TitleWoodland Idyl
Artist
John Fabian Carlson
(Swedish/American, 1874 - 1945)
Daten.d.
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 25 × 30 3/8 in.
Framed: 34 3/4 × 39 5/8 × 2 1/2 in.
SignedSigned lower right: "John F. Carlson"
SubmissionNA diploma presentation, May 18, 1926
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number196-P
Label TextCarlson was a great lover of woodland scenes. The artist remarked: "I would rather be in the woods than any other place on earth, and I've spent a good part of my life painting trees. Naturally, I've become pretty well acquainted with them. Excellent friends they are and, for me, the most fascinating 'sitters.' Trees are a lot like human beings; rooted men, possessing character, ambitions and idiosyncrasies. Those who know trees see all their whims; see their struggles, too; struggles with wind and weather; struggles to adjust themselves to their society. For nature will not allow them to run amuck, heedless of their neighbors; their individual propensities must conform to the cosmic laws within their own democracy. That there is a certain rhythm in a wood; a flow between parts, a give and take that is rigidly observed."