[Church at Voulangis, France]

Sugimoto, Henry [ bio ]

Description

Stretched and framed burlap.

Image is of a church in rural France. A dirt pathway leads past the church at lower right, through the trees that surround the buildings. A smaller structure appears in the background at right. The church is separated from the path by a stone wall, at left, and has a slim steeple and gray roof. The other structures have red roofs. The sky is cloudy and white with hints of blue.

Inscription
Signed in medium, bottom left corner: Henry Sugimoto

History
This work features a somewhat more controlled composition than the artist's other landscapes of the early period, and its overall softness and smoother brushstrokes contribute to a less rough texture. The vertical format is also a departure from Sugimoto's mostly horizontal landscapes of this period, such as Cluny Museum and Notre Dame Cathedral. Tigeaux is a small village in east central France in the Seine and Marne River region, near the larger village of Rozay-en-Brie. Another untitled Sugimoto landscape from the same period, featuring two nuns and a church, may depict L'Eglise de Rampillion in the same region; however, no picture of the church in Tigeaux has been located so far. (1/12/01)

All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in this collection must be submitted to the Hirasaki National Resource Center at the Japanese American National Museum (hnrc@janm.org).