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Fern

  • Cleo Hartwig, Fern, 1981, stone, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Albert Glinsky, 1984.43

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Cleo Hartwig based Fern on the plant she remembered from her childhood in rural Michigan. In this piece she retained the texture and weightiness of the hard stone and stylized the individual fern fronds in order to express the plant’s formal beauty. Yet despite Fern’s abstracted appearance, the curled fronds suggest balled-up energy and the potential for growth. Indeed, the trio of leaves resembles a family group, in which the two taller “adult” fronds watch protectively over their “child.”

Title
Fern
Artist
Cleo Hartwig
Date
1981
On View
  1. Smithsonian American Art Museum
  2. 1st Floor
  3. North Wing
Dimensions
15 3/4 x 8 3/4 x 6 1/4 in. (40.0 x 22.2 x 15.9 cm.)
Copyright
Credit Line

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Gift of Albert Glinsky

Mediums
serpentine
Mediums Description
stone
Classifications
Sculpture
Keywords
  • Object – foliage – fern
Object Number
1984.43
Palette
Linked Open Data URI

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