Still Life with Profile of Pitcher Artist: Marthe Donas (Belgian, 1885–1967)

ca. 1918–19

Modern and Contemporary Art

Not on view

In the catalogue of the Société Anonyme Collection, the society’s cofounder Katherine S. Dreier called Marthe Donas “the first woman abstract painter.” Although Dreier was not technically correct in her assessment, she clearly had been impressed by Donas’s own brand of Cubism, one that bore the stamp of Amédée Ozenfant’s and Le Corbusier’s Purism, a style in which familiar still-life objects such as vases or oranges are abstracted with architectural objectivity, rendering the everyday statuesque. Donas’s paintings are also remarkable for the artist’s luminous palette, which bears similarities to those of other Cubist painters in her Paris circle, such as Sonia Delaunay.

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

23 11/16 × 15 13/16 × 3/4 in. (60.2 × 40.2 × 1.9 cm)
framed: 24 15/16 × 17 1/16 × 1 1/2 in. (63.3 × 43.3 × 3.8 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of Collection Société Anonyme

Accession Number

1941.428

Culture
Period

20th century

Classification
Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance

Provenance

Der Sturm, Berlin, to 1922; Katherine Dreier, 1922–41; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.
Bibliography
  • Jenny Anger, "Marthe Donas: Between Der Sturm and the Société Anonyme," in "The Société Anonyme at 100," special issue, Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2020–21), 39–40
  • Ruth L. Bohan et al., The Société Anonyme: Modernism for America, ed. Jennifer Gross, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2006), 172, ill
  • Robert L. Herbert, Eleanor S. Apter, and Elise K. Kenney, The Société Anonyme and the Dreier Bequest at Yale University: A Catalogue Raisonné (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1984), 200, no. 201, ill
  • Collection of the Société Anonyme: Museum of Modern Art 1920 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1950), 18
Object copyright
Additional information

Object/Work type

abstract (general art genre), still lifes

Subject

Women artists

Inscriptions

Inscribed verso "nature morte i par Tour Donas"

Signed

Signed l.r. "Tour Donas"

Technical metadata and APIs

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Open in Mirador

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