The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 2, 2023

Sunny Autumn Day

1892

George Inness

(American, 1825–1894)

America, 19th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 111.4 x 137.5 x 12.1 cm (43 7/8 x 54 1/8 x 4 3/4 in.); Unframed: 81 x 106 cm (31 7/8 x 41 3/4 in.); Former: 101 x 127 x 7.6 cm (39 3/4 x 50 x 3 in.)

Anonymous Gift 1956.578

Location

208 American Gilded Age and Realism

Fun Fact

Inness died while viewing a sunset, proclaiming, "Oh, how beautiful!” and falling to the ground.

Description

Highly prolific, Inness created more than 1,000 works during a career lasting 50 years. Dated just two years before his death, Sunny Autumn Day epitomizes his late style in which the physical landscape is transformed into something akin to a spiritual apparition. Featuring blurred forms and atmospheric effects from translucent colors, this scene reflects Inness’s mystical view of the natural world.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signed lower left: "G. Inness 1892:

Provenance
1956-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Citations
"Inness masterpiece sold for record price to Cleveland collector," American Art News XXIII (March 28, 1925).
"Inness masterpiece sold for record price to Cleveland collector," American Art News XXIII (March 28, 1925).
Macbeth Gallery, and Inness, George, 1825-1894. George Inness, 1825-1894; Centennial Exhibition, January 20-February 9 1925, the Macbeth Gallery. Macbeth Gallery, 1925. <http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/u?/p15324coll1,2101>
Macbeth Gallery, Art Notes (April 1925): 1425.
Quick, Michael. George Inness: A Catalogue Raisonné. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2007. No. 1066.
Macbeth Gallery Stock Disposition Cards - Sold Paintings microfilm, The Archives of American Art, New York.
Macbeth Gallery, Art Notes (April 1925): 1425.
Macbeth Gallery, Art Notes (April 1925): 1425.
American Art Association. Private Art Collection of Thomas B. Clarke, Part I - Paintings. 1899. 
Clarke, Thomas Benedict, and Thomas E. Kirby. Catalogue of the Private Art Collection of Thomas B. Clarke, New York: To Be Sold at Absolute Public Sale on the Evenings of February 14, 15, 16 and 17 at Chickering Hall ... and on the Afternoons of February 15, 16, 17 and 18 at the American Art Galleries. New York: American Art Association, 1899. 
Macbeth Gallery, Art Notes (April 1925): 1425.
American Art Association. Private Art Collection of Thomas B. Clarke, Part I - Paintings. 1899.
Daingerfield, Elliott. Fifty Paintings by George Inness. New York, NY: Priv. Print, 1913. Reproduced: pl.37
Ireland, Leroy. The Works of George Inness: An Illustrated Catalogue Raisonné. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1965. Mentioned: p. 372-373; Reproduced: no. 1440
Adams, Celeste, Rita Myers, and Adele Z. Silver. An Introduction to American Art in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1972. Mentioned: p. 14-15; Reproduced: p. 15
"A Check List: American Paintings and Water Colors of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Early Twentieth Centuries in The Cleveland Museum of Art," The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art no. 1(January, 1973): 29 Reproduced: p. 29, no. 106
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Detroit Institute of Arts, and Toledo Museum of Art. Heritage and Horizon: American Painting, 1776-1976. Toledo, OH: Toledo Museum of Art, 1976. Reproduced: p. 37
Cikovsky, Nicolai. The Life and Work of George Inness. New York, NY: Garland Pub, 1977. Mentioned: p. 309-316, 327-335; Reproduced: no. 120
Chong, Alan. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993. Reproduced: p. 114
Carr, Carolyn Kinder and Robert W Rydell. Revisiting the White City : American Art at the 1893 World's Fair. Washington, DC: National Museum of American Art and National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC: University Press of New England, 1993. Reproduced: p. 269
DeLue, Rachael Ziady. George Inness and the Science of Landscape. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2004. Reproduced: pl. 18
Quick, Michael. George Inness: A Catalogue Raisonné. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2007. Reproduced: p. 371, fig. 1066
Exhibition history

Chicago, World's Columbian Exposition, (1893); cat. no. 598, lent by Thomas B. Clarke, N.Y.

New York, Union League Club, Inness and Homer Exhibition (1898), cat. no. 2, lent by Thomas B. Clarke.

New York, American Art Galleries, Clarke Sale (14-17 February 1899), cat. no. 184.

Paris, Exposition Universelle Internationale de Paris of 1900 (15 April-12 November 1900), "The Annotated Catalogue of American Paintings, Paris Exposition of 1900" taken from Appendix B in Paris 1900: The "American School" at the Universal Exposition; A18/M771c.

St. Louis, St. Louis Universal Exposition (1904); did find Official: Illustrations of Selected Works in the Various National Sections of the Department of Art with Complete List of Awards by the International Jury.

Chicago, Moulton and Ricketts Galleries, Loan Exhibit: Inness, Wyant, Blakelock (March, 1913), illus. plate VI, cat. not numbered or paginated.

Buffalo, The Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Albright Art Gallery, The Eighth Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists (10 May-31 August 1913), cat. no. 61, illus. p. 58, listed p. 23.

New York, Macbeth Gallery, (January-April 1925), cat. no. 23, lent by Mrs. Chauncey J. Blair.

Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Inaugural Exhibition (6 June-20 September 1916), cat. no. 21, listed p. 128, not illus.

St. Louis, City Art Museum of St. Louis, 200 Years of American Painting (1 April-31 May 1964), cat. not numbered, illus. p. 28.

Buffalo, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Heritage and Horizon: American Painting 1776-1976 (6 March-11 April 1976); traveled to Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts (5 may-3 June 1976); Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art (4 July-15 August 1976); Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art (8 September-10 October 1976), illus. cat. no. 25.

Oakland, The Oakland Museum, George Inness Landscapes: His Signature Years 1884-1894 (28 November 1978-28 January 1979), cat. not numbered, but listed and illus. p. 59.

Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Visions of Landscape: East and West (17 February-21 March 1982)

Montclair, NJ, The Montclair Art Museum, Paris 1900: The "American School" at the Universal Exposition (18 September 1999-16 January 2000); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (11 February-16 April 2000); Columbus, Columbus Art Museum (18 May-13 August 2000); Madison, WI, Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison (16 September-3 December 2000); Paris, Musée Carnavalet (2 February-15 May 2001); cat. no. 81, illus. p. 75.

200 Years of American Painting. Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO (organizer) (co-organizer) (April 1-May 31, 1964).

Heritage and Horizon: American Painting 1776 - 1976. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY (organizer) (March 7-April 11, 1976); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (May 2-June 13, 1976); The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH (July 4-August 15, 1976); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 8-October 10, 1976).

George Inness Landscapes: His Signature Years, 1884-1894. Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA (organizer) (November 28, 1978-January 28, 1979); Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA (February 10-April 15, 1979).

Visions of Landscape: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982).

Paris 1900: The "American School" at the Universal Exposition. Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ (organizer) (September 18, 1999-January 16, 2000); Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Museum of American Art, Philadelphia, PA (February 11-April 16, 2000); Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH (May 18-August 13, 2000); Elvehjem Museum of Art, Madison, WI (September 16-December 3, 2000); Musée Carnavalet, Paris, France (February 20-April 29, 2001).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1956.578