The Red Cow

Object Details

• Artist

  Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847-1917)

• Label

  From Lawton and Merrill, Freer: A Legacy of Art, pp. 193-94:

  In 1908, when he was at Cottier and Company in New York buying a Persian ceramic bowl, Freer picked up a dark, indistinct barnyard scene called The Red Cow, one of the earliest extant paintings by Albert Pinkham Ryder. Although Ryder's reputation was on the rise in 1908, his paintings were not yet in great demand, and Freer bought The Red Cow at a fraction of the cost he customarily paid for American works. His purchase may have been influenced by his friend John Gellatly, who possessed a parallel taste in American art and a collection that grew to include fifteen Ryder paintings in addition to a large number of works by Dewing and Thayer. Freer himself knew practically nothing about Ryder's work--he told the dealer he felt more confident about West Asian pottery--and because he remained uncertain whether The Red Cow, like the Persian bowl, should occupy a permanent place in his collection, he took it "on probation." There is nothing to suggest, however, that Freer ever considered parting with the painting. Seeing it at home with his collection, he may have found its warm colors and densely painted, crackled surface comparable to his glazed ceramic pots, or its dreamlike atmospheric quality relevant to other of his American paintings that were drawn in the same way from shadowy recollections.

• Provenance

  To 1908

  Cottier and Co., New York, NY, to 1908 [1]

  From 1908 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Cottier and Co., in New York, in April 1908 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Accession List, Collections Management Office. See also, Curatorial Remark 3, Kate Theimer, June 9, 1994, in the object record, as well as Provenance Remark 1 in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Shifting Boundaries: Perspectives on American Landscapes (July 13, 2024 to July 26, 2026)

  A Perfect Harmony (October 14, 2017 to October 8, 2023)

  American Paintings (November 11, 1976 to October 12, 1978)

  Twelfth Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists (May 11 to September 9, 1918)

  Loan Exhibition of the Works of Albert P. Ryder (March 11 to April 14, 1918)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Cottier and Co. (established 1869) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  United States

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• On View

  Freer Gallery 10: Shifting Boundaries: Perspectives on American Landscapes

• Restrictions and Rights

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1860s, 1870s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Cottier, Daniel

• Place

  United States

• Topic

  Trees, Charles Lang Freer collection, Landscapes, Art, American Art, Cows, Dwellings

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Paintings

• On View

  Yes