Landscape with Red Rocks
Artist
Cady Wells
(American, 1904 - 1954)
Date1952
Mediumink and gouache on paper
DimensionsImage: 14 13/16 x 22 1/8 in. (37.6 x 56.2 cm)
Mat: 22 x 28 in. (55.9 x 71.1 cm)
Mat: 22 x 28 in. (55.9 x 71.1 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineMuseum acquisition, before 1964
Object number131.23P
DescriptionAbstract landscape. Black background w/vivid yellow checked overlay. Red cliff outlined in black at R of image. Small red rock outlined in black at left of image. Green/yellow brush BRC and tall green tree along L edge.eMuseum Notes
Landscape with Red Rocks takes its inspiration from a desert scene, yet Cady Wells transformed the distinctive geological formations of New Mexico into vaguely threatening forms, resembling the hybrid forms of Max Ernest, Yves Tanguy, and other surrealists. Distrustful of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the recent history of the Manhattan Project, Wells struggled with anxiety given his proximity to Los Alamos, and this manifested in his work in disquieting images of nature.
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