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Catalog Data

Artist:
O. Louis Guglielmi, born Cairo, Egypt 1906-died Amagansett, NY 1956  Search this
Medium:
oil on canvas
Dimensions:
22 x 32 in. (55.9 x 81.4 cm.)
Type:
Painting
Date:
ca. 1933-1934
Exhibition Label:
The eerie loneliness of Louis Guglielmi's painting Martyr Hill seems surreal. Yet the Grand Army of the Republic Hall in Peterborough, New Hampshire, actually looks much as it does in this painting. Guglielmi, who spent many summers at the MacDowell artist colony in Peterborough, knew the place well. He altered the scene slightly but effectively to create an uneasy, melancholy mood reflecting the troubles of the time.
Sweeping diagonal lines draw the viewer's attention to the GAR Hall, with its spiky finials and a cannon aimed to menace the viewer. In fact, the cannon stands on the opposite side of the hall’s lawn. Guglielmi removed the windows from the hall’s side wall, creating the solid red parallelogram he placed very near the dark front wall of the house in the foreground. This causes the eye to lurch disconcertingly from foreground to background. Nothing in the painting casts a shadow—the buildings therefore look oddly insubstantial. The sculpted bronze soldier on the Civil War Memorial, his head bent in sorrow, underlines the lack of a living person in the scene. The Nubanusit River flows under a bridge and out toward the viewer, who is left with no place to stand.1934: A New Deal for Artists exhibition label
Topic:
Architecture\bridge  Search this
Monument\memorial  Search this
Waterscape\canal  Search this
New Deal\Public Works of Art Project\New York City  Search this
New Deal\Public Works of Art Project\New Hampshire  Search this
Object\weapon\cannon  Search this
Architecture Exterior\civic  Search this
Architecture Exterior\industry\waterwork  Search this
Credit Line:
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor
Object number:
1964.1.125
Restrictions & Rights:
Usage conditions apply
See more items in:
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department:
Painting and Sculpture
Data Source:
Smithsonian American Art Museum
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk776a8c31d-9fe5-4ed1-81ab-329bf969aec1
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:saam_1964.1.125