Advanced Search

K-12 Educator
K-12 Student
Museum Visitor
UMMA Docent
UMMA Staff
University Faculty
University Student
Between and Mortarboard

UMMA Object Specific Fields




Query builder

How to Use the Query Builder

Part of: Selected American, European, and Asian landscape paintings, and works of realism; and various sketches, etchings, and studies; and a few photographs.  Works are by Rembrandt, Monet, Benton, Whistler, Picasso, Mattise, Kensett, Innes, Millet, Pissaro, Shahn, and more.  (137 resources )
|

French art and the influence of African art on Picasso 

Copyright
All Rights Reserved
Created by
Robin Little
Last Updated
May 25, 2022 1:35 p.m.

17 Items in this Learning Collection
M. Bachelier, Director of Customs at Lyon (M. Bachelier, Directeur des fermes de Lyon)
M. Bachelier is shown seated at a desk dressed in a high powdered wig and sumptous gold-embroidered velvet coat and waistcoat. Behind the figure is a rich cloth, pulled back to reveal columns. On the elaborately carved desk are papers and a writing set. M. Bachelier extends his left hand towards the viewer, suggesting that we have interepted him while writing at his des. The painting's coloring consists of rich burgundy red, green, tan and gold.
Collection Object
Lycurgus Consulting the Pythia

Collection Object
Landscape (Paysage)
A densely painted work, this cacnvas portrays a landscape with dramatic clouds. Autumnal colors predominate this rocky landscape with several figures in the middle distance; in the distance a line of trees projects above the horizon line.
Collection Object
Pont de l'Estacade
This painting shows a view of the Seine river in Paris, including the wooden bridge, the Pont de l'Estacade. The foreground is filled is small boats and a dock winch, while the in the distance the bridge and buildings of Paris glow in late afternoon light.
Collection Object
Landscape—Evening
This painting depicts a quiet rural scene. A river runs from the foreground back into the distance, flanked on either side by green trees along the banks. A twilight sky dominates with salmon and blue hues. Ducks or geese fly just above the trees at right. A small figure fishing is visible on the left bank. The painting is signed and dated in paint (l.r.) "Daubigny 1870" (the date is somewhat obliterated).
Collection Object
Le Lever du soleil

Collection Object
Roses and Flowers in a Glass
This painting depicts a glass vase with roses, phlox, and other flowers standing on a table. One pink rose lies next to the vase on the table; the background is an undifferentiated background of brown/tan.
Collection Object
Victor Hugo, de face
Jean Paul Slusser, donor, Ann Arbor, owned until 1960.
Collection Object
Two Girls Reading (Deux Enfants Lisant)
Two girls, depicted in bold geometric shapes and block colors, reading a book together. The figure seated at viewer's right, slightly taller, is green and wearing yellow. The figure at viewer's left has a face of blue and white and is clothed in red resting her clasped hands upon an open book.
Collection Object
Teeny
This print is a white line drawing of a woman on black ground. The woman with a longish face and wavy hair wears a striped shirt. Sinuous vertical lines and dashes make up the pattern of the background. 
Collection Object
Dancer, from the series Ten Dancers (Dix Danseuses)

Collection Object
Royal Mask (Ngaady a Mwaash)

Collection Object
The Bullfight (Courses de taureaux)
A bull in the center charges to the left toward a horse rearing up with a bullfighter on its back. The bullfighter leans forward to plunge a spear into the bull's shoulder area. Flags and spectator stands lie in the background.
Collection Object
Fruit Pré-adamite
A biomorphically abstract sculpture of bronze. Bulbous at the bottom, the shape stretches and narrows in the middle and then expands into a larger shape from which two rounded points rise.
Collection Object
Little Torso No. 5 (Torse)
A small polished bronze sculpture of a biomorphic form rising gracefully from a small base. Where it contacts the base, the form stands on two leg-like structures. The form rises from there, narrows, then opens up into a wider, more oblong shape at the top.
Collection Object
Hyena Puppet Head (Nama, Sogu kun)
Stylized wood carving of hyena head; two pieces of wood joined to form articulating jaw. edged with prominent teeth. short upright ears, long triangular nose or snout; eyes, teeth, nose and crown of head overlaid with sheet metal. Wood is unpainted.
Collection Object
Ram Rod Puppet Head (Bakòrò, Sogokun)
A naturalistic rendering of a ram, with striations incised into the top of the head and down the first third of the horns which sweep forward in a natural curve toward the nose. Eyes inlaid with green glass, and muzzle is overlaid with strip of metal. Jaw articulates, tied with cord. Cloth ears are attached and dangle on either side of head. Wood is unpainted.<br />
Collection Object
Selected American, European, and Asian landscape paintings, and works of realism; and various sketches, etchings, and studies; and a few photographs.  Works are by Rembrandt, Monet, Benton, Whistler, Picasso, Mattise, Kensett, Innes, Millet, Pissaro, Shahn, and more. 

Copyright
All Rights Reserved
Created by
Andrew Orosan-Weine
Last Updated
May 25, 2022 1:35 p.m.

137 Items in this Learning Collection
Glen Lyon Falls
A waterfall takes up the bottom half of the image with trees and hills behind a body of water.&nbsp;
Collection Object
Two Cows
A shepherdess stands between two cows who are grazing at the center of the image. In the foreground is the indication of a rough track leading towards the distance at left. At the right is a woman bending over beneath a tree.
Collection Object
Vachere au Bord de l'Eau
A woman sits at the left on a grassy bank looking at a group of cows standing in water. Behind are trees and a hill rising up in the distance.<br />Possible watermark at center left (of verso); image shows a fleur de lis over a triangle. Paper size: lh 26 2/5cm &amp; rh 26 1/2cm x w 19 1/2cm. Plate size: lh 19 7/10cm &amp; rh 19 9/10cm x w 13 2/5cm. Image size: lh 19 1/10cm &amp; rh 19cm x tw 12 2/5cm &amp; bw 12 1/2cm.
Collection Object
Faneuses (Haymakers)
A group of women can be seen in a field raking hay. The central woman faces the viewer in the foreground; she wears a hat that shades her face. Behind her are two other women, also raking hay, shown from behind.
Collection Object
Couseuse

Collection Object
La Cardeuse (The Wool Carder)
A woman is shown seated in a simple interior. She is holding carding combs and is seated next to a pile of uncarded wool on one side and skeins of yarn on the other. Behind her is the wheel of a spinning wheel.
Collection Object
Le Paysan rentrant du fumier (Man with a Wheelbarrow or Peasant Returning from the Dung Heap)

Collection Object
The Mendicant

Collection Object
Mount Hood from The Dalles
Landscape painting with white mountain peak in center background, body of water in foreground, and a Native American encampment to left.
Collection Object
On the White Hills

Collection Object
Le Givre a Veneux
A country scene with swirls of color all around. There are two distant reddish-colored buildings ibehind a fence that runs along the left side of the dirt path, which recedes to a vanishing point at the center of the work. Trees line the right-hand side of the dirth path. Two people in the lower right corner appear to be working; one stands straight, while the other bends over.
Collection Object
Jamaica Bay
Horizontal landscape of a misty harbor view with several small boats in distance near center
Collection Object
Bords de Riviere ou les Oies
Paper size: h 36 1/2cm x tw 46 1/2cm &amp; bw 47cm. Image size: lh 21 3/5cm &amp; rh 21 1/2cm x tw 32cm &amp; bw 32 1/5cm.
Collection Object
Bords du Loing, près de Saint-Mammès

Collection Object
The Break-up of the Ice (La Débâcle or Les Glaçons)
A sweeping winter river scene opens up from the foreground and sweeps away towards the left. Ice floes dot the river surface and snowy hills frame trees that stand along the riverbank in the middle distance. The palette of this painting is restricted to mauves, blues, greens, and whites.
Collection Object
Buildings with Water Tank (Bellevue Plantation, Virginia)
In this painting there are six buildings surrounded by green grass and tall tress without leaves. On the right side of the painting, a green and brown water tank rises out of and stands above the buildings at the height of a tree house. A brown fence separates the water tank from the buildings behind it.
Collection Object
Landscape with Church and Cows
A landscape with a church and cows, river in the center.
Collection Object
Perils of the Sea ('Peril on the Sea')

Collection Object
The Dam Wood
In a desolate, wintery landscape stand a group of leafless trees with tall grasses beyond.
Collection Object
Self Portrait with Saskia
Trimmed to plate mark. Paper size: lh 12 1/10cm &amp; rh 12 3/10cm x tw 10 3/5cm &amp; bw 11cm.
Collection Object
Sea and Rain
The painting depicts a solitary male figure standing along the shore. The thin layers of paint evoke a misty, overcast day with the figure standing perhaps on a tidal flat.
Collection Object
Iceberg landscape reflected in water

Collection Object
Sailboat on choppy water at nighttime

Collection Object
Sailboat on calm water in the distance at nighttime

Collection Object
Lonesome Road
This is a print of an African American man in a mule-drawn wooden cart. There is a yew tree in the cart, behind the man. The man wears a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, dark pants, and a cap. The road is empty, with fields surrounding the road. There is a wooden church in the background with a tall cross in the ground beside the church.
Collection Object
Self-Portrait

Collection Object
Mine Strike
Two shadowed figures with weapons on the left face a group of four figures, in the light, on the right. Of the four, one is holding a sign and another is lying on the ground. Smoke from a fire billows in the background alongside industrial machinery.
Collection Object
City in Autumn

Collection Object
The Willow Pond

Collection Object
Landscape
Landscape of flat terrain; water, perhaps a small stream, in the foreground; four leafless trees (two large, two small) right of center, and two leafless trees left of center, below a cloud-filled sky.
Collection Object
Upton Lane, Sompting

Collection Object
The Adur, near Shoreham

Collection Object
Paysage
Landscape with a horizon line just below center. Land resembles horizontal waves in various shades of green. Line of trees at the horizon on left. The sky is blue-grey with four clouds.
Collection Object
Reading Beneath the Trees (La Lecture sous les Arbres)
A sketch of a hillside in the background, seen through the trees. The trees heights are low on the left, leaving the left corner of the image open, and extending taller towards the top of the page as they move right. Between the far right tree and the second to the right is a woman, about 1/5 the size of the tree she stands against. About halfway up the trunk, between the same two trees is a square structure with one darkened window in the middle and a dark scribble to the right of it.
Collection Object
The Adirondacks
Landscape with minute figure standing on the banks of a lake among trees and boulders in the foreground and mountains in the distance; blue sky with dark storm clouds on left and white cumulonimbus cloud on right.
Collection Object
White Mountains (Mount Washington from Sunset Hill, North Conway)
Landscape painting with mountain peak at center and rolling mountains to either side; valley in foreground with houses hidden among trees in deep shadow and along hillside; blue sky above with wispy clouds.
Collection Object
White Mountains in September, North Conway, New Hampshire
Landscape with trees in foreground, valley in middle ground dotted with minute figures of sheep and a farmer with a team of oxen pulling well-filled haywain. Mountains in distance with a snow-capped mountain in center background.
Collection Object
Scene in the Catskills
This landscape painting depicts a rocky hillside beneath a blue sky and towering cloud formations. In the foreground area, a stream flows between boulders and cascades over rocks. There is a large square boulder with the roots and stump of a dead tree. The right side of the painting has green vegetation along the edege of the stream and tall green-leafed trees further back on the side of the hill. On the left, beyond the hill, there is a glimpse of far distant mountains. This scene is painted in warm tones of green and brown in a realistic manner. Patches of sunlight highlight areas of the hillside, boulders and the stream.
Collection Object
Sunset Near Darien
Landscape painting of costal scene overlooking a body of water using an aerial perspective; three tree tops in center in darkened foreground in front of a glowing sky
Collection Object
Landscape
This painting depicts a lush green countryside with an expanse of blue sky. It shows a hillside overlooking a small lake. There is a vista of fields and hills that extends beyond the lake to the horizon.<br /> In the foreground, a woman wearing a long dress and a bonnet and carrying a walking stick and basket, walks toward the viewer along a dirt path. The path runs from a building on the far left toward the bottom of the painting. The vegetation is painted in sharp detail in dark tones of green and brown.<br /> In the right half of the composition, there is a scene of a distant village and farms viewed through the trees on the edge of the hillside. In contrast to the shadowy wooded area, the view is bathed in bright sunlight. There is a lone bird in flight in the light blue sky that fills the top half of the painting.
Collection Object
American Landscape

Collection Object
The Edge of the Forest

Collection Object
Valley of the Pemigewasset
Landscape painting with blue sky, blue/purple mountains, and forest greenery. Foreground occupied by livestock, felled trees, a cabin, and a figure on horseback. Larson 2/5/18
Collection Object
Landscape—Evening
This painting depicts a quiet rural scene. A river runs from the foreground back into the distance, flanked on either side by green trees along the banks. A twilight sky dominates with salmon and blue hues. Ducks or geese fly just above the trees at right. A small figure fishing is visible on the left bank. The painting is signed and dated in paint (l.r.) "Daubigny 1870" (the date is somewhat obliterated).
Collection Object
Evening Glow
This painting shows a landscape with a distant horizon and trees on the left hand side. The evening sky is depicted with yellows, oranges and greens. The painting is signed and dated (l.l.) "H.M. Kitchell / 1910".
Collection Object
Rembrandt in Velvet Cap and Plume

Collection Object
Mountain Valley with River and Buildings
Trees, figures by a river, small house on the left hand side, mountains behind.
Collection Object
The Star
A sailboat with its sails set aloft in the shape of two triangles is silhouetted against a cloudy sky illuminated by the sun. Reflections of the boat and sun reach into the foreground of the image toward the viewer. 
Collection Object
The Kitchen, One of the 'Twelve Etchings from Nature,' or the 'French Set'
A dark interior view is shown with a deep recessed space. At the end of the space is a window; the recessed space is full of reflected light and a woman is seen framed against the bright view out the window. Closer to the viewer, the foreground is filled with domestic objects: furniture on the left with vases stored on top; a wall rack with plates stored on the right and other objects with basins or pots below the plates.
Collection Object
The Pool, One of the 'Sixteen Etchings,' or the 'Thames Set'
A man in a cap sits in a rowboat in the foreground, his chin on his hand looking at the viewer. A number of other boats, all unoccupied, create a barrier between the man and the open expanse of the river that curves towards the left in the distance. The water&#39;s edge is congested with wooden buildings and ships, some in dry dock.
Collection Object
La Vieille aux Loques
An old woman in a white cap sits in a cluttered interior. Positioned just inside the doorway, the woman is surrounded by piles of cloth with domestic objects on shelves and walls that gleam in the darkness.
Collection Object
La Vieille aux Loques
An old woman in a white cap sits in a cluttered interior. Positioned just inside the doorway, the woman is surrounded by piles of cloth with domestic objects on shelves and walls that gleam in the darkness.
Collection Object
The Storm
A stormy and blustery landscape dominates the scene; at the lower left corner, a man with a moustache leans into the wind, clutching his coat in front of him with his right hand and holding his hat in place with his left hand. The landscape is flat and largely open; small groups of trees are visible in the distance and dark lines in the sky represent clouds and squall lines. In the center of the image are faint diagonal lines "cancelling" the plate.
Collection Object
Sketching, No. 1; an illustration for 'Passages from Modern English Poets'
A rural countryside with a river flowing into the distance at the right dominates the scene. Two figures in a rowboat are at the center of the image and at the lower right corner, an artist, seated on a camp stool and facing away from the viewer, sketches the rowers.
Collection Object
The "Adam and Eve," Old Chelsea
Black and white view of boats in a port. Small sailboats are docked along the edge of the water. Buildings are grouped at the water&#39;s edge.&nbsp;
Collection Object
Autumnal Scene

Collection Object
The Return Home

Collection Object
California Orange Grove
Painting of landscape scene with blue sky and green field. Mountains and three houses in background in the upper-left quadrant. Grove with orange trees in center. Two men fishing along the banks of a stream in the lower right foreground.
Collection Object
Landscape with Travelers

Collection Object
Sunset on the Penobscot
A man with a fishing pole on a dock at a lake. There is a yellow cloudy sky above.
Collection Object
View of the Fortifications at Gennep on the Maas River
The low horizon used in this landscape painting creates a sense of expansive sky and flat terrain, which is divided equally between river and land. Figures and animals engage in variety of activities on the riverbank and in boats, including fishing and ferrying cargo and animals. Silhouetted against the vast sky stands a fortress on a spur of land with an orange flag flying from its tower. The opposite bank is visible in the distance as a dark broken line across the shining stretch of water.
Collection Object
Mountain Landscape

Collection Object
Scholar in a Landscape
A vertical painting with signature on the right side. Colors primarily include gray and faded browns/oranges. Paper is faded yellow color.
Collection Object
Landscape

Collection Object
Landscape with River

Collection Object
Boating by the Peach Leaf Crossing, from the album, Twelve Views of Jinling (Nanjing) (one of pair of albums)
Colored pring of a small body of water, surrounded by houses and small mountains. A gray wall is in the background. Text in upper left corner.
Collection Object
Summer near Bethel, Maine
Landscape featuring three cows in a green and yellow field approaching a water source. Trees occupy the middle ground and a mountain range is visible against the blue sky. Larson 2/5/18&nbsp;<br /> &nbsp;
Collection Object
The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido (Kichizo Edition): #34 Futagawa
Group of people carrying parcels and leading horses in front of a shop. Other travelers can be seen crossing in the distance. There is a tall tree by the store, and across the water is a smal hill with trees on it. The skyline is edged in pink, suggesting dawn or dusk. Writing in upper right and left corners. Title in red box in upper right corner.
Collection Object
Yosemite Valley, Looking West
Landscape painting, despicts a valley surrounded by steeply inclined mountains. The foreground is occupied by trees, cows, and still water. Light emanates from lower-right end of the valley, illuminating the left-most rock face. (Larson 2/5/18)
Collection Object
View of the Brooklyn Navy Yard
Horizontal view of harbor scene with water, dock, and boats. Small figures and trees on pier in middle ground. WMC painted in green in lower right corner.
Collection Object
River Landscape

Collection Object
Sacred Bridge at Nikko

Collection Object
Winter in Weehawken
This winter landscape scene is painted in light pastel colors including, white, blue, pink and gray. The artist has used vigorous brushstrokes and the paint has been applied thickly on the canvas. The scenery is not painted in detail but done in an impressionistic manner.<br /> In the foreground, a snow-covered hill slopes downward from the upper right side of the composition to the lower left. There is one tall tree that frames the scene on the far right and several others clustered on the left. In the middleground area, seen through the branches of these trees, there are factories and buildings of a town. Also, there are figures ice skating on a pond, at the far left of the composition. In the far distance, seen over the edge of the slope, is the skyline of a city, the shapes of skyscrapers silhouetted against a cloudy sky.
Collection Object
Washing Clothes
A group of women gather to wash clothes in a river while a man looks on.
Collection Object
Sunset
Landscape scene depicting trees silhouetted against a reddening sky with a dead fallen tree trunk lying diagonally across the foreground.
Collection Object
Bacalan, near Bordeaux

Collection Object
Landscape--Trees by the River

Collection Object
Autumn, Hastings-on-Hudson

Collection Object
Le pont sur le Lot

Collection Object
The Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
This photograph depicts an elevated, wide view of a curving river winding through a wooded valley, with snowcapped mountains rising in the distance. The sky above the landscape is filled with clouds.
Collection Object
Landscape
Painting of a blue mountain overlooking a house and river on a gold support with brown flowers.&nbsp;
Collection Object
The Rape of Europa

Collection Object
Young Artists

Collection Object
Tobago, from "The Creation"

Collection Object
A Path through Autumn Woods

Collection Object
Le Marais aux Canards

Collection Object
Sunset, Yosemite

Collection Object
Fishing at Sunset

Collection Object
Figures in a Landscape with Sunset Sky

Collection Object
Frisian Landscape

Collection Object
Untitled, New York Sunset
An oil painting of New York City skyscrapers against a sunset. A large cloud is set in the middle of the sky.
Collection Object
Nueva York
A sunset cityscape view with the sun right above the high-rise buiildings in New York City.
Collection Object
Ann Arbor, Home of the University of Michigan
This landscape of a town has trees and a few figures in the foreground, homes in the midground, and the skyline of a small city in the background.
Collection Object
Downtown Detroit
Cityscape showing downtown Detroit against a reddish orange sky in 1947. Along the bottom edge of the painting, people wait to load a bus and several vehicles drive on a street perpendicular to them. Multiple buildings several stories tall line the background of the painting.
Collection Object
Landscape

Collection Object
Twilight
Landscape painting featuring a row of trees in the middle distance, separating a glowing sky above and a meadow in the foreground. The painting is signed and dated (l.r.) "D W Tryon 1905"
Collection Object
Morning
This pastel drawing shows a seascape with a beach and body of water, and clouds overhead. The drawing is signed and dated (l.l.) "D.W. TRYON 1906".
Collection Object
Wooded Landscape with a Distant Sunset
This watercolor painting dominated by shades of browns depicts a wide path leading down to a waterfront. The path is flanked by small hills and shaded with large trees, and a person seems to walk along the left side of the path. In the distance across a body of water are faint outlines of buildings, possibly a city on the shore, and a sunset indicated by the orange tint in the clear sky. 
Collection Object
Fleurs et mains (Flowers and Hands); After the crayon drawing

Collection Object
Le Repas Frugal
At the center of the scene, a man and a women sit at a table with an empty plate, two glasses, and a large bottle on the table before them. Their gazes are in nearly opposite directions and they appear gaunt.
Collection Object
Profil de femme (Woman's Profile)

Collection Object
Rays coming from a break in the sky, 1 - Cha 1

Collection Object
Roses and Flowers in a Glass
This painting depicts a glass vase with roses, phlox, and other flowers standing on a table. One pink rose lies next to the vase on the table; the background is an undifferentiated background of brown/tan.
Collection Object
Huron River

Collection Object
Landscape

Collection Object
Fishing Boats at Tarragona

Collection Object
Barn in Snow
At the center of the painting, there is a red barn surrounded by snow covered ground. There are large trees on both sides of the barn, and a yellow house in the background. 
Collection Object
Early Spring, Ann Arbor

Collection Object
Fishing Boats (Recto and Verso)

Collection Object
The Green Cottage

Collection Object
Seated Male Nude
A male nude sits on an orange pillow with his knees up and hands on them. The figure, which fills much of the space, is in an interior. The walls, a doorway, and a chair are visible.
Collection Object
Self-Portrait
A middle-aged man in a gray-green button up shirt and wearing glasses looks at the viewer. He is shown in bust.
Collection Object
Winter Scene

Collection Object
Seascape
Waves crashing on the rocks which are mostly situated on the right bottom half of the image. The sky is gray and blue while the water is a mix of greens, blues and white.
Collection Object
Landscape
A stream with trees on either side. Rocks in and around the stream and a fence in the grass on the left side of the image.
Collection Object
The Road to Ann Arbor

Collection Object
Autumn

Collection Object
Landscape with Tower

Collection Object
Barcos de Vela
A number of sailboats are sailing on the deep green sea; and there are black and white clouds in the sky.
Collection Object
Landscape

Collection Object
A Large Tree

Collection Object
Amoenissimae Effigies. Plate 23. Die Zuyder Zee.

Collection Object
Twilight
Landscape painting with green marshy field in foreground, a grouping of trees in the middle ground on right side of canvas, and blue sky with patches of soft clouds above.
Collection Object
Chasing a Slaver
Ship chasing another ship. Shore on the right hand side of the painting.
Collection Object
Landscape with Washerwoman
This landscape scene has an expansive blue sky in the upper half of the composition contrasted with the dark countryside, painted in hues of dark green and brown, in the lower portion. On the horizon, in between these two areas, is a mountain range with sharp pointed peaks. The forms of the bright white clouds mimick the foliage of the trees.<br />There are figures in the foreground area, although the rugged countryside shows no sign of habitation. On the right, two women are shown bending over, washing clothes in a small stream. There is a man sitting next to a laundry basket in the far left corner. A fourth figure, seen from the back only, is placed in the center area of the foreground.
Collection Object
Landscape with Flock of Sheep

Collection Object
Storm in the North Sea
Painting of distant ship in choppy dark blue and green waters. Sky is cloudy with windows of blue. Larson 2/7/18<br /> &nbsp;
Collection Object
Untitled (Landscape)
This painting features a landscape consisting of a grassy meadow with leafy green trees, accompanied by a blue sky punctuated by clouds.  Wooded areas surround the verdant clearing where two women, one standing and the other sitting, are located.  Across from the figures, to their right, is a brown cow.  The recto of the painting is signed "Corot" on the lower left.
Collection Object
A Squall

Collection Object
In the Mountain Fastness
Dark landscape set atop a rocky mountain with sparse vegetation. There is a small boulder in the left foreground space with a dead tree standing beside it; in the right foreground there is what appears to be a small cave. A dead and broken tree lies across the bottom of the picture frame. There are mountains in the distance and a dark stormy sky above with a break in the clouds near the center of the canvas that reveals a sunny blue sky.
Collection Object
Two Girls Reading (Deux Enfants Lisant)
Two girls, depicted in bold geometric shapes and block colors, reading a book together. The figure seated at viewer's right, slightly taller, is green and wearing yellow. The figure at viewer's left has a face of blue and white and is clothed in red resting her clasped hands upon an open book.
Collection Object
Peacock

Collection Object
Lane at Cooksbridge
Figures in a winter landscape. A couple and their small dog are silhouetted against snow and ice on a diagonal path lower right by a rail fence and a pollard willow. He is in a top hat and jacket, she in a long coat and broad hat, carrying an umbrella. A cottage with three chimneys and a steep roof is right of center behind a hedge and gate parallel to the path. Another house and wooded horizon are visible through the distant haze under a golden sky.
Collection Object
The Nor'easter
Ship, centered on page, is sailing on choppy water rendered in blue, grey, and white against a cloudy sky. (Larson 2/7/18)
Collection Object
Mount Chocurua, New Hampshire, from Walker's Pond
There is a pond on the left hand side, trees on the right, mountains on the left and top left.
Collection Object
Seascape

Collection Object
Canterbury Cathedral and Weed Grown Waste

Collection Object

Two Girls Reading (Deux Enfants Lisant)

Accession Number
1994/1.67

Title
Two Girls Reading (Deux Enfants Lisant)

Artist(s)
Pablo Picasso

Artist Nationality
Spanish (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
March 28, 1934

Medium & Support
oil on canvas

Dimensions
43 3/8 in x 35 3/16 in x 3 in (110.17 cm x 89.38 cm x 7.62 cm);43 3/8 in x 35 3/16 in x 3 in (110.17 cm x 89.38 cm x 7.62 cm);36 5/16 in x 28 3/4 in (92.2 cm x 73 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of The Carey Walker Foundation

Label copy
March 28, 2009
Picasso chose to depict this quiet and contemplative subject with strident colors and distorted forms. Part of the reason may lie in his relationship to the two models. The figure on the left is undoubtedly Marie-Thérèse Walter, the twenty-three-year-old woman who gave birth to Picasso’s daughter Maïa a year and a half after the painting was completed. The identity of the figure on the right is less clear. Some scholars believe that it is Walter’s sister; others claim that it is Picasso’s first wife, the ballerina Olga Koklova. If the sitter was Olga Koklova, it is very unlikely that she and Walter posed together, as both were jealous rivals for Picasso’s affections. This imaginary portrait is perhaps explained by the memoirs of Picasso’s postwar mistress, Françoise Gilot. In her account of her life with Picasso, she relates that one of his most persistent sexual fantasies involved two women of opposite but complementary features, one cold and controlling, light-skinned and blonde, and the other dark, excitable, and sensuous.

Subject matter
Two girls in an embrace read a book together. The figure at the viewer's left is Picasso's mistress at the time, Marie-Thérèse Walter. The other figure is thought to be either Olga Koklova, his wife, or Marie-Thérèse's sister. The scene suggests intimacy, yet the distored shapes and vibrant colors evoke a separateness, distance, and give the piece a melancholic feel.

Physical Description
Two girls, depicted in bold geometric shapes and block colors, reading a book together. The figure seated at viewer's right, slightly taller, is green and wearing yellow. The figure at viewer's left has a face of blue and white and is clothed in red resting her clasped hands upon an open book.

Primary Object Classification
Painting

Primary Object Type
figure painting

Additional Object Classification(s)
Painting

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Cubist
abstraction
modern and contemporary art
oil painting (technique)
oil paintings (visual works)
reading
women (female humans)

28 Related Resources
Two Girls, One Canvas
(Part of: Screen Arts and Cultures, Fall 2009 Project)
Tour: Greetings!
(Part of: Touring &amp; Teaching)
Adolescence
(Part of 7 Learning Collections)
European Primitivisms
(Part of 12 Learning Collections)
Girlhood
(Part of 9 Learning Collections)
Mothers and Children
(Part of 10 Learning Collections)
Spanish Avant-Garde
(Part of 2 Learning Collections)
Kindergarten Tour: Shape Up
(Part of: Visit UMMA: Curricular Tour Descriptions for Teachers)
Prepare for Your Visit to UMMA
(Part of: Pre-Visit Materials)
Kindergarten: Shape Up! Colors and Shapes
(Part of: Docent Curricular Tours)
Write for Understanding Tour Overview
(Part of: Writing + Art Enrichment Activities)
Writing Activity: Visual Analysis
(Part of: Writing + Art Enrichment Activities)
Greetings Tour
(Part of: Docent Thematic Tours)
I Am Not Myself Tour
(Part of: Docent Thematic Tours)
High School: Realism to Abstraction
(Part of: Docent Curricular Tours)
PAST - Musical Notation
(Part of: FFW Lower Level Study Cases     )
Being Design
(Part of: Being Design)
Translate-a-thon: Asian Languages
(Part of: 2019 Translate-a-thon)
#5 Cubism / Modernism / Postmodernism / Primitivism
(Part of: <b>PSYCH 114 Honors Intro to Psychology</b><b></b>)
Acting (out) on Art
(Part of: F20 Gear - HISTART 194 - Acting on Art in Renaissance Italy)

& Author Notes

All Rights Reserved

On display

UMMA Gallery Location ➜ FFW, Mezzanine ➜ M01 (Joan and Robert Tisch Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art)