Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Catastrophe
Artist:Doris Lee (American, Aledo, Illinois 1905–1983 Clearwater, Florida)
Date:1936
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:40 × 28 in. (101.6 × 71.1 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:George A. Hearn Fund, 1937
Accession Number:37.43
Inscription: Signed (lower right): Doris Lee
the artist, Woodstock, N.Y. (1936–37; sold through Walker Galleries, New York to MMA)
New York. Walker Galleries. "First Anniversary Exhibition," November 24–December 15, 1936, no. 5 (as "Disaster").
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "American Paintings Since Sargent, Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 4–31, 1940, brochure no. 23.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "National Art Week and the Museum: Paintings by Living Americans," November 25–December 1, 1940, no catalogue.
WPA Art Center, Jacksonville, Fla. "Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 1–31, 1941, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Contemporary Painting in the United States," April 19–27, 1941, no. 101.
Mexico City. Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes. "La Pintura Contemporánea Norteamericana," June 12–July 9, 1941, unnumbered cat. (p. 73).
Santiago. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. "La Pintura Contemporánea Norteamericana," September 6–October 5, 1941, unnumbered cat.
Lima. Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes. "La Pintura Contemporánea Norteamericana," November 5–30, 1941, unnumbered cat.
Quito. Universidad Central de Ecuador. "La Pintura Contemporánea Norteamericana," December 1941, unnumbered cat.
Brooklyn. YMCA, Fort Hamilton. March 16–October 1, 1942, no catalogue.
New York Public Library, Yorkville Branch. January 11–March 1, 1943, no catalogue.
New York. Tailored Woman. April 5–19, 1946 [on display in the store window for the MMA Diamond Jubilee Campaign fund].
New York. Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews. October 15–November 15, 1954, no catalogue.
Bronx. Kingsbridge House. November 15–December 15, 1954, no catalogue.
Providence. Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design. "The World of the Thirties," April 11–May 13, 1956, no catalogue.
Mead Art Building, Amherst College. "American Art of the Depression Era," February 25–March 19, 1969, unnumbered cat. (p. 3).
Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Vassar College Art Gallery. "7 American Women: The Depression Decade," January 19–March 5, 1976, no. 53 (as "Catastrophe [Disaster]").
New York. ACA Galleries. "Social Art in America: 1930–1945," November 5–28, 1981, no. 38.
Bronx Museum of the Arts. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 2–March 24, 1985, unnum. brochure.
Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 17–June 2, 1985, unnum. brochure.
Queens. Jamaica Arts Center. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 15–July 27, 1985, unnum. brochure.
Staten Island Museum. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 8–October 20, 1985, unnum. brochure.
New York. City College of New York. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 25–December 13, 1985, unnum. brochure.
Tulsa, Okla. Philbrook Museum of Art. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 14–June 9, 1991, no. 16.
Miami. Center for the Fine Arts. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 29–August 24, 1991, no. 16.
Omaha. Joslyn Art Museum. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 14–November 10, 1991, no. 16.
Tampa Museum of Art. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," December 14, 1991–February 8, 1992, no. 16.
Greenville, S. C. Greenville County Museum of Art. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 17–May 10, 1992, no. 16.
Madison, Wisc. Madison Art Center. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 6–August 2, 1992, no. 16.
Grand Rapids, Mich. Grand Rapids Art Museum. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 11–November 8, 1992, no. 16.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "New York," September 1995–January 1996, no catalogue.
"Among the New Attractions in the Galleries." New York Times (November 29, 1936), p. X9, calls it "Disaster".
Carlyle Burrows. "Notes and Comments on Events in Art." New York Herald Tribune (November 29, 1936), p. F8.
W. Clifford. "Notes." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 32 (April 1937), p. 102.
"Metropolitan Will Display 17 U.S. Paintings." New York Herald Tribune (May 29, 1937), p. 30, ill.
Carlyle Burrows. "Hearn Paintings at the Metropolitan." New York Herald Tribune (May 30, 1937), p. E6.
Edward Alden Jewell. "American Artists Show Works Here." New York Times (May 29, 1937), p. 15.
Edward Alden Jewell. "Metropolitan Purchases: Museum Displays Its Recently Acquired Paintings by Living American Artists." New York Times (May 30, 1937), p. X7.
"American Art Exhibited at Metropolitan." Brooklyn Daily Eagle (May 30, 1937), p. 6C.
"Doris Lee: An American Painter with a Humorous Sense of Violence." Life 3 (September 20, 1937), pp. 44–45, ill. (color).
Martha Davidson. "The Pantheon of Living Native Art." Art News 35 (May 29, 1937), p. 10.
"Metropolitan's Moderns." Time 29 (June 7, 1937), p. 45, ill., notes that although this work was painted before the Hindenburg disaster, the artist "painting the Manhattan skyline last August... saw the Hindenburg fly over and imagined how it would look if it exploded".
Helen Appleton Read, ed. La Pintura Contemporánea Norteamericana. Exh. cat., Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City. New York, 1941, p. 73, ill.
"FSCW to Sponsor Exhibit of Art at Jacksonville." Tallahassee Democrat (February 27, 1941), p. 10.
Doris Lee. Doris Lee. New York, 1946, ill. n.p., calls it "Disaster".
Richard E. Thibaut Jr. "Woodstock News: Doris Lee Awarded Distinctive Merit." Kingston Daily Freeman (April 24, 1950), p. 13, calls it "Disaster".
Sally Webster. "7 American Women: The Depression Decade." Feminist Art Journal 5 (Spring 1976), p. 38, calls it "Catastrophe (Disaster)".
Helen A. Harrison in7 American Women: The Depression Decade. Exh. cat., Vassar College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. New York, 1976, p. 33, no. 53, ill.
Robert Henkes. Eight American Women Painters. New York, 1977, pp. III, 57.
Susan Harkavy in Milton W. Brown. Social Art in America: 1930–1945. Exh. cat., ACA Galleries. New York, 1981, p. 42, no. 38, ill.
Charlotte Streifer Rubinstein. American Women Artists from Early Indian Times to the Present. Boston, 1982, p. 234.
Alice Lewis. Doris Lee 1905–1983. Exh. cat., Woodstock Artists Association. Woodstock, N.Y., [1984], unpaginated, no. 45.
Lowery S. Sims. The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. brochure, Bronx Museum of the Arts. New York, 1985, unpaginated.
Lisa M. Messinger inThe Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., American Federation of Arts. New York, 1991, pp. 41, 47.
Lowery Stokes Sims inThe Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., American Federation of Arts. New York, 1991, p. 56, no. 16, ill. p. 57 (color).
Robert Rosenblum inThe Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., American Federation of Arts. New York, 1991, p. 9.
Robert Henkes. American Women Painters of the 1930s and 1940s: The Lives and Works of Ten Artists. Jefferson, N.C., 1991, pp. 1, 5–6, 19, 29 n. 1, ill. p. 2, calls it "The Catastrophe" in the text and "The Catastrophe [The Disaster]" in the caption.
Pamela H. Simpson. "Review." Woman's Art Journal 13 (Spring–Summer 1992), p. 51.
Mary Jane Appel. "Doris and Russell Lee: A Marriage of Art." Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 111 (Winter 2018), p. 93.
Melissa Wolfe. Simple Pleasures: The Art of Doris Lee. Exh. cat., Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, Penn. Lewes, England, 2020, p. 29.
John Fagg in Melissa Wolfe. Simple Pleasures: The Art of Doris Lee. Exh. cat., Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, Penn. Lewes, England, 2020, pp. 57–59, 63, fig. 2.4 (color).
Tom Wolf in Melissa Wolfe. Simple Pleasures: The Art of Doris Lee. Exh. cat., Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, Penn. Lewes, England, 2020, p. 80.
Amy Torbert in Melissa Wolfe. Simple Pleasures: The Art of Doris Lee. Exh. cat., Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, Penn. Lewes, England, 2020, p. 220.
Meredith Mendelsohn. "Doris Lee, Unjustly Forgotten, Gets a Belated but Full Blown Tribute." nytimes.com. December 30, 2021, ill. (color).
Amanda Burdan. "Doris Emrick Lee (1905–1983)." The Unforgettables: Expanding the History of American Art. Ed. Charles C. Eldredge. Oakland, 2022, p. 116.
Allison Rudnick. Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2023, pp. 27–28, 198, colorpl. 99.
Mitchell Abidor. "Hope and Despair in the American Socialist Movements of the 1930s: 'Art for the Millions' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art." publicseminar.org. October 2, 2023.
How did a decade of unprecedented financial strife, radical social upheaval, and technological innovation shape art and cultural identity in the United States?
Georgia O'Keeffe (American, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin 1887–1986 Santa Fe, New Mexico)
1927
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's engagement with art from 1890 to today includes the acquisition and exhibition of works in a range of media, spanning movements in modernism to contemporary practices from across the globe.
