The Real Inside Story

Roy De Forest, The Real Inside Story, 1973, acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.89
Roy De Forest, The Real Inside Story, 1973, acrylic on canvas, 6672 18 in. (167.5183.2 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.89

Artwork Details

Title
The Real Inside Story
Date
1973
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
6672 18 in. (167.5183.2 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation
Mediums
Mediums Description
acrylic on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Animal — horse
  • Animal — dog
  • Figure — head
  • Landscape — tree
Object Number
1986.6.89

Artwork Description

In the early 1960s, De Forest turned from making scrap metal constructions and abstract paintings to works in which animals, totemic images, and fantastical beings engage us with storytelling and game playing. In The Real Inside Story, cutaway walls conflate inside and outside worlds, and animals and humans seem both toylike and symbolic. De Forest called art “one of the last strongholds of magic” and described his richly colored and textured fantasy worlds as “unknowable [though] hauntingly familiar.”


Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection, 2014

Works by this artist (4 items)

Charles White, The Children, 1950, ink and graphite on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Julie Seitzman and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2009.13
The Children
Date1950
ink and graphite on paper
Not on view
Charles White, Love Letter, 1971, color lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of June Wayne, 1991.179.14, © 1971, Heritage Gallery, Los Angeles
Love Letter
Date1971
color lithograph on paper
Not on view
Charles White, Love Letter, 1971, color lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of June Wayne, 1991.179.15, © 1971, Heritage Gallery, Los Angeles
Love Letter
Date1971
color lithograph on paper
Not on view
Charles White, Hasty B, 1970, lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1979.155.1
Hasty B
Date1970
lithograph on paper
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

Lee Godie, To the Dynamic Sarlo (Woman in Red with Decorated Hat), 1960s, oil and acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1997.124.22
To the Dynamic Sarlo (Woman in Red with Decorated Hat)
Date1960s
oil and acrylic on canvas
Not on view
Barry Dalgleish, Interior with Trunk, 1984, acrylic and oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.84.2
Interior with Trunk
Date1984
acrylic and oil on canvas
Not on view
Stanley Edwards, Infant in Altar IV, 1965, oil and acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1980.137.24
Infant in Altar IV
Date1965
oil and acrylic on canvas
Not on view