ROBERT HALLOWELL (New York, 1886-1939). NOON SUN-CEMENT WORKS, CUBA 1929, ALTERNATIVELY, THE CEMENT WORKS, CUBA, signed and dated "(19)29" lower right. Watercolor
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- Framed, 18 ½ in. x 23 ½ in. Estimate $1,000-3,000
or, alternatively, "The Cement Works, Cuba,"
Exhibited: Montross Gallery. New York City, New York, June, 1929 Illustrated: "New York Times," c. June 1929, specific date and page not available, as "Noon Sun-Cement Works," which states that the photograph was courtesy of Montross Gallery, and that this watercolor is "In the exhibition of Hallowell's watercolors at Montross'. This picture was done in Cuba." A review in "International Studio" magazine, June 1929, p. 76, of the Montross Gallery exhibition, with its only illustration being this Hallowell watercolor, by "E.W.," stated, in part: To the great profit of his art, the blazing sky and tropical luxuriance of Cuba seem to have cast a genuine spell upon Robert Hallowell. Certainly he has rarely done anything better than the Cuban watercolors and oils, which were exhibited at the Montross Gallery. Unlike so many artistic wanderers, Mr. Hallowell did not content himself with painting the obviously picturesque. His sketches of native huts, of tangled exotic foliage, of the romantic Morro Castle, are---to be sure--- excellent, but he is distinctly at his best in his numerous studies of the cement works. Being gifted with a seeing eye, Mr. Hallowell perceived the affinity between the straight silvery trunks of the Cuban Palms and the straight silvery chimneys of the cement factories. By playing on the subtle variations on this theme, he has given rhythm and form to such pictures as "Noon Sun" and "Cement Forever," with its severely designed buildings, its pervading tone of silver whiteness, and its suggestive touches of color in the foliage of the palms. At times he adds another characteristic motif. In "Cloud Makers," the pillars of white smoke from the tall chimneys rise skyward to blend indistinguishably with the white clouds. Mr. Hallowell paints in large flat washes of color with an iridescent brilliance which is never meretricious and which is perfectly suited to his subject.
