The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 22, 2025

Still Life

c. 1924

Preston Dickinson

(American, 1891–1930)
America
oil on canvas
Framed: 75.5 x 91 x 5.5 cm (29 3/4 x 35 13/16 x 2 3/16 in.); Unframed: 61.2 x 76.5 cm (24 1/8 x 30 1/8 in.)
Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection 1926.1664
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Commonly thought to be vegetables, eggplants are technically berries.

Description

Preston Dickinson’s composition presents a seemingly casual arrangement of eggplants and lemons amid a tabletop setting with a bowl, knife, and napkins. A loosely corked bottled beverage stands at left, and a lightly sketched chairback occupies an otherwise empty background.
  • (Daniel Gallery, New York, bought by the Museum, 1926).
  • Milliken, William M. "The Sixth Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 13:6 (June, 1926): 144-55. Reproduced: p. 146; Mentioned: pp. 149, 150
    G. U. "Two Recent American Paintings Acquired for the Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 14:1 (January 1927): 9-11, 15. Mentioned: p. 10; Reproduced: p. 15
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 552 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 190 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 190 archive.org
    Hall, Jacqueline. "Modern Art Debut in America Rocked Professionals, Public." Columbus Dispatch, 6 June 1973. Reproduced
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 237 archive.org
    Cloudman, Ruth H. Preston Dickinson, 1889-1930. Lincoln, NE: Nebraska Art Association, 1979. Reproduced: p. 29, fig. 6
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 148
    Chong, Alan. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993. Reproduced: p. 64
  • Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).
    Cleveland, OH, Cleveland Museum of Art, Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum (7 June - 8 September 1991).
    The Precisionist Aesthetic in American Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 24-April 9, 1989).
    Cleveland, OH, Cleveland Museum of Art, Precisionist Aesthetic in American Art (24 January - 9 April 1989), Gallery J.
    Cleveland, OH, Cleveland Museum of Art, Fraernite: Artistic Relations Between France and America (21 July - 18 October 1987), no cat; Gallery A.
    The Magic of Still Life. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 4, 1986-February 1, 1987).
    Cleveland, OH, Cleveland Museum of Art, The Magic of Still Life (21 October 1986 - 8 March 1987), no catalogue; Gallery A.
    CMA: Works from the Contemporary Collection, July 1-mid-October, 1969
    35th Anniversary Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-September 30, 1951).
    Akron, OH, Akron Art Institute, 40 American Painters (December 1945), cat. no. 35, ill. no. 35.
    The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).
    Exhibition of American Painting from 1860 Until Today. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-October 4, 1937).
    Cleveland, OH, Cleveland Museum of Art, Exhibition of American Painting from 1860 Until Today (1937), no. 49.
    The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 4, 1936).
    Cleveland, OH, Cleveland Museum of Art, 20th Anniversary Exhibition (1936), no. 353.
    New York, NY, Museum of Modern Art, Second Exhibition of Modern Art (1929); NOTE: another Still Life was reproduced as belonging to the CMA in a review of the show in Art News 28 (Part I, 14 December 1929), p. 7.
    Cleveland, OH, Cleveland Museum of Art, Sixth Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting (1926); no cat., see Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art (June 1926).
  • {{cite web|title=Still Life|url=false|author=Preston Dickinson|year=c. 1924|access-date=22 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1926.1664