Ice
Maker and role
Artist: Helen Torr, American, 1886-1967
Year
1927
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Object detail
Media/Materials
Oil on board
Measurements
9 3/4 x 8 1/2in (24.8 x 21.6cm)
Credit line
Gift of C. Thomas Wright
Accession number
2016.115
Object type
Department
Location
Further information
Scholars thought for years that this painting, with its jagged gray and brown shapes jutting above a low horizon, was a mountain landscape. Recently, researchers discovered an entry in Torr's diary in which she wrote about painting dirty icicles from the eaves of her house. Ice is not a landscape at all, but instead, a still life created by an artist who could not afford to buy more traditional and expensive still life elements. Rather, she found beauty in whatever was free and close at hand: shells, rocks, feathers, and most resourcefully, icicles.
Copyright
© Estate of Helen Torr, with the permission of John and Diane Rehm
Documentation
Helen Torr, 1886-1967; 1972; p. 6; no. 4 as "Rocky Peaks"
Out of The Shadows: Helen Torr, A Retrospective; 2003; p.16, 51; no. 11
Out of The Shadows: Helen Torr, A Retrospective; 2003; p.16, 51; no. 11
Subject period
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