Artwork
Screen: "Porcupines" and "Nightmare"
Screen: "Porcupines" and "Nightmare" is an oil painting by the American Folk Art artist Robert Winthrop Chanler. It dates from 1914 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Technique & Style
Robert Winthrop Chanler's 1914 screen, titled "Porcupines" and "Nightmare," is executed in oil paint on a panel support. The work depicts animal subjects and measures 175.8 cm in height by 122.2 cm in width. Classified as a painting, the piece is held within the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
History & Provenance
Screen: "Porcupines" and "Nightmare" is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as recorded in the work's collection and location data.
Screen: "Porcupines" and "Nightmare" was created by Robert Winthrop Chanler in 1914, executed in oil paint. The work is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains located.
The available sources do not document a commission, prior ownership, or any transfer of the work before it entered the museum's collection, nor do they provide details on its acquisition history or chain of custody.
Screen: "Porcupines" and "Nightmare" is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as recorded in the work's collection and location data. The painting, executed in oil paint on panel, entered the museum's holdings and has remained there as part of its collection.
The work was created in 1914 by Robert Winthrop Chanler. No specific accession number, acquisition date, or exhibition history is documented in the available sources.
Overview
Robert Winthrop Chanler’s 1914 oil work, titled Screen: “Porcupines” and “Nightmare,” presents a densely wooded tableau populated by porcupines. The composition is rendered on a screen format, allowing the painted scene to function both as a decorative panel and as a narrative image that evokes a tangled, nocturnal forest environment.
Subject & Meaning
The central figures are a cluster of porcupines whose spines radiate in varied directions, some rendered in stark black, others in muted brown tones. The surrounding foliage is suggested through rough bark and shadowed branches, creating a sense of untamed wilderness that hints at both the animal’s defensive posture and the unsettling atmosphere implied by the title’s reference to a nightmare.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Robert Winthrop Chanler (February 22, 1872 – October 24, 1930) was an American artist.
