<p>A startling juxtaposition of images, <em>The Rock</em> depicts a shattered red rock resting on top of a base that is being demolished by workers below. Peter Blume labored for years to complete this painting, which was commissioned in 1939 by the Edgar Kaufmann family for Fallingwater, their Frank Lloyd Wright–designed home in Pennsylvania. Although the complex imagery resists easy interpretation, it may point to devastation and reconstruction, reflecting the turbulence of World War II and its aftermath. In the end, <em>The Rock</em> proved too large for Fallingwater and it was never displayed there.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1944
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 146.4 × 188.9 cm (57 5/8 × 74 3/8 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Peter Blume
Artist
Painting
Peter Blume was an American painter and sculptor. His work contained elements of folk art, Precisionism, Parisian Purism, Cubism, and Surrealism.
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More by Peter Blume
Two Sketches of a Nude Woman
1959 · Pen and black ink on white wove paper, tipped onto gray wove paper
Easter Island and Rana Raraku
1954 · Ink on paper on colored paper
Study for Excavation
1943 · Charcoal, with stumping, on cream wove paper, tipped onto tan wove paper
Study for The Rock
1943 · Charcoal, with stumping, on cream wove paper, tipped onto ivory wove paper
Study for The Rock
1943 · Charcoal, with stumping, on tan tracing paper
Study for The Rock
1943 · Charcoal, with traces of white gouache, on tan tracing paper
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Peter Blume
- Year
- 1944
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 146.4 × 188.9 cm (57 5/8 × 74 3/8 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1944-013657
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified