A Bit of Marblehead attests to MacCord’s appreciation for the charming architecture and cobblestoned streets of the historic town located about twelve miles southwest of Cape Ann and has been delightfully rendered with her dappled brushwork and through her clever use of the illustration board’s negative space to serve as its own color. The painting was shown at the Pennsylvania Academy in the fall of 1921, and was part of the Second International Water Color Exhibition, which opened at the Art Institute of Chicago in the spring of 1922 and traveled through the rest of the year to the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Seattle Fine Arts Society, and the Cleveland Museum of Art.

More information about this painting...

Provenance:

Janet Wylie Fine Art, Norwalk, Connecticut

To private collection, Westwood, Massachusetts, circa 2003 to present

Labels:

1. The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts / and the Philadelphia Water Color Club / Nineteenth Annual / Philadelphia Water Color Exhibition, 1921 / Title: A Bit of Marblehead / Artist: Mary Nicholena MacCord / Return Address: 458 John St. / Bridgeport, Conn. / 1280.22
2. (red-bordered label, handwritten) 1280.22
3. The Art Institute of Chicago / 2nd International Exhibition / of Water Color Paintings / April 15 – May 21, 1922 / Artist: Mary Nicholena MacCord / Address: 458 John St., Bridgeport, Conn / Title: A Bit of Marblehead / Return Address: 458 John St., Bridgeport / Conn
4. The Minneapolis / Institute of Arts / L22.382
5. C. M. A. / 2303.22 / Box 5 (Cleveland Museum of Art label)
6. (red-bordered label, handwritten) 10 / 36

Exhibitions:

1. Nineteenth Annual Philadelphia Water Color Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, November 6 – December 11, 1921, no. 273 A Bit of Marblehead
2. Second International Water Color Exhibition, The Art Institute of Chicago, April 15 – May 21, 1922, no. 80 A Bit of Marblehead (this exhibition traveled to the Minneapolis Institute of Art from late May to early July 1922; to the Seattle Fine Arts Society, presumably from late summer into early November 1922; and to the Cleveland Museum of Art from November 15 to December 15, 1922)