Island mother ca. 1903

For description see text below.

JQAW# G_1903_080
Oil on hardboard 75 x 49 cm
Signature: JQ. Ɑdams Insel Mutter (accord. to auction catalog)
Image: Auction catalog 34th Kunstauktion Kinsky Vienna 15.5.2001 Lot 51
catalogue scan courtesy of im Kinsky auction house
Unknown private collection

Dutch interior scene. A young woman in a red and white striped dress with a white hood sits sewing at a table on which several items of clothing are lying. Next to her on the floor is a cradle containing a baby covered with a red blanket with green seams. Above the cradle is a round canopy covered with a light blue blanket. The rustic interior includes a wooden floor, wood-panelled walls and a buffet on which several colored plates are displayed vertically. There are several framed pictures on the wall.

This interior scene from Adams Voldendam period is painted in the muted Rembrandt-esque brown tones typical of this period, which are heightened here by strong color accents. The work is only documented from the 34th Kinsky Art Auction in Vienna on 15.5.2001 (lot 51). The painting is probably identical to one of the numerous Dutch interior studies that Adams painted between 1901 and 1905 and exhibited in the Künstlerhaus (the entry book lists at least 9 such interior studies, others are listed as “studies” -- but an attribution is not possible due to a lack of description and dimensions in the entry book), The work is dated here as ca. 1903. According to the auction catalog, the painting is titled as “Island Mother”, which is probably an indication that the domestic scene was painted on the island of Marken off the coast of the fishing village of Volendam near Amsterdam, which is now connected to the mainland by a causeway.

Cross-references

Exhibited

Literature

Provenance

Unknown.
2001 34. Kunstauktion 15.5.2001 Kinsky Vienna Lot 51 (unsold).
Unknown private collection (Vienna?).