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Horace Bonham

Nearing the Issue at the Cockpit, 1879

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 51.12 × 68.58 cm (20 1/8 × 27 in.)

framed: 25.75 × 32.37 × 2.87 cm (10 1/8 × 12 3/4 × 1 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund)

Accession Number

2014.136.121

Artists / Makers

Horace Bonham (painter) American, 1835 - 1892

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Inscription

upper right: Horace Bonham / 79-

Provenance

The artist [1835-1892]; by inheritance to his wife, Rebekah Lewis Bonham; purchased between 1896 and 1898 by Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York;[1] [his sale, American Art Association, New York, 14-18 February 1899, no. 232]; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art.

[1] In a 22 December 1896 letter from Clarke to Bonham’s wife Rebekah (Horace Bonham Papers, York Heritage Trust Archives and Library, York, Pennsylvania: Box II; copy in NGA curatorial files) Clarke states: “I expect to be the owner of the picture and having hesitated about adding it to my collection because of its cracked condition...” Nearing the Issue was included in a January 1898 exhibition of “loaned paintings” at the Union League Club, lent by Clarke. The Thomas B. Clarke Papers at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution do not include documentation of Clarke’s purchase of the painting.

Associated Names

American Art Association
Bonham, Horace
Bonham, Rebekah Lewis
Clarke, Thomas Benedict
Corcoran Gallery of Art

Exhibition History

1879: Fifty-fourth Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York, 1 April - 31 May 1879, no. 104.

1898: Art Loan Exhibition, Heights Club, New York, 8-20 March 1898, checklist no. 5.

1898: Loaned Paintings by American Artists, Union League Clue, New York, 13-15 January 1898, no. 27

1899: The Private Art Collection of Thomas B. Clarke, New York, American Art Association, New York, 14-17 February 1899, no. 232.

1939: Life in America, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 24 April - 29 October 1939, no. 234.

1942: Exhibition of Paintings of Negro Subjects by White American Artists, Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, 9 March - 12 April 1942, unnumbered checklist.

1964: The Portrayal of the Negro in American Painting, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, 1964, no. 50.

1966: Past and Present: 250 Years of American Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, unpublished checklist.

1971: The Good Life: An Exhibition of American Genre Painting, St. Petersberg, FL; Loch Haven Art Center, Orlando, 1971, no. 4.

1974: American Narrative Painting, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1974, no. 67.

1981: Of Time and Place: American Figurative Art from the Corcoran Gallery, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Cincinnati Art Museum; San Diego Museum of Art; University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington; Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga; Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa; Portland Art Museum, Oregon; Des Moines Art Center; Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida, 1981-1983, no. 17.

1990: Facing History: The Black Image in American Art, 1710-1940, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Brooklyn Museum, 1990, unnumbered catalogue.

2004: Figuratively Speaking: The Human Form in American Art, 1770-1950, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2004-2005, unpublished checklist.

2005: Encouraging American Genius: Master Paintings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte; John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, 2005-2007, checklist no. 37.

2008: The American Evolution: A History through Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2008, unpublished checklist.

2009: American Paintings from the Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 6 June - 18 October 2009, unpublished checklist.

2013: American Journeys: Visions of Place, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 21 September 2013 - 28 September 2014, unpublished checklist.

Bibliography

2011: Strong, Lisa. "Horace Bonham, Nearing the Issue at the Cockpit." In Corcoran Gallery of Art: American Paintings to 1945. Edited by Sarah Cash. Washington, 2011: 144-145, 152, 268, repro.