Cherries and Raspberries in a Basket

Inscriptions

Signed and dated, lower right: L.W. Prentice/1891

Label

The painting above is thought to be an allegory of life, with the grapes representing youth and the raisins signifying old age. Within this exhibition, these fruits also speak to the importance of water in cultivation. Abundant juices contained within the ripe grapes, melons, plums, peaches, and pears juxtapose with water’s absence in the withering raisins.

In the painting below, round cherries on branches encircle a toppled basket of plump raspberries. Just picked from the garden, these delectable fruits suggest a year of bountiful rains. Stacked baskets inform us that there are many more left to harvest, perhaps to be baked into a sweet desert or processed into a jam.

Reliable access to clean water was essential togrowing the fruits portrayed in these paintings and remains important to ensuring the security of our food supply today.

From the 2023 exhibition Liquidity: Art, Commodities, and Water, curated by Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art

Course History

SART 25, SART 31, SART 72, Painting I, II, III, Thomas Ferrara, Winter 2012

First Year Student Enrichment Program - Cultures, Identities and Belongings, Francine A'Ness, Summer 2023

Exhibition History

American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Jaffe Hall Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 9-December 9, 2007.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 29-June 2, 2003.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 23, 1997-October 22, 1998.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, February 28, 2000-April 17, 2001.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 21, 1996-May 11, 1997.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 2009-present.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 26-May 28, 1996.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 16, 1993.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 19, 2003-May 8, 2007.

Liquidity: Art, Commodities, and Water, Israel Sack Gallery and the Rush Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 29, 2023-June 16, 2024.

Nature Staged: The Landscape and Still Life Paintings of Levi Wells Prentice, The Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, New York, May 29-October 15, 1993.

Still Life Exhibition, The Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico, September 19, 1999- January 2, 2000.

The American Still Life Tradition 1855-1985, Montgomery Gallery, San Francisco, California, May 29-July 6, 1985.

Publication History

Barbara L. Jones, Nature Staged: The Landscape and Still Life Paintings of Levi Wells Prentice, Blue Mountain Lake, New York: The Adirondack Museum, 1993, p. 57, ill. plate 35.

Barbara J. MacAdam, American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Muesum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2007, p. 60, no. 39.

Provenance

Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., New York; sold to present collection, 1987.

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Subjects