The Lorenzetti Grave

* Nearly 20,000 images of artworks the museum believes to be in the public domain are available to download on this site. Other images may be protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights. By using any of these images you agree to LACMA's Terms of Use.

The Lorenzetti Grave

United States, before 1939
Drawings
Watercolor painting on Gilbert paper
Sheet: 22 3/4 × 31 in. (57.79 × 78.74 cm) Image: 22 3/4 × 31 in. (57.79 × 78.74 cm)
The California Watercolor Society Collection of Watercolor Paintings (55.34.12)
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

This solitary scene of an oceanside graveyard poignantly illustrates art critic Alfred Frankenstein’s description of Craig as a "master of mist and watery." ...
This solitary scene of an oceanside graveyard poignantly illustrates art critic Alfred Frankenstein’s description of Craig as a "master of mist and watery." For Craig "a landscape is not so much a place as a moment of time in a place." Craig used his art not to tell a story but rather to suggest a mood, in this case a romantic, contemplative one of quiet solitude. In The Lorenzetti Grave Craig used a controlled, very wet wash to create the soft, blurry effects of impending rain. Windswept trees are a characteristic element in Craig’s landscapes, and he often presented them against a sweeping, open sky to suggest changeable weather conditions. Despite the delicacy of his technique, Craig painted the composition on a full sheet, the large size-a feature that became characteristic of the California watercolorists in the midthirties-demonstrating the expansive vision of the California Water Color Society painters.
More...

Bibliography

  • Fort, Ilene Susan and Michael Quick.  American Art:  a Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection.  Los Angeles:  Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1991.