Reapers (Harvest)

Reapers (Harvest)

1946
Artist
Kenneth Miller Adams, 1897-1966
Country
United States
Object
painting
Medium
Oil paint on canvas
Accession Number
2013.466
Credit Line
Gift from Dr. George C. Peck and Catherine M. Peck

Kenneth Miller Adams, Reapers (Harvest), 1946. Oil on canvas; 40 x 32 in. Denver Art Museum: Gift from Dr. George C. Peck and Catherine M. Peck, 2013.466. © The Estate of Kenneth Miller Adams

Department
Petrie Institute of Western American Art
Collection
Petrie Institute of Western American Art
This object is currently on view

Kenneth Miller Adams studied in France and Italy before moving to Taos in 1924, where he became interested in the local Spanish American population. Here, he surrounds the strong bodies of two female workers with golden harvest tones. The viewer’s eye travels around the composition—from the upright woman in the green dress, through her sheaf of wheat, and down the stooping woman’s back and arm. This movement imitates the endless motion of these women’s exhausting labor.

Después de sus estudios en Francia e Italia, Kenneth Miller Adams se instaló en Taos en 1924, en donde se despierta su interés por la población hispanoamericana local. En esta obra, envuelve los cuerpos sólidos de dos trabajadoras con los tonos dorados de la época de la cosecha. La vista de espectador recorre la composición, desde la mujer erguida en su vestido verde hacia su gavilla de trigo, y baja por la espalda y el brazo de la mujer encorvada. Este recorrido visual replica el movimiento repetitivo del agotador trabajo de estas mujeres.

Known Provenance
Artist; Dr. George C. Peck, 1973; Gifted to the Denver Art Museum, 2013
Exhibition History
  • "One Hundred and Twenty Third Annual Exhibition"—National Academy of Design, NY, 3/10/1949 - 3/23/1949, no. 109.
  • "Exhibition of American Painting"—Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1950
  • La Fonda Hotel Gallery, Taos, New Mexico, 1952
  • "Picturesque Images from Taos and Santa Fe"—Denver Art Museum, 1/12/1974 - 3/17/1974
  • "The Taos Society of Artists, Southwestern American Art: Selections from the Collection of Dr. and Mrs. George Peck"—Vero Beach Museum of Art, 11/19/2004 - 2/20/2005
  • "BackStory: Western American Art in Context"—History Colorado, 3/18/2017 - 2/11/2018