Monument Valley Plate

Mary Douglas, Monument Valley Plate, 1986, commercial copper plate, primer, oil paint, patina, and wax, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1998.113.1
Copied Mary Douglas, Monument Valley Plate, 1986, commercial copper plate, primer, oil paint, patina, and wax, 5⁄8 x 9 in. (1.6 x 22.9 cm) diam., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1998.113.1

Artwork Details

Title
Monument Valley Plate
Artist
Date
1986
Location
Dimensions
5⁄8 x 9 in. (1.6 x 22.9 cm) diam.
Credit Line
Gift of the artist
Mediums
Mediums Description
commercial copper plate, primer, oil paint, patina, and wax
Classifications
Keywords
  • Figure group
  • Travel — land — horse
  • Landscape — valley — Monument Valley
  • Equestrian
Object Number
1998.113.1
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1998.113.1

Artwork Description

Mary Douglas painted onto this copper plate an iconic scene of Utah’s Monument Valley, familiar to us from our schoolbooks and from the Hollywood Westerns that were filmed there. This and the other plates in the series were originally intended to sit together on a wall-mounted shelf, as households across the country often do with souvenir plates.