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Preview image of work. watercolor over graphite on off-white wove paper,  Asleep in the Hills 9051

1979.46

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Asleep in the Hills

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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.