On View
Not on viewObject number1969/70.61
The Blue Valley Fox Hunt
Maker
John Stockton de Martelly
(American, 1903-1979)
Date1936
Mediumlithograph
Dimensionsimage: 12 3/4 × 16 1/2 in. (32.4 × 41.9 cm)
sheet: 15 7/8 × 21 1/4 in. (40.3 × 54 cm)
mat: 20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 61 cm)
sheet: 15 7/8 × 21 1/4 in. (40.3 × 54 cm)
mat: 20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 61 cm)
Credit LineGift of Associated American Artists
Exhibition History"36 Regionalist prints from the KIA," Dennos Museum Center (Sept. 8 - Nov. 24, 1996), Ella Sharp Museum, Jackson, MI (May 17 - July 13, 1997), Midland Center for the Arts (Aug. 2 - Sept. 21, 1997).
"Artists as Storytellers," KIA Nay Gallery (Feb. 12 - Nov. 10, 2000).
"At Work and Play," KIA Long Gallery (Apr. 1 - July 22, 2005).
Label TextBoth of the composition and the narrative content of the Blue Valley Fox Hunt are reminiscent of deMartelly’s mentor, Thomas Hart Benton. The lines and patterns of the fields are rhythmic variations on Benton’s late style, just as the Native American subject suggests Benton’s usual themes. The humorous scene of “hunters” drinking, snoozing and spinning tall tales around a campfire is, however, deMartelly’s own. He makes his own sly reference to Benton by depicting the older artist sitting against a tree sound asleep.
