Agnes Pelton (1881-1961) Sleep, 1928 Oil on canvas, 18
Sleep, 1928

Agnes Pelton

(1881-1961)
Sleep, 1928
Oil on canvas, 18″ x 20″
$300,000-500,000

Modern & Contemporary Fine Art
November 19, 2024 | 12pm PST

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Sleep

“It came to me many years ago after a mid-winter visit to the city, and was the expression of the sudden quiet and winter peace of the windmill (on Long Island) which was then my home: the feeling of rightness in being there, and of a conscious gentle radiation of protection, through dark and uncertain places.”
~ Agnes Pelton

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Agnes Pelton (1881-1961) Sleep, 1928 Oil on canvas, 18

About this work

Agnes Pelton
(1881-1961)
Sleep, 1928
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated lower right: Agnes Pelton 1928
Signed again and titled along the bottom of the stretcher bar: Agnes Pelton / Sleep
Artist’s handwritten card attached verso: Sleep / Agnes Pelton / Cathedral City / California
Attached to the bottom of the painting, verso, is Agnes Pelton’s typewritten summary of Sleep’s backstory: “Sleep by Agnes Pelton: It came to me many years ago after a mid-winter visit to the city and was the expression of the sudden quiet and winter peace of the windmill (on Long Island) which was then my home: The feeling of rightness in being there, and of a conscious gentle radiation of protection, through dark and uncertain places.”
Displayed in its original, Pelton-made, silver-gray frame
18” H x 20” W; Framed: 20” H x 22” W x 1.75” D

$300,000-500,000

Provenance

The artist
Agnes Pelton estate inventory, circa 1961, #76: “Sleep -V.- 20” x 18”-Photo”
Private Collection, Minnesota

Exhibition

Pasadena, CA, Grace Nicholson Art Galleries, “Decorative Flower Paintings and Abstractions by Agnes Pelton,” April 15 – May 1, 1929. Note: A news item published Thursday May 23, 1929 in the “Keyport Enterprise” (Keyport, New Jersey) “Borough Briefs” column states: “The exhibition of portraits, abstract and flower paintings by Miss Agnes Pelton at the Grace Nicholson galleries in Pasadena, Cal., was so successful that Miss Pelton was compelled to continue the exhibit for two weeks longer.” This would revise the exhibition dates to April 15 – circa May 15, 1929.

Los Angeles, CA, (Jake) Zeitlin’s Book Shop, “Abstract Paintings by Agnes Pelton,” June 1 – 15, 1929. Note: A news item published Sunday June 9, 1929 in the “Los Angeles Times” (Los Angeles, Calif) states: “The very interesting abstract paintings by Agnes Pelton, shown recently at the Grace Nicholson Galleries and reviewed in The Times, are now on view at Zeitlin’s bookshop until the 15th.”

New York, NY, Montross Gallery, “Abstractions by Agnes Pelton,” November 11 – 23, 1929, Sleep as no. 9. This solo exhibition also included The Fountains, Caves of Mind, Star Gazer, Incarnation, Messenger, Lookouts, Ecstasy, Inward, Being, Faith, Flowering, and Meadowlark’s Song – Winter.

New York, NY, Grand Central Palace, “Society of Independent Artists, 14th Annual Exhibition,” February 28 – March 30, 1930, Sleep as no. 798.

New York, NY, Argent Galleries, “Exhibition of Paintings by Agnes Pelton,” February 16- March 7, 1931, Sleep as no. 15. This solo exhibition of twenty-one works included Fire Sounds, Equilibrium, White Fire, Voyaging, Rose and Palm, A Lotus for Lida, Wells of Jade, Prayer, Translation, Bells, Peace, The Fountains, Being, Faith, Incarnation, Inward, Lookouts, Renunciation, Meadowlark’s Song – Winter, Efflorescent Decoration.

Plainfield, NJ, Plainfield Public Library, “Exhibition of Paintings by Agnes Pelton,” March 16 – 30, 1931, Sleep as no. 8. This large solo exhibition consisted of thirty works: Peace, Being, The Fountains, Flowering, White Fire, Prayer, A Lotus For Lida, Sleep, Rose and Palm, Translation, Inward, Thought, Voyaging, Lookouts, In Winter, Radiance, Fire Sounds, Renunciation, Faith, Equilibrium, Ecstasy, Incarnation, Wells of Jade, Meadowlark’s Song – Winter, Star Icon (2), Hibiscus (Beirut, Syria), Windmill Path, 4 Hawaiian Flowers (decorative panels, samples for custom orders), Phantasy of Frost and Fire, Star Icon (1).

Literature

Margaret Stainer, “Agnes Pelton,” (Fremont, California, Ohlone College Art Gallery, 1989), catalogue published to coincide with Ohlone exhibition, October 9— November 5, 1989. In this publication, curator Margaret Stainer provides chronological listings of select Pelton “Imaginative Paintings” dating from 1911 through 1917 and “Symbolic Abstractions” dating from 1923/24 through 1961. These are not checklists of works shown at Ohlone College in Stainer’s exhibition; they are incomplete “lifetime output” listings of Pelton paintings in these respective categories known to exist through archival sources and “best information” at the time of publication in 1989. Since that time, additional information has surfaced which expands and revises these lists. Stainer’s list of then-known Pelton abstractions for the year 1928 consisted of: Ecstasy (Des Moines Art Center), Star Gazer (Private Collection), Sleep, Meadowlark’s Song – Winter (Crocker Art Museum).

Ed Garman, posthumous inventory of Agnes Pelton’s abstractions, compiled circa 1961-62, entry no. 76, Raymond Jonson Archives, Agnes Pelton file, University of New Mexico Art Museum.

“The Art News,” volume 28, issue 7 (November 16, 1929).

“An Exhibit of Paintings: Miss Pelton Making Display of Her Work in New York”, “Matawan Journal,” Matawan, New Jersey, (November 15, 1929): page 2. This newspaper article provides titles of all works exhibited at Montross Gallery including Sleep.

“Agnes Pelton Will Exhibit in New York,” “The Courier-News,” Bridgewater, New Jersey, (November 7,1929): page 6, Ida H. Riley announces Pelton’s exhibition at Montross Galleries, Nov. 11 – 23, stating “These most unusual paintings were exhibited in Pasadena at the Grace Nicholson Art Galleries during May and at Zeitlin’s in Los Angeles during June. They are being exhibited in New York for the first time. These canvasses are remarkable for their beautiful, luminous color and for their imaginative range.” The abstractions “Being,” “Ecstasy,” “Faith,” and “Sleep” are mentioned along with a quote from Agnes Pelton: “The aim in these pictures has been to express, through pure and direct color and the; free rhythm essential to them, glimpses of what might be called symbolic vision.”

Agnes Pelton Paper, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, sketch and notes for Sleep, 1928. Notebook-Sketchbook IV, circa 1917 – 1929, frame 77-b.