In The Puff of Smoke, Gifford Beal portrayed a view of the Hudson River at Newburgh, New York, concentrating on the scene’s urban elements. Several utility poles frame the panorama, while the titular puff of smoke billows up from below eye level. Although Beal did not depict the source of the steam, it is probably from a passing train connecting Newburgh with the major metropolitan areas of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The artist employed a cool, silvery palette to describe the crisp atmosphere of this cold day. He applied the paint with brisk, fluid brushwork, especially in the billowing cloud, which he rendered with a tactile, white impasto.
James William Pattison, “Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture Art Institute, Chicago,” Fine Arts Journal 27, 6 (December, 1912), 793 (ill.), 796.
Giselle D’Unger, “Chicago,” American Art News 11, 10 (December, 1912), 8.
“The Exhibition of American Art,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 6, 3 (January, 1913), 34.
“Accessions to the Museum,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 6, 3 (January, 1913), 46.
“Friends of American Art,” Art and Progress 4, 4 (February, 1913), 880.
“Notes: Accessions to Museum,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 9, 4 (April, 1915), 57 (ill.).
“Recent Accessions to Public Collections,” Art and Progress 6, 8 (June, 1915), 287.
“Acquisitions,” Friends of American Art Fifth Year Book Chicago, 1914–1915 (1915), 21, 33 (ill.).
“Catalogue of Artists and Acquisitions,” Friends of American Art Sixth Year Book Chicago, 1916–1918 (1918), 9.
Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago Handbook of Sculpture, Architecture, Paintings and Drawings. Part II. Paintings and Drawings (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, Aug 1920), 39, cat. 363.
Judith A. Barter et al., The Age of American Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2011), cat. 88.
Art Institute of Chicago, Twenty–fifth Annual Exhibition of American Oil Paintings and Sculpture, Nov 5–Dec 8, 1912, cat. 10 (ill.)
Milwaukee Art Institute, Exhibition of Forty Paintings Presented to the Art Institute of Chicago by the Friends of American Art, Mar 1–21, 1925, cat. 3 (ill.).
San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Exhibition of Paintings: Collection of the Friends of American Art lent by the Art Institute of Chicago, Jun 26–Jul 26, 1926, cat. 1.
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Oct–Nov 1926, no cat.
Chicago, Garfield Park Art Galleries, Exhibition of Greek Sculptures and American Paintings lent by the Art Institute of Chicago, Nov 5, 1935–Mar 3, 1936, cat. 3, as Puff of Smoke.
Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois, Dec 3–29, 1939, no cat.
South Bend, South Bend Art Association, American Painting in the Manner of the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries, Feb 10–Mar 31, 1948, cat. 3.
New York, American Academy of Arts and Letters, Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by Gifford Beal, 1879–1956, Dec 14, 1956–Feb 15, 1957, cat. 12.
Washington, DC, Phillips Collection, Gifford Beal: Paintings and Watercolors, Sep 18–Oct 31, 1971 cat. 3 (ill.); Montclair Art Museum, Jan 9–Feb 13, 1972.
The artist; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1912.
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