George Copeland Ault, January Full Moon, 1941
George Copeland Ault (American, 1891 - 1948)
January Full Moon, 1941
Oil on canvas, 20 1/4 x 26 3/8 inches (51.44 x 66.99 cm)
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, William Rockhill Nelson Trust [by exchange], 91-19
To my mind this is George Ault’s masterpiece, and one of the truly great American paintings of the period. What’s interesting is how the black barn is at once a central motif and a black hole that bores through the center of the painting. Throughout his life, Ault struggled with depression and he committed suicide in Woodstock, New York in 1948.
Bibliography
Henry Adams, “George Ault, January Full Moon," American Art Review, vol. V, no. 1, Summer 1992, pp. 77, 154.
Henry Adams, "George Ault's January Full Moon, Calendar of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, January-February 1992, pp. 1-2.
Henry Adams, Handbook of American Paintings in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri,1991, p. 175.