Gertrude Abercrombie

Marshall Field and Company, Chicago

Private Collection, Chicago (acquired from the above)

Private Collection, Northern California (acquired from the estate of the above circa 1998)

Private Collection (acquired as a gift from the above in 2019)

Bonhams, New York, 24 November 2020, lot 1 (consigned by the above)

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Gertrude Abercrombie's Owl About to Climb a Ladder features several of the motifs most closely associated with the artist's surrealist and dream-like body of work. The austere owl at center, the small crescent moon in a darkened sky, the tablecloth and ladder are all components that Abercrombie frequently incorporates into her small-scale yet dynamic paintings. Similar to the black cat, Abercrombie often utilized owls as surrogates for her own persona, inserting a deeper autobiographical meaning into her subject matter.

Dated to 1945, the present work hails from an immensely productive period in Abercrombie's career. According to Susan Weininger, the recognized expert on the artist, Abercrombie began incorporating the color pink into her oeuvre around this time at the request of her four year old daughter, Dinah. Equally at this time, the ladder becomes prevalent in her paintings, symbolizing the artist's desire for descension and closer proximity to the moon, an ever-important motif in her work. "Owl About to Climb a Ladder is characterized by the wittiness and humor so often found in the artist's work," Weininger explains. Abercrombie's amusing insinuation that the ladder connects the owl to the goblet of wine on the table generates a playful quality to the present composition.

According to the artist's records, the present work was originally owned by Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago-based department store, who exhibited and sold artwork on view at the time.