On View
Not on viewObject number1960/1.23
Lighthouse on Lake Michigan
Artist
Zoltan Sepeshy
(American, 1898-1974)
Date1943
Mediumtempera on board
Dimensionsframe: 35 1/2 × 47 1/2 × 3/4 in. (90.2 × 120.7 × 1.9 cm)
image: 28 1/2 × 40 1/2 in. (72.4 × 102.9 cm)
image: 28 1/2 × 40 1/2 in. (72.4 × 102.9 cm)
Credit LineGift of J.L. Hudson Co.
Exhibition History"Highlight of the Permanent Collection," KIA (May - Aug. 2003).
"Perspectives on Place: Artists’ Visions of Michigan's Land and Lakes," KIA Nay Gallery (June 6 - Sept. 7, 2008).
"American Realism: Visions of America 1900-1950," Muskegon Museum of Art (May 11 - August 27, 2023); Flint Institute of Arts (September 9 - December 30, 2023); KIA (January 21 - April 14, 2024).
Label Text"For many years, Michigan has meant for me the blue
lakes, the sand, the driftwood, the fishing nets, the boats
of all sorts and sizes-the water that surrounds the State.
This is Michigan on its periphery, but it is the distinctive
Michigan that I have sought summer after summer."
- Zoltan Sepeshy, circa 1948
Zoltan Sepeshy was born in Hungary but spent many years,
until he died, as an instructor at and later as the president of
Cranbrook Institute. He often painted the Michigan dune
country. As a new American, Sepeshy brought a fresh
perspective to his adopted Michigan surroundings and life in
the American Midwest. This picture is dominated by a
monstrous, sun-bleached, sand-polished tree root, a dramatic
form of nature studied in fascinating detail. Ironically, the
lighthouse mentioned in the painting’s title is barely visible in
the background. To obtain the desired shading and intensity
in his painting, Sepeshy used translucent layers of tempera
overlaid through a hatching process. ["American Realism" Exhibition Label, 2023]
