John Fulton Folinsbee (American, 1892–1972) Golden Afternoon (A Triptych)

John Fulton Folinsbee (American, 1892–1972) Golden Afternoon (A Triptych)

Signed 'John F. Folinsbee' on the middle canvas bottom right, oil on three canvases
Center: 24 x 30 in. (61 x 76.2cm)
Sides (2): 24 x 12 in. (61 x 30.5cm)
Overall: 24 x 54 3/4 in. (61 x 139.1cm)
Executed in 1920.

Provenance

The Artist.
Commissioned directly from the above.
Collection of Henry van Sinderen, Connecticut.
Private Collection, New York.
Jim's of Lambertville, Lambertville, New Jersey.
Acquired directly from the above.
Collection of Sydney F. and Sharon Martin, Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
The Estate of Sydney F. Martin.

Literature

James M. Alterman, New Hope for American Art, Jim’s of Lambertville, Lambertville, 2005, p. 136 (illustrated).
Kristen M. Jensen, Folinsbee Considered, Hudson Hill Press, Easthampton, 2013, no. 965, p. 235 (illustrated, also discussed and illustrated pp. 57-58, fig. 3.15).

Note

Commissioned in 1920 at a time when Folinsbee was travelling outside of Bucks County, this unique work was designed as an overmantel decoration for the room of the Mayflower Inn, an old farmhouse in Washington, Connecticut which Folinsbee’s friends and mentors also helped decorate and renovate.

The triptych is representative of Folinsbee’s early Impressionistic technique, bestowing a highly fragmented touch and rapid, energetic brushstrokes which the artist dispatches across the canvas in various sizes, orientations, and colors. The result is a woven, tapestry-like pattern which blends the three canvases together and dazzles the eye. The subject of the painting becomes less the house nestled in the woods, and more the pattern created by the foliage, the tight sequence of trees and the added texture of the brushwork. The result is an enchanting, almost magical, atmosphere which the viewer is invited to penetrate, so as to enjoy the last hours of this dramatic fall afternoon.