Artwork Details
14 x 11 in. (canvas) 16 x 13 x 1.5 in. (framed)
Accession NumberMr. and Mrs. Charles E. Ballard in memory of Ed and Dolly Ballard by exchange
CopyrightAmerican Painting and Sculpture 1800-1945
Color PaletteProvenance
Provenance
Joel S. Dryer, Techny, Illinois, Illinois Historical Art Projectt; purchased by the Indianapolis Museum of Art, in 2004.
Gallery Labels
Gallery Labels
- In this painting three fairies procure food for their king. At center, a fairy armed with a sword holds off a threatened hummingbird, while one of his accomplices absconds with eggs from its nest and another keeps watch.
- Fairy Marauders was published with an accompanying poem in an 1870 issue of The Art Review (see below). Gookins was one of few American artists to specialize in the genre of fairy painting, which was popular in Great Britain and Central Europe.
- Naïve in handling relative to Gookins’s later work, this canvas predates his study at the Munich Academy. At the Indiana School of Art, Gookins later served as the instructor of painting due to his skills as a colorist, which are evident even in this early composition.
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