburn, Current owner: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
    Theresa HelburnMarion H. Beckett, 1922Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

First room, south wall

  1. Shown from the lap up, a person with peach-colored skin sits facing us as he looks down and to our left in this vertical, stylized, portrait painting. The person’s clothing and features are outlined with thin black lines, and areas are filled in with mottled, streaked color painted with visible strokes. The person has a round face with a double chin and a small red mouth. The eyes are painted as slate-blue slivers under thin brows, one of which is cocked. The man’s short black hair is parted to one side and combed across the top of his head. He wears a white cravat tied at his neck under a rust-red jacket or shirt. Two rounded, muted blue forms below suggest crossed knees. The man’s right elbow rests next to his body, and that hand is near his lap. The background is painted with pecan brown on the left third and gray-blue on the right two-thirds.
    Monsieur DeleuAmedeo Modigliani, 1916Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. 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
  3. In the Cascade Mountains, by Edward Bruce, 1931
    In the Cascade MountainsEdward Bruce, 1931Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Second room, south wall

  1. Dutton Lumber Yard, by Thomas Weeks Barrett, 1942
    Dutton Lumber YardThomas Weeks Barrett, 1942Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  2. Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Wase, by George Bellows, 1924
    Mr. and Mrs. Phillip WaseGeorge Bellows, 1924Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  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

Second room, north wall

  1. Study in Rhythm: Red and Gold, by Joseph Schillinger, ca. 1934
    Study in Rhythm: Red and GoldJoseph Schillinger, ca. 1934Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  2. Eddyville, by Samuel Halpert, 1917
    EddyvilleSamuel Halpert, 1917Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. Study for mosaic in the Wisconsin State Capital "Government and Liberty", by Kenyon Cox, ca. 1912
    Study for mosaic in the Wisconsin State Capital "Government and Liberty"Kenyon Cox, ca. 1912Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  4. 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

Third room, north wall

  1. On the Beach, No. 3, by Maurice Prendergast, c. 1915–18
    On the Beach, No. 3Maurice Prendergast, c. 1915–18Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. Rhine at the Lurlei, by George Elbert Burr, 1900
    Rhine at the LurleiGeorge Elbert Burr, 1900Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  3. Shown from the lap up, a pale-skinned woman with an oval face and long neck sits facing us in this vertical painting. The portrait is created with areas of mottled colors outlined with black lines. Her body faces us, and she looks out with pale blue eyes, the irises almost white. Her thin eyebrows slope down the sides and her small, dark peach lips are closed. Golden-orange hair is piled atop her head and a few bangs fall onto her high forehead. Black oval earrings hang from her lobes. Her shoulders also slope unnaturally down. Her mint-green shirt has a scooped neckline and elbow-length sleeves, and it appears to be tucked into a brown skirt or pants. The background is honey orange in the top left quadrant, amber brown in the lower left, and a russet brown door with windows across the top fills the right half. The artist signed the top right corner, “modigliani.”
    Girl in a Green BlouseAmedeo Modigliani, 1917Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington