Fetish (The Pup)
Artist
Cady Wells
(American, 1904 - 1954)
Date1946
Mediumwatercolor and gouache on board
DimensionsOverall: 30 x 22 3/8 in. (76.2 x 56.8 cm)28-1/2 x 20-3/4 image; 30 x 22-3/8 board
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineGift of the Cady Wells Estate, 1982
Object number1982.16.8
DescriptionAbstract on back background w/ shaded red, orange, green & pink. In center of image is free-form outlined in white & green which resembles a dog's head in profile (facing L) w/mouth open & round eye. Curving orange & green lines within headeMuseum Notes
Following World War II, Cady Wells returned from his service in the Army and returned to his easel. His work took a variety of directions, including a series inspired by fetishes. Fetish (The Pup) places the animal form against a dark weave of somber colors. Wells's fetishes acted as aesthetic talismans invoking positive forces. He had developed considerable anxiety over the new Atomic Age, and his proximity to Los Alamos, where the bomb had been developed, led him to seek mystical recourse.
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