Garden Scene
Signed lower right: Martha Walter
Description
An intriguing example of Walter’s work, Garden Scene is at once both a landscape and a still life, and is rendered with the lively palette that her earned repeated praise from critics over her extensive career. One is immediately drawn to the pop of red in the center chair, which contrasts boldly with the variable greens of the outdoor setting, while the sunspots filtering through the trees carry one’s eyes around the rest of the composition. There are no figures in the painting, yet, like her traditional still lifes comprised of flowers, fruit, and household objects, their presence is still felt, as if they have just set out for a short walk in the woods and will return any moment for a rest in the shade.
Provenance
Inscriptions
(verso of canvas in red) #381
Labels
Exhibitions
Literature
Condition
Very good. The painting was cleaned and strip-lined in 2021. There are scattered spots of in-paint along the bottom edge about 1 ½” into the scene, some dots in the upper right trees and in the upper left corner, a few dots lower right of the blue chair, and a small spot along the left edge at center. The conservator thinks that the artist may have painted over another image and may have reworked this composition at one point as well, during which she extended the lower edge and painted directly on raw canvas.
