Old Stone Quarry

Circa 1933

Oil on artist board

Singed lower left “MARVIN CONE”

18 inches by 15 inches

Estimate $30,000-$35,000

Provenance:

Marvin Cone

To Mrs. Beth Miller, circa 1936

The offered lot is related to a number of similar works that Cone executed between 1933 and 1936. It would seem likely that the offered lot was executed around the same time as Cones paintings titled Washing Out-Stone City, circa 1933 (catalog #282) Old Quarry, circa 1933-34 (catalog #292), and River Bend (catalog #308). Furthermore it would seem possible that this painting was done in the field while Cone was an instructor at Stone City Art Colony.

Founded with a Carnegie Foundation grant, and under the leadership of the Cedar Rapids Artists Association director Edward B. Rowan, Stone City Art Colony was the Midwest’s answer to the various east coast and west coast artist colonies that became popular at the first part of the 20^th century. Outdoor summer teaching was the cornerstone of the short-lived artist colony. It was there that Cone applied his craft in the traditional academic method as instructor painting landscapes for the benefit of his students who were then expected to paint the same setting.

As is illustrated in the offered lot, Cone was without question a master of subtleness in his unique depiction of Midwest landscapes. In an interview for the Coe College Cosmos in the early 1930’s Cone said: “Art is one’s reaction to his surroundings. It may be only a new light thrown upon something that before seemed insignificant. In a landscape it may be only a new slant upon a familiar scene…” Indeed it is was Cones “slant” on depicting landscapes that more than anything else, brought him a degree of financial success as an artist.