Spring Dance

Arthur F. Mathews, Spring Dance, ca. 1917, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David J. Carlson, 1982.126
Arthur F. Mathews, Spring Dance, ca. 1917, oil on canvas, 51 7847 58 in. (131.7121.0 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David J. Carlson, 1982.126
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Spring Dance
Date
ca. 1917
Dimensions
51 7847 58 in. (131.7121.0 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David J. Carlson
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Performing arts — dance
  • Performing arts — music — flute
  • Landscape — season — spring
  • Landscape — plain
  • Figure group
Object Number
1982.126

Artwork Description

Arthur Mathews led a group of progressive Californians who believed that fine art and design served the public good. After the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, he and his wife, Lucia, also a designer, led the effort to rebuild the city's fine public spaces. The pastoral scene in Spring Dance resembles civic-minded murals created for museums, libraries, and concert halls at the turn of the twentieth century. But Mathews had more on his mind than ancient Greece or Rome. His Arcadia is the luminous landscape of California, and the planes of color and the graceful postures of the dancers show the artist is looking across the Pacific to Japan. The ornate frame is a reproduction of the original. It repeats the colors in the painting, reflecting Mathews's commitment to designing furniture, art, and architecture to create an aesthetic whole.

Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006

Works by this artist (21 items)

Bently
Dateca. 1975
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Lee
Dateca. 1975
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Wood
gelatin silver print
Not on view
John Harding, Green, ca. 1975, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the National Endowment for the Arts, 1983.63.657, © 1978, John Harding
Green
Dateca. 1975
gelatin silver print
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

Bently
Dateca. 1975
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, Untitled, ca. 1945-1950, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Lewis and Jean Greenblatt, 2002.86.9
Untitled
Dateca. 1945-1950
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, Untitled, ca. 1945-1950, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Lewis and Jean Greenblatt, 2002.86.7
Untitled
Dateca. 1945-1950
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Jared French, Margaret French, PaJaMa, Paul Cadmus, PaJaMa (Box A), ca. 1937, gelatin silver prints, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Margaret French, 1999.98.5.16
PaJaMa (Box A)
Dateca. 1937
gelatin silver prints
Not on view