96
Agnes Pelton
"Sleep," 1928
Displayed in its original, Pelton-made, silver-gray frame
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Provenance:
The Artist
Agnes Pelton estate inventory, circa 1961, no. 76
Private Collection, Minnesota -
Exhibited:
Pasadena, CA, Grace Nicholson Art Galleries, "Decorative Flower Paintings and Abstractions by Agnes Pelton," April 15 - May 15, 1929
Los Angeles, CA, (Jake) Zeitlin's Book Shop, "Abstract Paintings by Agnes Pelton," June 1 –15, 1929
New York, NY, Montross Gallery, "Abstractions by Agnes Pelton," November 11 - 23, 1929, no. 9
New York, NY, Grand Central Palace, "Society of Independent Artists, 14th Annual Exhibition," February 28 – March 30, 1930, no. 798
New York, NY, Argent Galleries, "Exhibition of Paintings by Agnes Pelton," February 16 - March 7, 1931, no. 15
Plainfield, NJ, Plainfield Public Library, "Exhibition of Paintings by Agnes Pelton," March 16 - 30, 1931, no. 8 -
Literature:
Margaret Stainer, "Agnes Pelton," (Fremont: Ohlone College Art Gallery, 1989) published to coincide with their exhibition October 9 - November 5, 1989.
Ed Garman, Posthumous inventory of Agnes Pelton's abstractions, compiled circa 1961-62, entry no. 76, Raymond Jonson Papers, 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," (November 15, 1929): page 2.
"Agnes Pelton Will Exhibit in New York," "The Courier-News," Bridgewater, New Jersey, November 7, 1929, page 6.
Agnes Pelton Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, sketch and notes for Sleep, 1928. Notebook-Sketchbook IV, circa 1917-1929, frame 77-b. -
Notes:
John Moran Auctioneers, Inc. is honored to present pioneering 20th Century Modernist Agnes Pelton's "Sleep." We are grateful to Michael Kelley for his expertise in researching and writing this essay.
"Radiating an inner light of protection, From the darkness of the night, And its unseen elements"
- Agnes Pelton
"Her compositions arose from unconscious sources, usually from dreams or meditative states"
- Michael Zakian, "Agnes Pelton and Georgia O'Keeffe: The Window and the Wall," "Illumination: The Paintings of Georgia O'Keeffe, Agnes Pelton, Agnes Martin, and Florence Miller Pierce," Orange County Museum of Art, 2009.
"That's what Miss Pelton loves doing, painting the sound of crackling fire, the picture of peace, as it formed in her own mind, of renunciation, of faith, of sleep."
- Jane Corby, "Windmill Home of Artist Inspires Unique Paintings", Brooklyn Eagle, Brooklyn, New York, February 20, 1931.
"These paintings are seldom presentations of forms in Nature – except in a symbolic sense; they are impressions of inner visual experiences, bringing light out of darkness."
- Agnes Pelton
Discovery
Acquired by the present owner decades ago in a gift exchange, "Sleep" is a rare find and revelatory addition to the Agnes Pelton canon, and only the sixth of her scarce transcendental abstractions to be offered at auction.
Along with "Flowering" (Sold: John Moran Auctioneers, "Art + Design," August 13, 2024), "Sleep" is among the first wave of abstract compositions Pelton began to paint starting around 1925-26. Its sketchbook entry begins in the year 1928 and is annotated with the comment "Home at Easter" which suggests it was probably conceived in April. On a timeline of Pelton's creative evolution, "Sleep" appears in close proximity to "Ecstasy" (1928), "Divinity Lotus" (1929), "Lotus For Lida" or "Egyptian Dawn" (1930), "Incarnation" (1929), "Caves of Mind" (1929), "Radiance" (1929), "Winter" (1929) and "Star Gazer" (1929).
Like "Flowering," "Sleep" retains its original Pelton-made silver-gray frame, her exclusive choice
for abstractions. Because of changing tastes and an unawareness of Pelton's preference, the majority of her abstractions have been reframed to contemporary standards with few retaining their original frames.
Dating Pelton's Work
Generally speaking, there are three date categories for Pelton abstractions: 1) Date of conception: this category refers to Pelton's initial handwritten and annotated pencil sketches of abstract compositions, these sketches are found in Pelton's personal notebooks/sketchbooks held by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Agnes Pelton papers; 2) Date
that Pelton commenced execution of the work in oil; this info, when known, is based on notebook entries and/or letters written by Pelton; 3) Date that Pelton signed and dated the completed oil painting, which may be years after initial conception. As a result of Pelton's own documentation and in relying on this research methodology, dates for Pelton's abstract works are somewhat elastic and must be assessed on a case-by-case basis by cross-referencing information from multiple sources. Significantly, "Sleep" appears to have been both conceived and painted to completion in 1928.
Sleep and Meditation as Inspiration
Sleep and meditation were the two primary sources of inspiration for Agnes Pelton's abstract compositions. With sleep came dreams, and during meditation she received visions; both provided images and narratives that Pelton entered into her sketchbooks with notes addressing forms and colors. In a January 1929 entry for an abstract composition titled "Felicity," Pelton indicates that the idea came to her "between sleeping and waking."
The importance of sleep to Pelton's spiritual nourishment and creative process is further revealed in her statement: "A night under stars. Coming out of sleep and consciousness overlapped a moment and I held a nearer feeling or perception of the stars. I was nearer them, or else their potencies reached me -- rayed out toward me, softer, filial, or streaming, speaking, reaching, giving messages" (Agnes Pelton, 1932, as quoted in Erika Doss's "Agnes Pelton and Occulture", "Spiritual Moderns: Twentieth Century American Artists & Religion," 2023.
Agnes Pelton's handwritten sketchbook entry for "Sleep" includes the title, date and inscription: "1928 [underscored twice] / Home at Easter / Sleep," along with a line drawing of the composition and the following notes:
"Soft phosphorus oval body - not quite opaque - an inner state not seen but felt - Soft green gray or pearl - faint glow - Surroundings dull - opaque - beneath rich dark forms are there holding it or reaching toward it - color somewhat like moon mist but more yellow, slight veins of color or light - delicate, over the opaque part of it."
Pelton's comment "color somewhat like moon mist but more yellow" refers to her circa 1911 painting "Calm (Moon Mist)," which is referenced in an inventory of known works listed on page 22 of Margaret Stainer's exhibition catalogue "Agnes Pelton," Ohlone College Art Gallery, Fremont, California, 1989 [the exhibition dates were October 9 - November 5, 1989].
"Sleep" was conceived in 1928, most likely during a recuperative stay at Wild Farm, Pelton's 54-acre rural retreat in Killingworth, Connecticut.
"This picture came to me during a spring vacation in the country at Easter after several exhausting months of portrait commissions in a suburban city."
- Agnes Pelton
The isolated setting of Wild Farm with its swaths of dense forest also provided the inspiration for "Vine Wood," Pelton's entry in the landmark Armory Show of 1913.
The Windmill: Birthplace of Pelton's Transcendental Abstractions
Spiritual batteries recharged after her vacation at Wild Farm, Pelton returned to the creatively stimulating environs of her windmill on Long Island\, New York for the following seven months. A visitor described the romantically picturesque home and charming impression it made on her with its "aroma of a tasty supper drifting from the kitchen, crystal candlesticks, a purring cat in an armchair, and an old piano which the artist proceeded to play."
Pelton's mindset and art were profoundly affected by her move in 1921 from Brooklyn to the windmill. As quoted by Erika Doss in "Spiritual Moderns: Twentieth Century American Artists & Religion," Pelton saw it as a "mystical house...reaching into Heaven and radiating from its center."
The relocation brought a sweeping change from bustling city life to quiet, picturesque seclusion, black night skies, and glowing stars. Living full-time in the solitude of this idyllic rural environment brought Pelton into intimate communion with nature, where her "art of the heart" evolved progressively into abstraction. In 1923, she wrote "I love it here, and feel happier and more contented than I have anywhere before" (Michael Zakian, "Agnes Pelton: Poet of Nature," Long Island, 1995, p. 30). In addition to "Sleep", the abstractions "Being," "The Fountains," "Messengers," "Flowering," "Alchemy", "Illumination," and "Fire Sounds" date from Pelton's windmill period.
A warm and gracious hostess, Pelton regularly entertained visitors at the windmill, treating them to tea, music she provided on her piano, and her art. It was in this richly nurturing setting that "Sleep" was painted in advance of Pelton's first visit to Southern California in October of 1928.
During her approximately nine-month stay in South Pasadena through June of 1929, Pelton exhibited "Sleep" at the Grace Nicholson Galleries in Pasadena (now the USC Pacific Asia Museum) and Jake Zeitlin's Book Shop in downtown Los Angeles. The Grace Nicholson installation was announced in the Pasadena Post newspaper on April 12, 1929: "Another Wonderful Art Exhibit - Agnes Pelton's flower subjects - the portraits and her Mysticism Paintings - marvels of color - occupy one of the small south galleries."
Agnes and Frida: History in the Making
In late 1931, Pelton returned to California and made it her permanent home, settling in Cathedral City near Palm Springs. Prior to arriving, she visited San Francisco, where her abstraction "Ecstasy," painted in 1928 during the same period as "Sleep," was featured in the Sixth Annual San Francisco Society of Women Artists exhibition at the Legion of Honor. In lofty company, Pelton shared the walls with Theresa Bernstein, the late Mary Cassatt, and perhaps the most notable participant, "Senora Frieda Rivera" as she was then known -- Frida Kahlo -- making her public debut as an artist with a portrait of herself and Diego Rivera. Pelton, a seasoned art world veteran with academic training, teaching positions, and a fifteen-year exhibition history, had recently celebrated her 50th birthday. In contrast, Kahlo was 24 and taking her first step as a professional artist; she did not have her first solo exhibition until 1938.
The Uncommon Theme of Sleep
"Sleep" is paired with Pelton's corresponding poem, plus the rare addition of explanatory notes detailing the backstory of the composition. These consist of a typewritten summary attached to the back of the painting and two longer archival versions, each with unique elaboration, one handwritten, one typewritten. Both were made for a lecture Pelton gave in late 1930 at the Master Institute of United Arts, New York City, founded by painter-philosopher Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947) and his wife, Theosophist-writer Helena Roerich (1879-1955). The Roerichs' Agni Yoga system of enlightenment was a foundational influence on Pelton's personal spiritual beliefs and the corresponding metaphysical principles that inform her abstractions.
"SLEEP: is the picture of an arrival at a temporary destination snugly established in our own compartment or our own private train leading to some place of which we remember nothing. It is here presented by the mind as a state of being we all enter gladly and with relief. Its naturalness after days of normal activity does not lesson the mystery of its actual condition and the need of entering it in a positive and peaceful state of mind; with a consciousness of protection as in the prayers of childhood, 'I pray the Lord my soul to keep - God keep us through the night.' And here we are - keeping ourselves, or being kept. Floating through a rather sinister region we become a sphere of immunity, self-sustaining, insulated from danger by the protective glow we have unconsciously called out from within to keep us through the night.
This picture came to me during a spring vacation in the country at Easter after several exhausting months of portrait commissions in a suburban city. It represented to me an unapproachable haven, though temporary, a sphere of immunity and refreshment. The egg shape being of such universal significance may suggest some other state of being, but I interpret it as it came with the feeling of safety and renewal it brought me" (Agnes Pelton's typewritten statement explaining the origins and meaning of "Sleep," file, Raymond Jonson Archive, University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM, 1928).
Although the function of sleep is of universal relevance as a necessity of life for all sentient creatures, it is an uncommon theme in artistic depictions. The best-known artwork to address the darker, dream-state aspects of sleep is "The Nightmare," painted in 1781 by Henry Fuseli (1741-1825, Swiss/British), in the permanent collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Reviewing the Whitney Museum of American Art's 2020 exhibition "Agnes Pelton: Desert Transcendentalist," Kassandra Ibrahim observes that "Pelton seemed to have been following a tradition of artistic interest in nocturnal fascinations, similar to that of 19th century painter Henry Fuseli." Ibrahim, however, makes the distinction that Pelton and Fuseli present "two opposite experiences of dreaming: the elevated blissful consciousness in Pelton and the horrifying nightmare in Fuseli, compliments to one another, representing the binary nature of dreams" (Kassandra Ibrahim, "A Review of Agnes Pelton: Desert Transcendentalist," Art Ramblings, Fordham University online, November 30, 2020, https://artramblings.ace.fordham.edu/?p=3463).
In contrast to Fuseli's picture, which offers only a disturbance of sleep with no redemption or escape, Pelton's glowing cocoon provides a refuge of peaceful protection.
"Many of Pelton's works include a light-filled orb or egg. A cosmogonic symbol par excellence, it is found in many creation myths, symbolic of creativity, often splitting open to form a new world. Pelton's eggs are transparent with light emanating from their centers. Two such works must have had great significance for the artist, because she repeats the first version [of] "Light Center" (1947-48). Both paintings feature a pale, almost white, transparent egg that glows from within, surrounded by darker blue forms. They present a portrait of the divine center of the artist's personality. Similar forms can be found in many of Pelton's works such as "Wells of Jade" (1931), "Interval" (1950), "Focus" (1951), and "Departure" (1952). It is as though she has captured divinity in this orb or egg, and it creates an energetic center, projecting these energies outward toward the viewer" (Ann McCoy, "Agnes Pelton, Desert Transcendentalist," The Brooklyn Rail, Art Seen, May 2020, https://brooklynrail.org/2020/05/artseen/Agnes-Pelton-Desert-Transcendentalist/).
While as a general rule Pelton did not create pictures in series -- her numerous "Star Icon" variants being a notable exception -- there are occasional instances of overlap with some compositions sharing common traits. Such is the case with "Sleep" and "Wells of Jade" (1931), which could have been painted side-by-side using the same color palette.
Transcendental Abstraction as Universal Truth and Personal Experience
The transcendental abstractions of Agnes Pelton - or Abstractions with a capital 'A' as she referred to them - are known for their spiritual and painted light, life-affirming symbolism, and positive energy. Yet despite this overarching theme of optimism, Pelton did not shy away from literal or metaphoric darkness. In many of her compositions she addresses the Yin-Yang polarities of life by incorporating forms that are both beneficent and menacing, rendered in colors that are correspondingly radiant and dark. In a sketchbook entry for an untitled abstract composition dated July 5 (1928) which appears just a few pages after "Sleep," both "serenity"
and "confusion" have been noted by Pelton as key spiritual dynamics she wants to convey, indicating her desire to articulate the concept of duality.
"...there was a place - or a state of being - in which no fears could reach me at all..."
- Agnes Pelton's handwritten notebook entry quoting from the novel "FEAR" by John Oliver
Rathbone (1928), AAA Notebook/Sketchbook VI, 1930-1935, frame 14
Although Pelton dealt with lifelong physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual issues
linked to anxiety, she was equally driven by a strong impulse to survive and thrive through introspection and spiritual exploration. Her voluminous notebooks and personal correspondence attest to her unrelenting quest for knowledge she could use for self-help and healing.
Agnes Pelton's transcendental abstractions address universal truths through their symbolic depiction of personal experiences. "Sleep" is such a picture, with its nurturing, cocoon-like safety provided by a light in the darkness; the light of still, silent, inner-glowing faith in which Pelton and the viewer are "floating, luminously protected" during unconscious dreaming hours.
Edited 10/30/2024 01:38 PM by [email protected]
Previous Value(s) Changed:
CatalogText: Agnes Pelton
(1881-1961)
"Sleep," 1928
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated lower right: Agnes Pelton; signed again and titled in pencil on the stretcher; signed a third time, titled, and inscribed "Cathedral City / California" in ink on a brown paper label previously taped to the stretcher, but now stored on the frame's backing board. Stored on the same backing board is a typed statement by the artist about this painting which was previously taped to the verso of the canvas: "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."
18" H x 20" W -
Condition: Visual: Overall good condition. Slight stretcher bar creases along all four sides, showing primarily at top. The stretcher has new keys in all four corners.
Blacklight: Occasional pea-sized (or smaller) touch-ups scattered almost exclusively near the outer edges of the canvas. A small area of scattered touch-up in the background at left measuring approximately 0.75" H x 0.25" W.
Frame: 20" H x 22" W x 1.75" D
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