Dallas Museum of Art Acquires Important Painting by
American Artist Thomas Sully
Acquisition Continues Growth of Museum’s Encyclopedic Collection
DALLAS, Jan. 28, 2005 – The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) has
acquired Cinderella at the Kitchen Fire, an important genre painting by
American artist Thomas Sully (1783-1872). Primarily recognized for his
influential work as one of the 19th-century’s finest portraitists, Sully also
experimented with genre paintings, which took sentimental and literary
themes as their subjects, starting in the late 1830s. Painted in 1843,
Cinderella is one of the earliest and largest of Sully’s genre paintings,
and its addition to the DMA’s holdings reflects the Museum’s dynamic
collection building. The painting is the first work acquired by William
Keyse Rudolph, the recently appointed Pauline Gill Sullivan Associate
Curator of American Art. Cinderella is scheduled to be on view the first
week of February in the Arts of Americas Galleries.
“Following the recent acquisitions of a major work by Romare Bearden,
a rare West African sculpture by Olowe of Ise, and new works by
contemporary artists Tom Friedman, Lothar Baumgarten, Glenn Ligon,
and Josiah McElheny, the acquisition of
Cinderella at the Kitchen Fire underscores the DMA’s commitment to
developing its encyclopedic collection,” said John R. Lane, The Eugene
McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art. The Museum’s
collection provides a rich context for a range of DMA-organized
exhibitions, which have traveled nationally and internationally to critical
acclaim and serves as a dynamic resource for the city of Dallas and
visitors from around the world.”
Cinderella at the Kitchen Fire depicts a scene from Charles Perrault’s
famous fairytale, showing the heroine as she plays with a cat by the
hearth while her cruel stepsisters in the background ready themselves
for the ball. The painting’s grand scale, as well as its prominent
monogram and date, suggest that Sully intended this work for public
display (his portraits were rarely signed or dated).
Shortly following its completion, the painting was presented in 1844 in
Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and again in
1848 in Baltimore at the Maryland Historical Society. American artist
John Sartain (1808-1897) made an engraving depicting this work,
ensuring its continuing popular recognition. Acquired in the 1840s by a
wealthy industrialist, the painting remained in this collection until 1916.
It went on to pass through several private collections throughout the
20th century.
“Cinderella shows Sully at the height of his powers, displaying the
painterly flourishes, delicate glazes, and rosy palette that characterize
his finest portraits,” Dr. Rudolph said. “The artist couldn’t help but make
everything—even the stepsisters primping in the background—as
beautiful as possible. The work is one of the finest examples of Sully’s
genre paintings, a lesser-known facet of the artist’s oeuvre.”
Dr. Rudolph came to Dallas from the Philadelphia Museum of Art and
joined the DMA in September 2004. He has extensive knowledge of
18th- and 19th-century American art, with a particular interest in
Colonial and Federal portraiture and the art of the American South. He
earned his Master of Arts in Art History from the University of Virginia
and a doctorate in the History of Art from Bryn Mawr College. Dr.
Rudolph’s curatorship is endowed by the Pauline Allen Gill Foundation
and an anonymous donor.
The acquisition of Cinderella at the Kitchen Fire was made possible by
The Pauline Gill Sullivan Fund for American Art. The painting will join a
number of significant works in the Early American Painting and
Decorative Arts collections, including Sully’s Portrait of Mrs. Paul Beck,
Jr. (Mary Harvey) (1813) and Ralph Earl’s Portrait of Captain John Pratt
(1792), also purchased with funds from The Pauline Gill Sullivan Fund
for American Art.
American Painting & Sculpture
The collection of American art includes paintings, sculptures, and works
on paper spanning three centuries and encompassing the three
countries of North America: the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The American collection includes the massive painting The Icebergs
(1861) by Frederic Edwin Church. One of the greatest landscapes ever
produced in the 19th century, the painting is an icon of American art
and has become synonymous with the Dallas Museum of Art in the
local community.
In 1953, the Dallas Art Association commissioned Mexican artist Rufino
Tamayo (1899-1991) to create a painting celebrating the deep ties
between Mexico and the United States. The spectacular result, El
Hombre, on view at the Museum’s south entrance, embodies
humanity’s continual drive to reach for the heavens.
A recent addition to the American collection is Soul Three (1968), a
large-scale collage by Romare Bearden (1911–1988), one of the most
important African-American artists of the 20th century. Bearden’s
inspirations for the work came from his love of music and traditional
African art as well as modern art; the figure’s faces are constructed of
cubistic fragments from reproductions of African masks and sculptures.
Photo Credit:
Painting
Cinderella at the Kitchen Fire
Thomas Sully, American, 1783 - 1872
1843
Oil on canvas
Height: 58 in. (147.32 cm)
Width: 64 in. (1 m 62.56 cm)
Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Pauline Allen Gill Foundation
Please contact Michelle Bleiberg for hi-res image: MBleiberg@DallasMuseumofArt.org or
214/661-1716.