John La Farge, Roses on a Tray, 1861
John La Farge (American 1835–1910)
Roses on a Tray, 1861
Oil on Japanese lacquer panel, 19 7/8 × 11 1/4 × 5/16 in (50.48 × 28.57 × 0.80 cm)
Carnegie Museum of Art, Katherine M. McKenna Fund, 83.51
Because of my research on John La Farge, I knew of the existence of this painting, which was hidden away in a private collection in England. It had originally belonged to his friend John Bancroft, with whom he collected Japanese prints in the 1860s. For those accustomed to the bombast of painters such as Church and Bierstadt, the delicacy of La Farge’s work takes a bit of getting used to, but I think this is one of his finer early flower paintings, and from the scholarly standpoint is particularly interesting because it’s actually executed on the back of a Japanese tea tray—and thus provides valuable concrete evidence of his interest in Japan at this early date. Jack Lane was director of the Carnegie Museum at the time this was acquired, and he serves a note of appreciation for his responsiveness to the work of La Farge. Jack’s realm of expertise is the hard-edged geometric abstraction of the early and mid 20th century, but he had the breadth of taste and vision to also respond to artworks of a very different sort, such as this one.
Bibliography
Henry Adams, Masterworks of the Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, November l985, pp. 176-177.
Henry Adams, "John La Farge's Roses on a Tray,” Carnegie Magazine, January-February l984, pp. l0-l4.