Morning Light
by Eric Sloane (1905–1985)24 x 36 inches
Inscribed and signed lower left: MORNING LIGHT / SLOANE
Provenance
Abercrombie & Fitch Co., New York., New York
Paul G. Benedum, Jr., Ligonier, Pennsylvania
Estate of above
Sale, Hindman, Chicago, Illinois, February 14, 2024, lot 196, from above
Note: Eric Sloane viewed the barn as an important symbol of Americana. The artist himself described, “the early American barn, taking into consideration its reasons for being, I’ve found to be an exceptional and impressive subject,” continuing, “an old barn has an aura of persistence, stubbornly shrouded in the mood of its own time.”[1] Sloane explored farms throughout New England, but did not paint on location, choosing instead to create his depictions from memory.
Abercrombie & Fitch, which began as a high-end sporting goods store, owned several of Eric Sloane’s paintings and even featured his work on the cover of their catalogue of merchandise.
[1] Eric Sloane, I Remember America (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1971), 56.
Artist Biography
By Nina Sangimino
I think in some ways I’m a failure because people think I’m a painter of barns and a writer of nostalgia… It’s not what I’ve been trying to do. I hate nostalgia. It’s a dreaded disease. [1]
—Eric Sloane
To view a painting by Eric Sloane of a quintessential New England covered bridge, with its weathered clapboard siding, worn dirt road, and Huck Finn–inspired children fishing in the brook below, one is touched by the familiarity of the scene. But what seems at first glance to be a simple version of Yankee Americana reveals deeper meaning when understood in the
