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Rock at Sea

Raymond Jonson (American, 1891–1982)1920–1922

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

The radically stylized tendencies in <em>Rock at Sea </em>were motivated by Jonson’s earlier work as an avant-garde scenic and lighting designer for the esteemed Chicago Little Theatre. Inspired by the jagged coast of Ogunquit, Maine, the painting’s visionary rendering of nature embodies the artist’s long-standing interest in communicating mystical concepts. Later, Jonson would move to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and co-found the Transcendental Painting Group, an association of artists dedicated to expressing the imaginative and spiritual realms through abstract art.

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Details

  • Title: Rock at Sea
  • Creator: Raymond Jonson (American, 1891–1982)
  • Date Created: 1920–1922
  • Physical Dimensions: Unframed: 88.9 x 104.2 cm (35 x 41 in.)
  • Provenance: The artist, Edward and Bettie Moran, Alameda, NM, (Bob Copland, Santa Fe, NM), Private collector, ME, (Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., New York, NY), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Type: Painting
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/2009.269
  • Medium: oil on canvas
  • Inscriptions: Signed lower right inscribed into wet paint: Raymond Jonson 19 (CJ) 22; (written on the reverse of the backing board): Raymond Jonson, Rock at Sea 1922, Ogunguit, Maine; Oct. 1945 - varnished Taylor's Dammar Dull + Webers
  • Fun Fact: Jonson admired this composition, recycling it years later for a mountainous New Mexico landscape painting.
  • Department: American Painting and Sculpture
  • Culture: America, 20th century
  • Credit Line: Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
  • Collection: American - Painting
  • Accession Number: 2009.269

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