The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 13, 2026

A square-oriented woodcut in flat, geometric planes depicts figures with medium skin tones at a beach. In the foreground, two figures lie face down in orange and maroon swimsuits. To the left, a figure in green hunches forward; on the right, a figure in dark blue sits upright. In the back, a person in yellow sits on a raft. Fields of yellow sand, blue water, and purple hills fill the composition.

Sun Bathing

1937

Mabel A. Hewit

(American, 1903–1984)
America
color woodcut
Sheet: 32.7 x 40.4 cm (12 7/8 x 15 7/8 in.); Image: 27.7 x 30.3 cm (10 7/8 x 11 15/16 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Jurey in memory of Mabel A. Hewit 2003.362
© Mabel A. Hewit
Location: Not on view

Description

Following modernist trends, Hewit emphasized the two-dimensional nature of the support. The brilliant crisp forms of the sun bathers flatten the space and push the figures close to the viewer. This emphasis on the picture plane continues in the background, where Hewit described the water as a stack of flat, jagged shapes topped by a brown band that fills the space to the borderline.
  • Collection of the artist
  • Glaubinger, Jane. "Midwest Modern." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 50, no. 4 (July/August 2010): 4-5. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 5 archive.org
  • Midwest Modern: The Color Woodcuts of Mabel Hewit. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 24, 2010).
    Against the Grain: Woodcuts from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 17-November 9, 2003).
  • {{cite web|title=Sun Bathing|url=false|author=Mabel A. Hewit|year=1937|access-date=13 May 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2003.362