1979.46
Asleep in the Hills
Artist
Marguerite Thompson Zorach
(Santa Rosa, California, 1887 - 1968, Bath, Maine)
Title
Asleep in the Hills
Creation Date
1915
Century
20th century
Dimensions
13 9/16 in. x 18 5/8 in. (34.5 cm x 47.31 cm)
Object Type
watercolor
Creation Place
North America, United States, New Hampshire
Medium and Support
watercolor over graphite on off-white wove paper
Credit Line
Museum Purchase, George Otis Hamlin Fund
Copyright
This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s
Copyright Terms and Conditions.
Accession Number
1979.46
Often referred to as “the first woman artist of California,” and one of the first proponents of American modernism, Marguerite Zorach was a painter, graphic designer, and textile artist. In 1908, she dropped out of Stanford to travel to Paris, where she remained for the next three years. During her time in France, she internalized Post-Impressionist and Fauvist ideals; the influence of such modes of thought can be seen here in the vivid colors, flattened shapes, and bold, expressive lines. Zorach commented that the work of Henri Matisse (1869--1954) and Maurice de Vlaminck (1876--1958) struck her as truly “alive.” The presence of a mother and child resting peacefully in nature is perhaps a reference to Zorach’s own experiences with early motherhood.