Cherries and Raspberries in a Basket
Levi Wells Prentice, American, 1851 - 1935
1891
Oil on canvas
Overall: 12 1/4 × 19 1/4 in. (31.1 × 48.9 cm)
Frame: 17 7/8 × 24 7/8 in. (45.4 × 63.2 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Miriam H. and S. Sidney Stoneman Acquisition Fund, a gift from the Estate of Russell Cowles, Class of 1909, and through gifts from John W. Thompson, Class of 1908, and Dorothea M. Litzinger, by exchange
P.987.8
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
19th century
Object Name
Painting
Research Area
Painting
On view
Inscriptions
Signed and dated, lower right: L.W. Prentice/1891
Label
The painting above is thought to be an allegory of life, with the grapes representing youth and the raisins signifying old age. Within this exhibition, these fruits also speak to the importance of water in cultivation. Abundant juices contained within the ripe grapes, melons, plums, peaches, and pears juxtapose with water’s absence in the withering raisins.
In the painting below, round cherries on branches encircle a toppled basket of plump raspberries. Just picked from the garden, these delectable fruits suggest a year of bountiful rains. Stacked baskets inform us that there are many more left to harvest, perhaps to be baked into a sweet desert or processed into a jam.
Reliable access to clean water was essential togrowing the fruits portrayed in these paintings and remains important to ensuring the security of our food supply today.
From the 2023 exhibition Liquidity: Art, Commodities, and Water, curated by Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art
Course History
SART 25, SART 31, SART 72, Painting I, II, III, Thomas Ferrara, Winter 2012
First Year Student Enrichment Program - Cultures, Identities and Belongings, Francine A'Ness, Summer 2023
Anthropology 55.01, Anthropology of Global Health, Anne Sosin, Fall 2023
Anthropology 55.01, Anthropology of Global Health, Anne Sosin, Fall 2023
Art History 40.01, American Art and Identity, Mary Coffey, Fall 2023
Creative Writing 10.02, Writing and Reading Fiction, Katherine Crouch, Fall 2023
Geography 11.01, Qualitative Methods, Emma Colven, Fall 2023
Geography 2.01, Introduction to Human Geography, Coleen Fox, Fall 2023
Geography 31.01, Postcolonial Geographies, Erin Collins, Fall 2023
English 30.01, African and African American Studies 34.01, Early Black American LIterature, Michael Chaney, Winter 2024
Studio Art 25.02, Painting I, Tom Ferrara, Winter 2024
Writing 5.06, Image and Text, Becky Clark, Winter 2024
Writing 5.07, Image and Text, Becky Clark, Winter 2024
Exhibition History
American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Jaffe Hall Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 9-December 9, 2007.
Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 29-June 2, 2003.
Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 23, 1997-October 22, 1998.
Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, February 28, 2000-April 17, 2001.
Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 21, 1996-May 11, 1997.
Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 2009-present.
Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 26-May 28, 1996.
Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 16, 1993.
Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 19, 2003-May 8, 2007.
Liquidity: Art, Commodities, and Water, Israel Sack Gallery and the Rush Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 29, 2023-November 24, 2024.
Nature Staged: The Landscape and Still Life Paintings of Levi Wells Prentice, The Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, New York, May 29-October 15, 1993.
Still Life Exhibition, The Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico, September 19, 1999- January 2, 2000.
The American Still Life Tradition 1855-1985, Montgomery Gallery, San Francisco, California, May 29-July 6, 1985.
Publication History
Barbara L. Jones, Nature Staged: The Landscape and Still Life Paintings of Levi Wells Prentice, Blue Mountain Lake, New York: The Adirondack Museum, 1993, p. 57, ill. plate 35.
Barbara J. MacAdam, American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Muesum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2007, p. 60, no. 39.
Provenance
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., New York; sold to present collection, 1987.
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