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Artwork Details
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Title:The Letter (Marguerite Zorach)
Artist:George Biddle (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1885–1973 Croton-on-Hudson, New York)
Date:1934
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:32 × 26 in. (81.3 × 66 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, 1937
Object Number:37.71
Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): Biddle. 1934
the artist, Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y. (1934–37; sold through the American Artists' Congress, New York to MMA)
New York. Rehn Galleries. "Summer Group Exhibition," May 1936.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "National Art Week and the Museum: Paintings by Living Americans," November 25–December 1, 1940, no catalogue.
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Twentieth Century Portraits," December 9, 1942–January 24, 1943, unnumbered cat. (p. 97; as "Woman with a Letter [Marguerite Zorach]," 1933).
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Paintings by Carroll S. Tyson and George Biddle," January 11–February 16, 1947.
New York. Wildenstein & Co. "Exhibition of Intimate Portraits by George Biddle," May 13–June 5, 1948.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "20th Century Painters: A Special Exhibition of Oils, Water Colors and Drawings Selected from the Collections of American Art in the Metropolitan Museum," June 16–October 29, 1950, unnum. brochure (p. 3; as "A Woman with a Letter").
Waterville, Me. Colby College. June 1–September 1, 1961.
New York. Cober Gallery. "George Biddle: Paintings, Water Colors, Drawings (1912–1961)," October 3–28, 1961, no. 72 (as "Marguerite Zorach").
Jacksonville, Fla. Jacksonville Art Museum. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 9–April 21, 1985, unnumbered cat. (p. 53).
Oklahoma City. Oklahoma Museum of Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 5–June 30, 1985, unnumbered cat.
New York. National Academy of Design. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," July 16–September 1, 1985, unnumbered cat.
Evanston, Ill. Terra Museum of American Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 15–November 10, 1985, unnumbered cat.
Little Rock. Arkansas Arts Center. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 12, 1985–January 19, 1986, unnumbered cat.
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 9–March 30, 1986, unnumbered cat.
St. Paul. Minnesota Museum of Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 20–June 8, 1986, unnumbered cat.
"Among the Newly Opened Exhibitions." New York Times (May 10, 1936), p. X7.
"Metropolitan Will Display 17 U.S. Paintings." New York Herald Tribune (May 29, 1937), p. 30.
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, ill.
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.
H[oward]. D[evree]. "Six Groups Exhibit Work." New York Times (May 9, 1937), p. X10, calls it "The Letter".
Martha Davidson. "The Pantheon of Living Native Art." Art News 35 (May 29, 1937), p. 10.
Rosamund Frost. "Portraits: Likeness or Commentary?" Art News 41 (December 15–31, 1942), p. 25.
Robert Beverly Hale. 100 American Painters of the 20th Century: Works Selected from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1950, ill. p. 63, calls it "A Woman with a Letter" and dates it 1933.
Brian O'Doherty. "Half-Century of George Biddle at Cober's." New York Times (October 7, 1961), p. 12.
Lowery Stokes Sims. The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Jacksonville Art Museum. New York, 1984, pp. 10, 42, 52–53, 140, ill., dates it 1933.
Betsy Fahlman inMarguerite Zorach: An Art-Filled Life. Exh. cat., Farnsworth Art Museum. Rockland, Maine, 2017, p. 31, fig. 18.
George Biddle (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1885–1973 Croton-on-Hudson, New York)
1969
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