Sweet Tremulous Leaves
1922/1923
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 77.2 x 46.4 cm (30 3/8 x 18 1/4 in.) framed: 97.8 x 67.6 x 3.2 cm (38 1/2 x 26 5/8 x 1 1/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CAB
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Chester Dale Collection
Accession Number
1963.10.119
Art Historical Context
Arthur B. Davies created *Sweet Tremulous Leaves* in 1922–1923, during a period when American artists were exploring both modernist experiments and more poetic, introspective visions of nature. Working in oil on canvas, Davies employed a medium prized for its richness and subtlety, allowing him to render delicate textures and atmospheric effects with luminous color and soft transitions. The painting’s evocative title hints at a lyrical focus on foliage, capturing the gentle movement and emotional resonance of the natural world. Davies, a key figure early twentieth-century American art, is oft...
About the Artist
Arthur B. Davies · 1862–1928
Arthur Bowen Davies (1862–1928) occupies one of the most paradoxical positions in American art history: a painter whose own canvases were lyrical, dreamlike, and rooted in the classical tradition, yet whose organizational energy and curatorial vision helped force American audiences into direct confrontation with the European avant-garde. Born on 26 September 1862 in Utica, New York, to English and...