South of Scranton
South of Scranton gathers various scenes that the artist encountered during an extended road trip in spring 1930. Setting out from his residence in Pawling, New York, Blume drove through the coalfields of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and then headed south toward the steel mills of Bethlehem. Blume then traveled further south to Charleston, South Carolina, where he witnessed several sailors performing acrobatic exercises aboard the deck of a German cruiser ship in the harbor. In an account of the painting's origins, the artist stated, "As I tried to weld my impressions into the picture, they lost all their logical connections. I moved Scranton into Charleston, and Bethlehem into Scranton, as people do in a dream." Blume’s crisp technique heightens the painting’s surreal appearance.
Artwork Details
- Title: South of Scranton
- Artist: Peter Blume (American (born former Russian Empire, now Belarus), Smarhon (Smorgon) 1906–1992 New Milford, Connecticut)
- Date: 1931
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 56 1/4 × 66 1/4 in. (142.9 × 168.3 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: George A. Hearn Fund, 1942
- Object Number: 42.155
- Rights and Reproduction: © Estate of Peter Blume/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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