PAINTINGS WE LOVE: While we love all of our paintings, these are standouts

Composizione is one of eight paintings that Kay Sage executed in the late 1930s; it is also the last available work from this early period, making it extremely rare. The painting, more than any of the early works, prefigures her mature Surrealist style. The bold lines, restrained palette, and strong, imaginative composition make it an exceptional example of Sage’s singular artistic vision. 

The combination of superb artistic skill and a great story make this watercolor exceptional. Fuertes excelled at painting birds scientifically while also giving them personality and pathos. He gave this painting to the American-born archeaologist Edward Herbert Thompson (1857-1935), who spent the majority of his career studying Mayan culture and excavating the area of Chitzén Itzá. The gift likely served as an important memento for Thompson, once he returned to the States. Feathers in Mayan culture were considered symbols of good luck, which is probably why Fuertes included them here. 

The "Weehawkin Sequence," a series of oil paintings on small canvasboards, constitute some of John Marin’s most advanced and adventuresome paintings, and this painting is an exceptional example. The body of work was completed by 1916, making the paintings some of the most abstract and modern works by an American artist created before the First World War. The dynamic brushwork perfectly captures the staccato forms that make up the composition. It is a tour de force of early American modernism by one of its most original practitioners.