Self-Portrait, 1915 Onthe cover: The Back Street, Provincetown,1917

Foreword

Ross Moffett was an important figure in the development of modernism in American Art after World War I. For over half a century he lived and worked in Provincetownon Cape Cod, painting its beaches and harbors, its fish- ing vessels, and its people. With the general reexamination of American painting of the period between the wars, it is now time fo r a retrospective study of the role of Ross Moffett.

The Worcester Art Museum is greatly indebted to Josephine Del Deo for this exhibi- tion and the catalogue which accompanies it. Recognizing the significance of Ross Moffett's work, she has written a very personal and illuminating testament to the artist. We also appreciate the generous assistance of the artist's widow, Moffett, and oth er members of his family in making available a number of key works in this exhibition.

Richard Stuart Teitz Director Worcester Art Museum ~------~ Acknowledgments

A Ross Moffett retrospective would not have And to: Vaclav Vytlacil, Bruce McKain, To the Director of the Worcester Art Museum, become a reality without the patience, Henry R. Sutter,Alice Boogar and John Richard StuartTeitzi Dagmar Reutlinger, and constant encouragement of Dorothy Lake Worthington Gregory, my sincere thanks for Curator of the Collectioni Leon Shulman, Gregory Moffett. information and reminiscences provided . .. . former Curator of Contemporary Arti James Welu, Assistant Curatori Jean Connor, Head Nor would it have been implemented without For their personal attention and superior of PublicRelations and Publications, for their the artistic guidance and complete dedication craftsmanship in the framing of the majority enthusiastic undertaking of the Ross Moffett of my husband, Salvatore A. Del Deo. of the paintings and all of the monotypes in retrospective andto the staff of the Museum this exhibition, I would like to thank: for accomplishing the task of the exhibition I wish to express my deepest gratitude to Chet Pfeiffer,The Artisan Shop,Provincetown my most heartfelt gratitude .... Edwin W . Dickinson for his invaluable Robert Vaccaro, The Taylor Gallery, contribution of recollections and insights from Provincetown This catalogue is lovingly dedicated to my a lifelong friendship with Ross Moffett, and to mother, OsmaGallinger Tod Frances Dickinson for her warm hospitality I am indebted to the following museums and and helpful suggestions. institutions which have made available to me much needed material for the documentation To George Yater for his care in photographing of Ross Moffett's career: the works represented in this catalogue, and Albright Knox Galleryi The Art Institute of for his great accommodation in the Chicagoi The Brooklyn Museumi Museum photography of many paintings and mono- of Art, Carnegie Institutei Corcoran Gallery of types over a three-year period, my most honest Arti The Detroit Institute of Artsi thanks ... . PennsylvaniaAcademy of the Fine Artsi National Academy of Designi Miami To those whose assistance at various times has Universityi Museum of Art, Rhode Island been of inestimable importance to me: Schoolof Designi University of Kansas Robert Brown, Director of the New England Museum of Arti Nebraska Art Association, Office,Archives of American Art SheldonMemorial Art Gallery .... Murray M. Wax, Director of the ProvincetownGroup Gallery The following private owners have generously Marston Hodgin loaned paintings for this retrospective: Mr. and Mrs. Charles Edward Eaton Dr. Henry Fogelman, lone and Hudson Miss Faye Moffett, sister of the artist Walker, Joseph Acker, Clarence M. Davis, Clarence M . Davis, cousin of the artist, Captain Jack Papetsas,The Town of my deep appreciation. . . . Provincetownand ProvincetownArt Association. Josephine Couch Del Deo February 12, I 975 Ross Moffett 1888-1971

There is a part of us that has disappeared into tically, gallops, staunchly pulls and strains, As Edwin Dickinson, a fellow student, said in the recent past with a certain exquisite regret, runs free through his canvases with an eternal reviewing Ross's attitude toward Hawthorne, the regret of a people for the unlimited plain, verismo of form. His horses are "theHorse" "Onedoes not have doubts about a man who the wild water and the undiminished vigor of And his people too are thepeopleFrom the has shown himself to be above expectations" men who could, as a regular routine, harness earliest significant paintings, beginning in But the teacher and his pupil must part at eighteen head of horses to plow a thousand- 1917, the unques onable stamp of his char- some logical junction of the spiritual and acre farm. The legend of a superior life force acter and interpre tion is one of the classic artistic journey, and Moffett soon began to once experienced by Americans will remain portrayal of "man 'The figures exist as pursue his own direction with a burst of part of us, but will never again be the reality monumental forms posed timelessly in atti- energy and an outpouring of painting. of our daily lives. Those men who lived in a tudes of human endeavor. They do not illus- period, now so seemingly remote in time and trate the spiritual life of the painter; they are These paintings, dating roughly from the yet so near to us, will be increasingly cher- the spiritual embodiment of the man. period 1915 to 1923, show an enormous ished. Oneman is not apart from his epoch, vitality coupled with a rapid growth of tech- and so. Ross Moffett's career bears out the Ross Moffett came from the Iowa farm with as nique. It is evident from the two portraits done sturdy rhythm and necessary simplicity of a much directness and evenness of purpose as an in Clearfield in 1915, one a strong, straight- tempo of life we cannot hope to duplicate. Try ear of corn. He was unswerving in his desire to forward self-portrait and the other a to imagine a contemporary painter calmly paint, and in 1908began to study under John remarkably sensitive and beautifully painted contemplating his future while homesteading Vanderpool and Harry Wallcott at The Art head of his father, James Warren Moffett, that land in SouthDakota with no companions Institute of Chicago. Whatever chance led him Charles Hawthorne's teaching had already other than a Martin rifle and several of the East, we may assume that the flow of artistic significantly influenced the young painter. "classics."Onlyin the earlier days of genius from the western part of the country Hawthorne's basic principle, the direct color American painting were a man's ambitions to the eastern seaboard was general at that statement to delineate form, had been success- equally subject to that kind of physical intru- time. There were others: John Noble, some- fully put to work. But even then, there was a sion and isolation. what earlier, Vaclav Vytlacil, Henry Sutter, control and interpretation far beyond the Karl Knaths and many more. The East offered typical Hawthorne student's study. The Ross Moffett as an Iowa farm boy observed the the brighter atmosphere of the painting world. father's eyes have a watery sadness through necessities of rural life and filial obedience. which an infirmity of body contrasts with the What determination by peculiar artistic And so, at the time Charles W. Hawthorne gentle strength of the features. The projection sensibilities, however, enabled him to grow up had begun to surround himself with a glory of patient, inner suffering isexpressed very so keenly responsive to the abundant natural still lingering in Provincetowntoday, Ross clearly. We see the same expression in the wonder around him and yet completely Moffett moved into this circle of light with "Portraitof Mrs. Edith Mahon"by unresponsive to the idea of farming as a way of primary attributes which were to receive Thomas Eakins. life is a recurring phenomenon. Doing farm stimulation and refinement from Hawthorne. chores on horseback, for instance, he learned Moffett viewed Hawthorne's teaching from The sojourn with his family in Clearfield had what the horse was in every physical and his own strongly individual vantage point, been enforced by a lack of funds for living in spiritualsense, and that "horse"steps majes- although he accepted it with natural respect. Provincetownduring the winter of 1915. When Ross again returned to Provincetown up to that moment. So I began and hurriedly mood and stark poetry that paralleled the work late in 1915, he rented studio number one at completed a small canvas from which I had of another artist expressing a similar taut and Days' Lumber Yard which he occupied for the discarded all drawing from actually present dramatic concept, the Norwegian Edvard following two years. Edwin Dickinson lived objects. Eliminated also were bright, high- Munch. Ofthe paintings from this period, next door during most of this period in studio keyed colors, and all representation of sun- "The Back Street, Provincetown," "Cape Cod number two. They shared models, ideas and light, with the consequent cutting up of the Evening," "The Gossips," and two life in general. Ross's head is centrally prom- picture with cast shadows. I invented and works depicting symbolic figures in dark blues inent in Dickinson's painting of "The placed shapes instinctively, without premedi- and blacks, which dominate a winter land- Anniversary," and his painting "Mayme tation. The result was a low-keyed canvas, scape with mystic solemnity, are the outstand- Noones in Moffett's Studio" portrays one of produced largely by intuition. While it was ing examples. Photographs exist of a number their most frequently shared models, the hand- perhaps not much of an art work and I did not of other large paintings done in this period. some Mayme Noones. Another favorite who keep it, I at once realized that, good or bad, I They are equally compelling and enigmatic in often posed for them was the old Coast Guard had produced a picture that was not a reflec- reproduction, but their whereabouts are hero, Ben PotAtkins. Ross used Ben Atkins in tion of Hawthorne, nor of other teachers with unknown. The sheer painting power of the his painting of "The OldFisherman," whom I had been associated .... forms and color Moffett used in these paint- which won the First JuliusHallgarten Prize ings seems to have been his most forceful at the National Academy of Design in 1921, "I continued working, endeavoring to mine statement about man and his fate. It is, more- and in several early canvases of that period the vein I had uncovered. My subject was life over, expressed as only a painter can express it such as "The Portuguese Family of Cape Cod." in Provincetown as I observed it visually without loss to rhetoric. Few American In the foreword to Moffett's Autobiographical during my many walks in th town, particu- painters so successfully incorporated the figure Notes, Dickinson reveals in several intimate larly in the west section wher he Portuguese in a landscape as Ross Moffett. Unlikehis recollections his admiration and his bond with flavor was especially manifest. egarded this teacher, Charles Hawthorne, who preferred to Ross: "I was very happy during a long group as proletarian, at least as a working think of the landscape as a background behind intimacy, not over every branch of the things class, and from that it was, I thought, not too the model, Moffett early understood the nega- men think of, but a great deal- the thing to difficult to connect them with farmers who tive space of the canvas and stressed the speak about, the thing for me to speak about is also were involved with manual labor. I had, overall two-dimensional aspect of the surface a man whom I loved and admired- I say I suppose, by this time acquired a slant towards plane. In this, he incorporated the patterning loved, that's not the word, but let's let it go. socialism, what with the war coming on and of the early Italian masters as well as the I lived in the next studio to him quite a while." my reading of Thoreau and Tolstoy." "modernists." The paintings which grew out of this revela- The turning point for Moffett came in 1916. tion were unlike anything in American art At the same time that his statement about the He says of that moment in his autobiography: that preceded them and, I believe, unlike any- world of the sea and its people was reaching a "It was in the spring of 1916 that painting one thing that has been done since. Extemporizing great intensity in the medium of oil painting, afternoon in my studio, the thought came to his statement about life through the virtuoso it was also spreading out into two other media, me to try something radically different from handling of the figure in a landscape, Moffett etching and the monotype. The etchings of the more or less studio work I had been doing portrayed a world of bleak strength, fateful 1914-1919 that we have are certa"nly true poetic expressions. The Portuguesefisherman the accompanying monotypes also took on a studied in NewYork under the famous teacher and his environment are conceived insepar- richness and powerful rhythmic design. The and leader TheEightRobert Henri. She ably, landscape and figure undulating together Impertinent Questionand a monotype in had earlier ttended PrattInstitute, foregoing in a total texture. Like Chagall, he caught the which Deathlargely concealed on a horse, college to pursue a promising art career. While same rhythmic pulse of the two blended as looms behind the foreground figure of an old still in her teens Dorothy toured Europe with one. "BackStreet, Provincetown"New man repeat the strong and symbolic motifs of her father, Grant Gregory, an editor and England Graveyard""FishHouses"and his oils and drawings. But there were others journalist, and the son of the founder and first BoatYard"are all of a similar organic con- that revealed the always-present humor just president of the Universityof Illinois, John ception, and it is unfortunate that Ross beneath his sober . Evelyn Marie Milton Gregory. This trip broadened and Moffett made no extensive use of etching as a Stuart, an art critic, referred to these tragi- deepened her artistic propensities. A further medium. His wife Dorothy estimates that he comic monotypes as awell-spoken jest inspiration to Dorothy was her aunt, Helen made very few plates during his long career. TheBeggar and the UncharitableLady Gregory, who had studied painting with Onlyfive etchings are extant at the time of acquired by the Universityof Kansas is a Whistler at a time when women were gen- this writing. typical example of the JestThe monotypes erally not welcome as serious participants in represented a rather reliable source of income the art world. The combination of a distin- There are also a few surviving drawings from over the years and were widely exhibited and guished heritage and a fine talent, which the year 1916 which are unusual and should sold. Dorothy's father had wisely stimulated, more be mentioned as a corollary expression of the than equipped her for study with Charles kind of philosophical commentary inherent in The evolution of this period took a short six Hawthorne when she came to Provincetown the oil paintings of that date. "TheHanging of or seven years. His work was now accepted in for the first time in 1914. She did not come Duncan Jop"APtiestwith Two Dwarfs major American institutions of art, most again for five years, but when she did, in 1919, and the untitled drawing of hooded figures notably the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine the trip was to prove fateful for both artists. with trees are morbidly evocative. Arts, the National Academy of Design, The Ross came calling upon Dorothy wearing a hat Art Institute of Chicago and the Carnegie and behaving in a grave and gentlemanly A steady but limited production of monotypes, Institute. His successes followed closely upon manner that was in distinct contrast to the on the other hand, accompanied his oil paint- each other: The Norman Wait Harris Medal in unbridled life style of many of the town's ing until 1950The earliest, dating from 1916, 1918 from The Art Institut.e of Chicago, the Bohemian inhabitants. This impressed her are full of air and light, their suggestive figures First Julius Hallgarten Prizeat the National and increased her interest in the painter whose again designed expertly in the landscape. Academy in 1921 and Honorable Mention at reputation as the younglionof the art Watchingthe BathersOnthe Beachand the Carnegie Institute in 1921. colony was well known. TheRed Parasolplus several which are untitled depicting women and children in In 1918 the First World War briefly interrupted Ross sought Dorothy out with a determination pleasant gambol on the shore are choice his career while he served a few months in the that was very characteristic. When they parted examples of the style he first employed in this army. Shortly after his return Ross Moffett in the fall of 1919, she returned to her home in medium. As his technique in oil began to married Dorothy Lake Gregory in 1920 Brooklyn only to find that her father firmly assume a darker quality in the early twenties, Dorothy Gregory was an artist herself, having refused to approve a marriage until the spring. He confidently expected this stipulation to themselves somewhat more quietly in the almost religious dignity. Moffett invests the end the affair. But Ross Moffett proved with landscape. Such a painting as Returnfrom figures of the fishermen and their families stubborn sincerity the seriousness of his intent the Marshes"reflects a pastoral sense of man with the solemn grace of court attendants by a vigorous letter-writing courtship through- in harmony with nature. "Edgeof the Dunes" watching the discovery of the TrueCross out the winter months and arrived for PlowingAmid the Dunes""returnfrom Dorothy's hand at the appointed time the Church ""Cattleon the Moors " Winter France also provided inspiration at this time, following spring. They were married quite Harvest ShankPainterPondand two and many small critiques in French of the simply in Brooklyn with no relatives attend- paintings of the never-ending tragedies of "modernists"entered Ross's art library. Works ing except her father. Dorothy's mother had Cape Cod's outer beach, TheWreck of the he had acquired included studies on Derain, passed away when she and her younger Thislemore"and "BurningSchooner,"are Cezanne, Braque, PicassoLeger,Marcousis brother, John, were still very young children. full of a rhythm of life which expresses strong and Albert Gleizes, whose influence was but contained drama. brought directly to Provincetownthrough one The beginning days of Ross and Dorothy's of his students, E. Ambrose Webster. From the marriage in Provincetownexpressed a Most significant of the paintings done at this beginning Ross had recognized the genius of spiritually compatible union which never time was PlantingPotatoes,"a large painting Cezanne, when, in 1913, he saw the "Woman changed in character through fifty years of of local Portuguesewomen in a classic pose. with Rosaryin the Chicago Armory Show. marriage. Their firststudio was the old shirt Like the elemental motif of Millet, women The influence of Cezanne, and later of Braque, factory on Court Street used previously by the aredepicted bent in a simple agrarian task, but Picassoand also of Legercertainly made them- marine painter, William F. Halsall, whose the total organization of the canvas is strongly selves felt in the works which fall roughly huge canvas of the battleship Oregongoing cubistic in construction and richly stated between 1925 and 1935. Without doubt, this around the Horn in 1898 was a landmark to coloristically. It is a landmark painting. was one of the high points of his career, a ten- local residents. The rather immense space of year span in which experimentation, mastery the shirt factory was warmed only by a laundry The Moffetts traveled to Europe shortly after of the medium and complete surety reached stove which served the double purpose of they were married. They toured Italy, France full expression. The large painting GullHill cooking breakfast and heating thet building. and Holland, spending the larger portion of is a striking example of his achievements at Dorothy tells of going to the studio early each their time in Italy. Ross loved Florence, which this time. morning with a fresh loaf of Portuguesebread was to him the ideal city. He returned to it under her arm and toasting it on top of the several times during their stay to study the In 1930as recognition of his place as one of stove. This pleasant ritual began each painting works of the Renaissance masters, especially the foremost modernists in America, he was day. those of Masaccio. Although the influence of chosen to serve on the jury of the Carnegie Masaccio and of the Italian masters in general International together with Henri Matisse, The organization of a canvas now occupied is clearly evident in Moffett's work, the dis- Glyn Philpot,Horatio Walker, Karl Sterrer, Moffett more and more, and the strong position of his figures most closely resembles Bernard Karfiol and Homer St. Gaudens. It tensions of his earlier paintings were gradually that of Pierodella Francesca. The serene com- was a show that Forbes Watson described in brought into a tempered pattern. The figures, posure of MantaWharffor instance, depicts the November, 1930issue of The Arts as the still arranged as monumental forms, composed a scene of the working world with austere, best in a continually improving succession of Carnegie Internationals. In this exhibition, certain things will break for us soon. Work could possibly allocate. The purpose of the Moffett showed three canvases: "The with as much individuality as yours always program, however, was to keep the artists alive Eclipse/' a thoroughly atmospheric painting in seems to have a struggle . . .. " The "struggle" and productive, and thisit did rather success- close values of a low key that subtly evokes a was real enough, and it began in earnest as the fully. What it did to iAmerica is still an mysterious moodi "RedDory"a forthright new decade got underway. The Depression unresolved question. statement on the dory fisherman, now owned broke in upon Ross's career at full flood tide, as by the Nebraska Art Association (a more it did upon many of his contemporaries. The Oneof the more positive benefits of the pro- ambitious canvas using a similar subject growth of the American painter stimulated gram, however, was the full participation of entitled "theCod Fishermanhad won for by the impact of European painting had now the major art institutions in the country, a Moffett in 1927 the French Gold Medal at The gradually slowed. Industrialism's profound participation, not only of exhibiting the Chicago Art Institute) i and TheConquest of effect on American art and literature in gen- works of American artists on a grand scale, Mexico"an intensely beautiful and intri- eral had been making itself felt for some time. but of purchasing outright many works of art. cately conceived abstract canvas in a very high Regional painting came into official favor with The Worcester Art Museum, for instance, key. A related painting, "LostCity in the the WPA years and the prompting of the launched an ambitious exhibition of Andeswas painted the year before in 1929 Federal Arts Project. Almost every major American painters called American Painting and uses an identical compositional approach painter in America, and many lesser ones, of Today, which was intended to fill the gap -piling the center plane while at the same were incorporated in this program, or fell in left by the discontinuation of the Carnegie time tipping it up and forward, thus creating a some way under its influence. The murals and International in 1933. Francis Henry Taylor, powerful design thrust. Both paintings were easel paintings done for federal buildings and the distinguished director of the Museum at inspired by the report of Professor Hiram state municipal buildings proliferated that time, wrote of the exhibition in Bingham on the Peruvian Expedition of 1912. everywhere. December, 1933: "Nosingle class, perhaps, has A third related painting, PrisonRiotagain suffered in the past four years from the successfully reworks this composition, incor- Ross Moffett did four murals at this time: Depression to the extent that has the artist in porating figures instead of the memorabilia of three in the post offices of Revere, Holyoke America .... The hardships which he has conquest. and Somerville, Massachusetts, and one for borne during the past few years have had, the Provincetown Town Hall. He also did a however, a sobering and reflective effect upon The Frank Rehn Gallery handled Moffett's prodigious amount of easel painting under the his art... . The economic restrictions imposed work until approximately 1940He sold sponsorship of the WPA. Oneof these from without have taught him the importance numerous paintings during their long associa- paintings was chosen by Franklin Roosevelt of sincerity and to recognize the beauty of his tion, but in a letter dated June, 1929, Rehn to hang for a time in the White House Office native environment. Thus a new and vital touchingly offered his apology for the less building. But the ultimate fate of many WPA feeling is abroad in American painting of popular success of Ross's work than that of paintings is unknown. It is more than a sur- today .... But the artist of the twentieth other painters exhibiting with the gallery at mise that hundreds of canvases were rolled century may create the 'art of museums' only the time: "Iam thoroughly sorry that we have and burned or used for rags after the Arts if the museums continue to encourage him. A not had better luck this past season, but I am Project had produced much more art than it traditional recognition of these responsibilities has led the Trustees to hold this year an ing microscope. The imaginative organization was enormous and the momentum of his work exhibition of American paintingTaylor's of form brought to the medium based on both influenced his outlooks, of course, but in the remarks initiated the central theme echoed by archaeological and artistic considerations is area of his art, it nevertook charge"as many art officials and institutions across the exciting, and is a direction that was expressed Dickinson pointed out. country. later in such oils as WinterQuarters,"where a compact juxtaposition of interlocking shapes The combination of scientific method and The economic crisis of the thirties was quickly is magnificently knit together. At this time artistic insight is unique in men like Moffett. replaced by the crisis of the Second World War Ross's work was being handled in New York It comes in a direct line from artists such as in the forties. The five years between 1940and by the Milch Galleries, but there is little Charles Willson Pealewhose enthusiasms in 1945 were not happy ones for Moffett. correspondence to show the success of this the field of natural science did not diminish Although he was elected to full membership connection. his artistic achievements and led to the found in the National Academy of Design in 1942, ing of both the Pennsylvania Academy of the his painting slowed considerably during this A regeneration of his oil painting began in Fine Arts and a museum of natural history. period. In the absence of outside support for 1950 characterized by a serene but complex Those elements of creative achievement and the art community in Provincetown, Ross took delineation of form and color executed in an scientific curiosity which Pealedisplayed up the responsibility of its major organ of extremely controlled manner. The structuring throughout his long life, and which were most expression since 1914, the Provincetown Art of his forms at times reflected a preoccupation happily balanced in the Renaissance man, Association. The Art Association was then at with the science of archaeology, which had have been in continuing, if limited, evidence its lowest ebb andhe, rather single-handedly, been an avocation since the thirties. The in the American character since Jefferson's maintained s functioning for the two or three marriage of the two interests, painting and time. Emerson, when he delivered his lecture years until tH war ended. In 1945 and 1946 he archaeology, was best reflected in a classic still on TheAmerican SCholar"at Cambridge in secured a teaching position at Miami life done in 1935 entitled "Artist's Geology 1837, described a scholar as man in his most University in Oxford, Ohiothrough the kind Lessonor TheStones of Cape CodAs time noble and liberated state: "Ihave now spoken offices of his friend Marston Hodgin, also a went by his research at sites and diggings on of the education of the scholar by nature, by painter and head of the Department of Fine the Lower Cape became more extensive. books and by action. It remains to say some- Arts there. But he really disliked teaching, and Correspondence with the RobertS. Peabody what of his duties. They are such as become only taught for the economic well-being of his Foundation at Andover, Massachusetts, The Man Thinking .... The scholar is that man wife and two children, Elizabeth and Alan. Massachusetts Archaeology Society and who must take up unto himself all the ability Some of the most interesting examples of his Harvard University's Peabody Museum, and of the time, all the contributions of the past, work during this period are his monotypes, as many other archaeological institutions is all the hopes of the future"Ross Moffett fits a large show of them in 1941 at the Corcoran voluminous. Moffett delivered lectures and that definition; he was painter, historian, Gallery in Washington, D . C.would indicate. prepared collections of findings in conjunction scientist and a true lover of nature, and he was A whole series of stunning monotypes in this with numerous archaeological theses and a man of action when principle demanded it. period shows the abstract complexities of papers. The work in this area alone would have As he was first and last an artist, his view of various rock crystals as seen through a polariz- fully occupied most men. But Ross's energy science was reflected through a humanist nature. He hadthoroughly absorbed the the country have been carrying pictures of the tear down a splendid hill. We observe that our message inherent in Santayana's Life of Eisenhower murals, and we have been very historic places are being immersed in an Reason and he understood the total reaches of proud of you and have not been a particle atmosphere of neon signs and hanky-tonk. If the creative spirit. reluctant to claim relationship. Apparently this transformation is to be halted, if any part they havebeen well received, and you are to of the original and desirable character of Cape From 1951 to 1953, Moffett produced a series be congratulated, not only on having been Cod is to be preserved, it will be, in my opin- of three paintings entitled "Landslideat chosen for the honor, but on the way in which ion, through our general Government." Highland LightThe analysis of geological it has been carried out"The murals had strata inspired a powerful rendition of earth seemed to absorb his painting energy for the From this moment on Ross threw his whole forms in arrested change. The same years saw remainder of that decade. He was now energies into the fight to establish The National him paint a complicated work of abstract seventy-two. The world was changing at a Seashore. He was a sober polemicist and he interlocking shapes in an atmospheric canvas very rapid rate. did not become aroused easily, but the called WinterQuartersAnd the painting of thoroughness with which he covered his a grey scene, Winterin Wellfleet,painted The Cape, and Provincetown in particular, subject and the weight of his opinions made somewhat earlier, won for him the Edwin which he loved so much, were experiencing more convincing by long association with Palmer Memorial Prize at the National pressures of commercial exploitation and ill- archaeological research, led the fight to save Academy and was included in The considered expansion. The Cape Cod National 1400acres of the Province Lands, a huge tract Metropolitan Museum of Art's comprehen- Seashore had been proposed as early as 1958, of virgin land untouched since its original sive exhibition of AmericanPainting Today and in 1959, full-scale hearings began on the deeding from the Indians in 1624. Joined as I in 1950. feasibility of establishing a National Park on was to this fight, the exceptional veracity of America's fragile outpost. In December, 1959, Ross's character and the logic of his analysis In 1954, the National Academy of Design Ross presented a statement to the Con- left a lasting impression upori me. He chose two painters to complete murals depict- gressional Subcommittee on Public Lands possessed a superior mind combined with a ing President Dwight D. Eisenhower's life for holding hearings in Eastham, Massachusetts. profoundly sensitive nature and he was able The Eisenhower Memorial Museum in It shows his willing recognition of the dangers to incorporate principles in the local arena of Abilene, Kansas. Moffett was chosen to threatening an area of rare natural beauty. politics with the calm absorption he had portray Eisenhower's civilian life and Louis "Ido not, therefore, feel alone when I say that always brought to his art. The ultimate Bouche to illustrate the military. This com- I am greatly disturbed to see the beautiful and success of his efforts is a conservation mission required two years of research and traditional Cape Cod I have known so long achievement which cannot be overestimated. painting. When it was done and the murals being transformed through unregulated mounted, they were extremely well received. commercialism. We find that the interests of A year after the Province Lands weretotally A letter from Clarence Davis, Ross's first real estate expansion and the interests of incorporated in The National Seashore and cousin and then UnderSecretary of the conservation do not often coincide. We dis- the Park established Ross Moffett underwent Interior, dated November, 1956, expresses the cover that already some of our beaches are surgery for cancer. This left him unable to general reaction of official Washington and of denied for bathing and fishing. We see that paint during a rather long recuperation. He the country as a whole: Thepapers all over one man with a bulldozer can in a few hours did, however, build a studio as an addition to his home in 1964in anticipation of better able paintings in the winter of 1968, "Eroded ancestry. Ross Moffett expressed what we health, and it was here that he began to take Shore"and "provincetownWinter"The excerpt from our sense of history as up his work again. The introduction of first was a labyrinth of mangrove roots coiled "American"Defining it limits the totality of acrylics was a new experience for him, and in on Florida sand. Peculiarly chilling because of meaning, but recognizing it has become a keeping with his natural curiosity and love of its snake-like shapes, it had the same disposi- knowing ritual among us all. experimentation, he began to incorporate their tion of interlacing abstract forms that marked use in his wo.rk, especially on trips to Florida his paintings from the fifties on. The latter during the winters in the late sixties. But painting leaves nothing else to tell of a town Florida never yielded its heart to him as did which is essentially a stage. The dissolution Provincetown and the Cape. Neither, wrought by time and abuse is gently portrayed strangely enough, had the mid-western as a sure, beautifully controlled satire in his interior of the country on the few occasions of mature style. his residency there. In 1969 he painted a heron lifting in flight An added stimulation to his painting in this from the shore of Pilgrim Lake at Province- same year came from the organization of a town's edge. In the background the rolling cooperative gallery known as the Province- dunes stretch out in formal design. The sky is town Group Gallery. Ross served as one of the full of huge, sweeping blue wings- a founding directors of :TheGroup"and the dominance of gulls. It is a very strong painting gallery subsequently filled a growing demand for a man of eighty-one and it was his last. for works of Provincetown painters of high Ross Moffett died on March 13, 1971. Four artistic standards. The publication of Ross days earlier, Karl Knaths passed away. Edwin Moffett's history of the Provincetown Art Dickinson alone remains of the three friends Association, Art in Narrow Streets, came in and contemporaries who had lived and 1964. The book, begun in 1957, covered the painted for more than half a century in activities of the Art Association from 1914 to Provincetown. Thus a Goldeday"in 1947 and was carefully researched. Unlike American painting history had come to an similar documents that are catalogic in char- end. acter, it was written with a sense for fascinat- ing detail and personal insights that make The tall, lean Scotch-Irish farm boy, con- excellent reading. cealing a refined sensitivity, painted from the beginning with all the certainty of a found Ross Moffett's life was now drawing to a close. love. His career began in the fertile abundance Still he continued to reflect on the problems of of the West, but achieved its full growth in the his art and to work. As a culmination of this glacial repose of the East. It revealed a life Josephine Couch Del Deo period of productivi.ty, he painted two remark- force such as we ascribe to our common Provincetown, Massachusetts Paintings

Measurements are in inches, height preceding width. The works are oil on canvas, unless stated otherwise.

1. A Street Scene, Provincetown, 1915 11. Winter from the Shirt Factory Studio, 1920 21. Proper Bostonians, 1928 30x36 24x34 12x 17 Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett Elizabeth Moffett Johnson Karen Johnson 2. Self-Portrait, 1915 12. Wreck in the Ice, 1920 22. Los t City in the Andes, 1929 28x20 36x46 20x30 Elizabeth Moffett Johnson Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett Josephine and Salvatore Del Deo 3. Portrait of Jam es Warren Moffett, 1915 13. Untitled(figures, goose, snow), c. 1923 23. Gull Hill, 1929 24 1/2 x20 36x 46 48 x60 Elizabeth Moffett Johnson Josephine and Salvatore Del Deo Elizabeth Moffett Johnson 4. Ice in the Harbor, 1917 14. Return from Church, c. 1923 24. N et Menders, 1929 40x50 16x20 24x36 Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett Clarence M . Davis Alan W. Moffett 5. The Back Street, Provincetown, 1917 15. Self-Portrait1920-24 25. The Castle, 1929 40x50 46x36 16 X 24 Provincetown Art Association; gift of the artist Alan W. Moffett Karen Johnson 6. The Gossips, 1917 16. Shank Painter Pond,1925 26. Conques t of Mexico, 1930 26x30 30x40 24x30 Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett Town of Provincetown; gift of the artist Richard Johnson 7. Winter Afternoon, 1917 17. Untitled(portrait of a young man), c. 1924 27. untitled(boatyard I) , 1930 36x46 26x22 24x36 Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett Elizabeth Moffett Johnson Alan W. Moffett 8. New England Graveyard, 1918 18. Wrecked Schooners, 1927 28. Untitled(boatyard II), 1930 40x50 20x30 24 x36 Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett Josephine and Salvatore Del Deo Karen Johnson 9. The OldFisherman, 1918 19. Manta Wharf, 1927 29. Prison Riot, c. 1930 50x40 30x40 20 x 28 Elizabeth Moffett Johnson Dr. Henry Fogelman Karen Johnson 10. Dune Farm, 1919 20. The Eclipse, 1927 30. Unitled(still life), c. 1932 34x40 20x30 22 x32 Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett Josephine and Salvatore Del Deo Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett Drawings

From the collection of Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett.

31. Untitled(study of a still life), c. 1932 41. Stacking the Weir Poles,c. 1938 50. The Hanging of Duncan fop, 1916 OIlon cardboard 24 x 36 Graphite on paper 11 X 16 Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett 14 X 10 Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett 42. Higgins W harf, 1947 51. A Priest with T wo Dwarfs , 1916 32. Conversation on the Shore, 1932 26x40 Graphite on paper 48 X 60 Joseph Acker 14 X 10 Richard and Gregory Johnson 43. Winter in W ellfleet, 1950 52. Untitled(study for PotatoPlanters)1925 33. PametRiver, c. 1931 24x 36 Graphite and white chalk 26x36 Alan W. Moffett 12 x 10 Alan W. Moffett 44. Winter Quarters, 1951 53. Untitled(woman at window), 1927-1929 34. Artist's Geology Lesson (or The Stones 26x40 Black crayon on paper of Cape Cod), 1935 Elizabeth Moffett Johnson 9 n1/2 X 6 1/2 24x36 45. Landslide at Highland Light, 1953 54. Untotled(standing woman), 1927-1929 Josephine and Salvatore Del Deo 36x24 Black crayon on paper 35. The Negress, 1933 lone and Hudson Walker 10 x61h 16 X 20 46. Wellfleet Harbor, 1953 55. Untitled (view of man from back), Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett 24x36 1927-1929 36. Untitled(still life with carrots), 1934 Josephine and Salvatore Del Deo Black crayon on paper 20x30 47. Historical Museum, 1961 9 \12 X 6 \12 Karen Johnsoh 24x36 56. Untitled (view of man from front), 37. Dark Horses Running, 1934-1936 Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett 1927-1929 20x24 48. ProvincetownWinter, 1968-1969 Black crayon on paper Alan W. Moffett 24x36 9Ys x 71h 38. Ice in ProvincetownHarbor, 1934 Josephine and Salvatore Del Deo 57. Untitled (mural study of Indian head), 20x30 49. Eroded Shore, 1969 1935 Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett 26x40 Charcoal on paper 39. Ice in ProvincetownHarbor, 1935 Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett 16% X 16% 24x36 58. Untitled (study for Eroded Shore), 1968 Richard and Gregory Johnson Ballpoint pen and graphite 20 X 141h 40. Truro Lobsterman, c. 1937 24x36 Captain Jack Papetsas Watercolor Monotypes

From the collection of Dorothy Lake Gregory Measurements refer to plate size. Moffett. From the collection of Josephine and Salvatore DelDeo.

59. Hot Dog Stand, 1932-1934 60. On the Beach, 1916 74. Section of Quartz Porphyry through 14% X 19% 12 X 15 Polarizing Microscope, 1941 12x 15 61. Untitled (woman with wet skirt), 1916 12 X 15 75. Untitled (section of crystal through polarizing microscope), 1941 62. Watching the Bathers, 1916 12 X 16 12 X 15 76. Divine, Serpentine and Feldspar, 1941 63. The Red Parasol, 1916 12x 16 12 X 15 77. Section of Hom eland through Polarizing 64. Untitled (death and the old man), c. 1922 Microscope, 1941 12 X 15 12 X 16 65. Untitled (old woman with shawl), 1922 78. Provin ce town Fisherman, 1941 14Ys x 12 12 X 16 66. Untitled (dwarf, woman, child and dog) , 79. Provincetown Waterfront, 1943 c. 1928 12 X 16 15 X 12 80. Fisherman , 1947 67. Untitled (fat woman with bib), c. 1930 11 Ys x 15% 14% X 12 81. Provincetown Fishing Boat, 1948 68. c. 1930 Dunes, 11:Ysx16 101/.J x 15Ys 69. Tide Marshes, 1931 10112 X 16 70. Wood End Light, 1931 10% X 16 71. Untitled (the herd), c. 1931 10lh x 15Ys 72. Ice in Provincetown Harbor, 1935 12 X 16 73 . Untitled (cranberry picker with cane), c. 1938 13 X 16% ROSS MOFFETT RETROSPECTIVE Provincetown Art Association, August 29- September 29, 1975

Supplementary List of Paintings: (Measurements are in inches, height preceding width. The works are oil on canvas.)

85. Untitled (girl carrying tub), 1916 98. The Old Captain, c. 1930 14 X 18. N.F.S. 28 X 24 86. Return of Spring, 1922 99. Net Wagon, 1931 24 X 30. N.F.S. 32 X 52 87. Self Portrait, c. 1920 100. Un Exercise A La Francaise, 1931 30 X 24. N.F.S. 24 X 38 88. Plowing Amid the Dunes, 1922 101. Untitled (abstract), c. 1932 50 X 60 14x 20 89. Return from the Marshes, 1922 102. Untitled (abstract), c. 1932 40 X 50. N.F.S. 16x 24 90. Untitled (three figures), c. 1922 103. Untitled (stones with clay heads), c. 1933 50 X 40. N.F.S. 16 X 20. N.F.S. 91. Untitled (cutting ice, green sky) 104. crossingat Harkins Run, c. 1937 36x 46 24x 36 92. Provincetown Church, c. 1924 105. Truro Rider, 1935 36 X 46. N.F.S. 20 X 30. N.F.S. 93. The CodFisherman, 1926 106. Fertade's Wharf, 1935 48 X 60. N.F.S. 20 X 30. N.F.S. 94. The Potato Planters, 1925 107. Marine Disaster, 1938 36 X 46. N.F.S. 30 X 48 95. Road Builders, 1929 108. StudioCorner 1949 34x 48 12 X 16. N.F.S. 96. Untitled (black woman, kerchief), 1929 109. Untitled (heron, PilgrimLake), 1969 14 X 18 N.F.S. 97. The Eclipse, 1930 24x 30

Priceson request at the desk for works not in collection - N.F.S. =Not For Sale Etchings Chronology

From the collection of Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett.

82. Back StreetPro vincetown, 1914 1888 Born February 18, Clearfield, Iowa 1918 Inducted into the U.S.Army ... 71h X 61h 1907 Registered for study at the Cummins received the Norman Wait Harris Silver Medal from The Art Institute of 83. Untitled (boatyard), 1919 Schoolof Art, Des Moines, Iowa Chicago for his painting, "The Old 8x6 1908 Spentthree months at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts beginning in Fisherman" 84. Untitled (studio piece), 1919 February ... transferred studies to The 1920 Married Dorothy Lake Gregory in 61h x5% Art Institute of Chicago where he Brooklyn, New York . . . established remained until1913 permanent residency in Provincetown 1910 Art studies at Chicago interrupted by a 1921 Received the First Julius Hallgarten year of homesteading land in South Prizefrom the National Academy of Dakota in Tripp County, east of the Design for his painting, "The Old Rosebud Indian Reservation Fisherman" ... received Honorable 1911 Resumed study at The Art Institute of Mention for the same painting from of Chicago the Carnegie Institute 1913 Saw"The Armory Show"at The 1923 Traveled to Europe for several months, Institute ... arrived in Provincetown, spending much of the time in Italy and Massachusetts in June with Henry France Sutterto spend the summer studying 1924 Birth of Elizabeth Moffett, October 29 with Charles W. Hawthorne . .. with the painter Heinrich Pfeiffer 1914 Spentthe winter of 1913-1914 with began the "Provincetown Painting Henry Sutterand Vaclav Vytlacil in Class," a school of instruction New York ... studied at the Art 1926 Birth of Alan Moffett, November 9 Students League ... returned to 1927 Received the French Gold Medal for his Provincetown in the summer and painting, "The Cod Fisherman" from rented a studio in Days' Lumber Yard The Art Institute of Chicago ... served next to Hawthorne ... in the fall on the first "modernist" jury at the returned to Clearfield to spend the Provincetown Art Association with winter with his parents Karl Knaths, Edwin Dickinson and 1915 In the summer returned to others Provincetown 1928 First one-man show at the Frank Rehn 1915- Lived and worked in the studio next to Gallery in New York ... one-man show 1917 Edwin Dickinson in Days' Lumber at The Art Institute of Chicago Yard establishing a friendship which 1929 Servedon the jury for the Annual continued for the remainder of his life Exhibition of the Pennsylvania 1916 Exhibited for the first time at the Academy of the Fine Arts Provincetown Art Association Exhibitions

1930 Served on the jury of the Carnegie 1960 Began work to save 1400 acres of virgin The Art Institute of Chicago; one-man show International land known as the ProvinceLands 1928/1929 1932- Assistant Professorof Fine Arts at within the proposed boundaries of The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C.; 1933 Miami University,Oxford,Ohio Cape Cod National Seashore Park one-man show 1941/1942 1934 Represented Massachusetts at the 1964 Privatelypublished Art in Narrow Frank Rehn Gallery, New York;one-man "Centuryof Progressexhibition at Streets, The First Thirty-Three Years of shows 1928, 1931 The Art Institute of Chicago with the the Provincetown Art Association . . . Athena Gallery, New Haven; one-man show painting, ShankPainterPond" founded the ProvincetownGroup 1969 1935 Visited Florida for the first time .. . Gallery with others and served as one ProvimcetownGroup Gallery; one-man shows served on the jury for the Annual of the founding directors 1964-1970 Exhibition of the Pennsylvania 1964- Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo Academy of the Fine Arts 1965 Underwenttreatment for cancer The Boston Tercentenary Fine Arts 1936- Paintedmurals for post offices in 1967 Served on the jury for the Provfincetown Exhibition 1938 Holyoke, Revere and Somerville, Art Association with Edwin Dickinson The Brooklyn Museum of Art Massachusetts .. . completed murals and Karl Knaths, the samejury which Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute for the PRovincetownTown Hall and had served in 1927 for the first Cleveland Museum of Art High School "modernist"exhibition City Art Museum of St.Louis 1938 Elected as an Associate Member in the 1970 Artist in residence at the third session Currier Gallery, Manchester National Academy of Design of the Fine Arts Work Center, The Detroit Institute of Arts 1939 Exhibited MarineDisdasterat the Provincetowm Grace Horne Gallery, Boston New YorkWorld's Fair 1971 Died March 13 Heistand Gallery, Miami University 1942 Received full membership in the OxfordOhio National Academy of Design Art Association 1945- Assistant Professorof Fine Arts at Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha 1946 Miami University The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1951 Received The Edwin Memorial Prizeat Montclair Art Museum the National Academy of Design for The Museum of Modern Art Winterin Wellfleet National Academy of Design 1954 Commissioned by the National The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa Academy of Design together with Nebraska Art Association, Lincoln Louis Bouche to paint the murals for New England Society of Contemporary Art, the Eisenhower Memorial Foundation Inc., Boston in Abilene, Kansas PennsyvaniaAcademy of the Fine Arts 1956 Completed the Eisenhower murals ProvincetownArt Association which were dedicated November 24 Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design Museum Collections

). B. SpeedMuseum, Louisville Corcoran Gallery of Art Designer: Laurence Channing StuartArt Club, Boston National Academy of Design Editor: Jean Connor Springfield Museum of Fine Arts, Nebraska Art Association, SheldonMemorial Photographs: George Yater Massachusetts Gallery Printer: Commonwealth Press Universityof Illinois, Urbana Miami UniversityHiestand Gallery Unversityof Kansas, Lawrence Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Copyright 1975 Worcester Art Museum Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Provincetown Art Association VoseGallery, Boston J. B. speedMuseum The essay, :RossMoffett 1888-1971," Whitney Museum of American Art Whitney Museum of American Art copyright Josephine Couch Del Deo, 1975 Whitney StudioClub, New York Unversityof Kansas Worcester Art Museum The Worcester showing is partially supported by a gift from the Mechanics National Bank. Foreign

MuseeGalliera, Paris MuseeGalliera, Marseille

' Untitled, 1916-1917 Ice in the Harbor, 1917 Untitled, 1919 Hot Dog Stand, 1932-1934 Shank Painter Pond, 1925 Wrecked Schooners, 1935 Artist's Geology Lesson, 1935 Ice in Provincetown Harbor, 1935 / Lost City in the Andes, 1929 Section of Quartz Porphyry Through Polarizing Microscope, 1941 Landslide at Highland Light, 1953 Study for 11 Eroded Shore,11 1968 Provincetown Winter, 1968