A Reasonable Facsimile

Arts of the Americas

1942

Arthur Dove
American, 1880–1946

An exploration of the tensions between representation and abstraction, A Reasonable Facsimile appears purely nonobjective yet nevertheless suggests a landscape. The yellow half-circle at the top could represent the sun, one of Dove’s favorite subjects, and the areas of green and brown may be the earth below. When he exhibited this work in 1942 at An American Place, Dove published a poem in the catalogue, which includes the lines “There is much to be done— / Works of nature are abstract. / They do not lean on other things for meanings.” The title of this painting sums up Dove’s artistic project over the four decades of his career: to capture the abstraction of nature by creating “a reasonable facsimile” of its appearance.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Arthur Dove
Title: A Reasonable Facsimile
Place: United States (Artist's nationality)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1942
Medium: Encaustic on canvas
Inscriptions: Signed lower center: Dove
Dimensions: 47.3 × 63.2 cm (18 5/8 × 24 7/8 in.)
Credit Line: Alfred Stieglitz Collection
Reference Number: 1949.541

Ann Lee Morgan, “Arthur Dove: Life and Work with Catalogue Raisonne” (Associated University Press, 1984) p. 288.
Judith A. Barter et al., American Modernism at the Art Institute of CHicago, From World War I to 1955, (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2009), cat. 118.

New York, An American Place, Arthur G. Dove, Apr. 14–May 27, 1942, cat. 3.
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Alfred Stieglitz: His Collection, 1947, cat. 32.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.