Lot 52: CHARLES ATHERTON CUMMING

(American 1858-1932) "Neva" Oil on canvas Signed lower right "Charles Atherton Cumming" and Iowa Art Guild label on verso 36.25"x27" Provenance: Private Collection Midwest Exhibition:Des Moines, Iowa, The State Historical Society of Iowa, Charles Atherton Cumming: A Deep Root For Iowa Art, March 1997. And also Mason City, Iowa, The MacNider Museum of Art, September-November 1996. Perhaps no other Iowa artist is as underrated and unknown in the world of art as is Charles Atherton Cumming. Born in Illinois in 1858, Cumming developed an appreciation and aptitude for art at a young age. After attending Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, Cumming enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1885, Cumming studied at the Academie Julian in Paris, at which time he undoubtedly received the inspiration and skill which he would depend on throughout his life when painting his European-inspired luminous countryside landscapes and exceptional portraits. Upon his return to Cornell College as a faculty member and studio instructor, Cumming became one of the pioneers of art education in the state of Iowa. Cumming became the director of the Des Moines Academy of Art and opened the Cumming School of Art in 1895; a facility where aspiring students could receive serious art study. In addition, Cumming was influential in the development of the art curriculum at the University of Iowa, where he was the head of the art department from 1910-1927. The offered lot is a classic example of the painterly beauty found in works by Charles Atherton Cumming. Like his contemporaries Cumming was deeply influenced by the academic painters, and yet his works display elements and techniques similar to those found in the emerging Impressionist art of the day. After retiring from teaching, Cumming, together with his wife, maintained a studio in California until his death in 1932. In the end, Cumming was a staunch traditionalist who was seemingly never influenced by modernist or abstract art.