Unfolding Buds

1909

Willard Leroy Metcalf American, 1858-1925

On View

American, Level 2, West Wing

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About the Artwork

Soft green grass emerges from the brown and gray of a winter meadow. The flush of white and pink blossoms float on spindly trees, punctuating the muted tones of this rocky New England farm. A small flock of sheep grazes, and the roof of a farmhouse appears just beyond the hill. In this painting, Willard Leroy Metcalf captured a fleeting and ephemeral moment in the early spring landscape. He placed the horizon line high in the composition, allowing him to revel in the mottled colors of the subject with quick brushstrokes of contrasting colors that amplified the changes occurring in front of him.

Metcalf was a leading American impressionist when he first showed this painting at Montross Gallery in New York in January 1910. The critic for American Art News praised the “delicate and delicious color” of his works, “permeated with the joy of nature’s awakening.” He painted this canvas during a May 1909 visit to Leete’s Island near Guilford, Connecticut.

Title Unfolding Buds

Artwork Date 1909

Artist Willard Leroy Metcalf

Life Dates 1858-1925

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 26 × 29 inches (66 × 73.7 cm) Framed: 39 3/4 × 42 7/8 × 2 5/8 inches (101 × 108.9 × 6.7 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department American Art before 1950

Credit Detroit Museum of Art Purchase, Popular Subscription Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 10.6

Markings

Signed Signed and dated, lower right corner: W. L. Metcalf 1909

Provenance

Willard Leroy Metcalf;
transferred to The Montross Galleries.
1910-present, purchased by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Fourth Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists. Exh. cat., Fine Arts Academy, Albright Art Gallery. Buffalo, 1909, no. 111.

Burroughs, Clyde. “Another Picture Bought—‘Unfolding Buds’ by Willard L. Metcalf.” Bulletin of the DMA 4, 2 (April 1910): pp. 13-15.

“Metcalf at Montross’s.” American Art News 8, 13 (January 8, 1910): p. 6.

Burroughs, Clyde. “Pictures Loaned to Other Exhibitions.” Bulletin of the DMA 5,4 (October 1911): p. 44.

“Sixth Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists at the Albright Art Gallery.” Academy Notes 6, 3 (July 1911): p. 88 (ill.).

Burroughs, Clyde. “Contemporary American Art: Williard L. Metcalf.” Bulletin of the DMA 7, 3 (July 1913): pp. 53-54 (ill.).

Fortune Magazine (1942).

DeVeer, Elizabeth and Richard Boyle. Sunlight and Shadow: The Life and Art of Williard L. Metcalf. New York, 1967, p. 100 (ill.).

Boyle, Richard, Bruce W. Chambers, and William H. Gerdts. Willard Metcalf (1858-1925): Yankee Impressionist. Exh. cat., Spanierman Gallery. New York, 2003, p. 35.

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Willard Leroy Metcalf, Unfolding Buds, 1909, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Museum of Art Purchase, Popular Subscription Fund, 10.6.