Smithsonian American Art Museum
To Make a World: George Ault and 1940s America
March 11, 2011 – September 5, 2011
During the turbulent 1940s, artist George Ault (1891-1948) created precise yet eerie pictures often evoking quietude and darkness—works of art that have come to be seen, following his death, as some of the most original paintings made in America in those years. Surrealistic and highly personal, these works are nonetheless grounded in a sense of place. Some of Ault's greatest paintings—such as January Full Moon and the five pictures he made of the junction of Russell's Corners in Woodstock, New York—stand out as poignant, melancholy meditations on lonely spots.
The exhibition features approximately 50 paintings, drawings, and photographs by Ault and his contemporaries, including the well-known artists Edward Hopper and Andrew Wyeth, as well as recently rediscovered painters Edward Biberman and Dede Plummer.
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