Ennui in Eden

1952

Achieving success as an illustrator and printmaker, Peggy Bacon's modernist works have roots in the satires of Honoré Daumier. Bacon, from a conservative artistic family, attended the Art Students League, and with her husband, painter Alexander Brook, was a vital part of a radical young artists' colony in Woodstock, NY. Her early works reflected the grossness and caricature of German Expressionism; by the 1950s she was so tired of offending people that she turned to quieter scenes of vacation spots. According to her recollections this watercolor is from a series called "Cottage City," o Martha's Vineyard, describing how that community had risen from a summer camping site for Methodist ministers. Bacon exhibited her work at the Art Association of Newport both during her more modern period in the 1930s and in the 1950s.

Martha's Vineyard

Watercolor on paper

11 3/8 x 17 1/4 in. (image), 20 x 24 in. (matted)

Gift of Bruce Howe

1991.014.005