Dance of the Elements, Bali

Artist Maurice Sterne American, born Latvia, 1878–1957

Date1913

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions56 3/4 x 65 1/2 in. (144.1 x 166.4 cm)
Frame: 64 x 72 3/8 in. (162.6 x 183.8 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the State of North Carolina

Object number52.9.28

On View

Not on view

ProvenanceCreated Bali, 1913; collection of the artist; [Berlin Photographic Co. Galleries, New York, 1915]; sold to Carl W. Hamilton, 1926; [Anglo-California Bank, San Francisco]; on loan to the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, by 1934; [Julius H. Weitzner, Inc., New York, 1935]; sold to Maurice Sterne, San Francisco, 1935; [with Milch Galleries, New York, 1936]; sold by the artist through Milch Galleries to NCMA, 1952.Published References[Peyton Boswell?], “American Artist Paints Ancient Rites of Hindus,” New York Herald (March 5, 1915), 13, mentioned.

[Forbes Watson?], “Art Notes: Many Drawings and Paintings by Maurice Sterne,” New York Evening Post (March 6, 1915), 7, discussed.

Henry McBride, “Maurice Sterne’s Bali Paintings,” New York Sun (March 7, 1915); reprinted in Daniel Catton Rich, ed., The Flow of Art: Essays and Criticisms of Henry McBride (New York: Atheneum Publishers, 1975), 83–87.

Charles H. Caffin, “Unique Civilization of East Pictured by Maurice Sterne,” New York American (March 8, 1915), 9, discussed.

“The World of Art,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (March 9, 1915), II,5, discussed.

J. E. C., “Two Painters of Great Originality: Maurice Sterne's Pictures from the Orient--Apotheosis of the Island of Bali,” New York Evening Mail (March 9, 1915), 10.

Royal Cortissoz, “The Idea and the Picture,” New York Tribune (March 14, 1915), III, 3, discussed.

William B. McCormick, “Pictures of Bali by Maurice Sterne,” New York Press (March 14, 1915), V, 9, discussed.

“Hoentschul Gothic's Importance,” New York Times Magazine (March 14, 1915), V, 23 (quotes Sterne's description of painting).

“Maurice Sterne's paintings of native life at Bali,” Arts and Decoration 5 (April 1915), 240, illus. (b-w).

“In the Galleries,” International Studio 55 (April 1915), lxvi, illus. (b-w, as A Bali Dance), lxviii.

“The World of Art,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (June 25, 1915), 6.

Louise James Bargelt, “Art,” Chicago Tribune (December 17, 1916), 8.

Paintings, Drawings and Sketches by Maurice Sterne (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1917), no. 117.

An Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Sketches by Maurice Sterne (exhibition catalogue) (St. Louis, MO: City Art Museum, 1917), no. 36.

“Pictures Depict Life of Balinese,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch (February 11, 1917), mentioned 7.

W. H. D. [William H. Downes], "Works of Maurice Sterne," Boston Evening Transcript (February 21, 1919), II, 7, illus. (b-w).

XIIa Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte della Citta di Venezia (Venice, Italy), U.S. Section no. 46.

Frank E. W. Freund, “Amerikanische Künstlerprofile: 1. Maurice Sterne,” Jahrbuch der Jungen Kunst (1921), 305–309, discussed 307, illus. (b-w).

“Americans in Paris ‘Slam’ Compatriots’ Art Exhibit,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (July 10, 1921), 28 (as The Dance of the Spirits).

Italo Tavolato, Maurice Sterne (Rome: Valori Plastici Publishers, 1925), noted 7.

Frank Jewett Mather, Jr., et al, The American Spirit in Art, Vol. 12 of The Pageant of America (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1927), illus. (b-w) fig. 263 (collection of Carl W. Hamilton).

Theatre Arts Monthly 13 (November 1929), illus. (b-w, as courtesy of Bourgeois Galleries).

Maurice Sterne Retrospective Exhibition, 1902–1932 (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1933), no. 20, illus. (b-w).

Royal Cortissoz, “Maurice Sterne's Work Exposed in Retrospect,” New York Herald Tribune (February 19, 1933), VII, 10.

Lewis Mumford, “The Art Galleries: Sterne in Retrospect - Variations by Derain,” The New Yorker 9 (March 11, 1933), 46–47, noted 46.

Catalogue of a Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1934), no. 697.

Reginald Poland, “New Feast of Art at 1936 Version of San Diego's Fair,”Art Digest 10 (March 1, 1936), 5–7, noted 6.

Inslee A. Hooper, “Instinct, Environment, Tradition--Maurice Sterne,” American Magazine of Art 29 (December 1936), 807–811, discussed 808, illus. (b-w) 809.

“At the Art Galleries,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (May 7, 1944), 24.

W. R. Valentiner, Catalogue of Paintings: Including Three Sets of Tapestries (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956), no. 32.

“State Art Museum Has Obtained Two of Maurice Sterne's Works,” Raleigh: The News and Observer ([date] 1957), [page], illus. (b-w).

Maurice Sterne Retrospective Exhibition (exhibition catalogue) (New York: Hirschl & Adler and The Milch Galleries, 1962), cat. no. 55.

The Decade of the Armory Show (exhibition catalogue) (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, ca. 1963), cat. no. 99, illus. (b-w).

George McCue, “Armory Decade Show at Museum,” St. Louis Post Dispatch (St. Louis, MO) (June 16, 1963), 39.

Charlotte Leon Mayerson, ed., Shadow and Light: The Life, Friends and Opinions of Maurice Sterne (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1965), illus. (color) opp. 126.

Lloyd Goodrich, Three Centuries of American Art (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1966), illus. (b-w) 90.

American Paintings since 1900 from the Permanent Collection (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1967), cat. no. 72, illus. (b-w).

J.W.C. [John W. Coffey], “Rediscovering a Forgotten American Master,” North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Winter 1991–92), 20–22, illus. (b-w).

Introduction of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (b-w) 254.

John W. Coffey, entry for Dance of the Elements, Bali, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 214, illus. (color).

Gail Stavitsky, Katherine Rothkopf, et al, Cézanne and American Modernism (exhibition catalogue) (Montclair, NJ and Baltimore, MD: Montclair Art Museum and Baltimore Art Museum, 2009), illus. (color) 23, fig. 2 (catalogue only, not in exhibition).

John W. Coffey, entry for Dance of the Elements, Bali, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 448, illus. (color) 449.
Exhibition HistoryNew York, NY, Berlin Photographic Co. Galleries, "Maurice Sterne in Bali and East India," March 3-27, 1915 (as Dance of the Sacred Elements).

Chicago, IL, Art Institute of Chicago, "Paintings, Drawings and Sketches by Maurice Sterne," December 12, 1916-January 2, 1917, no. 117 (as Dance of the Sacred Elements).

St. Louis, MO, City Art Museum, "An Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, and Sketches by Maurice Sterne," February 4-[ ], 1917, no. 36 (as Dance of the Sacred Elements)

Boston, MA, Boston Art Club, "Maurice Sterne," February 21-March 18, 1919, no. 40 (as Dance of the Sacred Elements)

Venice, Italy, "XIIa Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte della Citta di Venezia," 1920, U.S. section no. 46 (as La danza degli spiriti).

Paris, Galeries Georges Petit, “Exposition d'un Groupe de Peintres Américains,” July 4–30, 1921, no. 102 (as La Danse des esprits).

New York, NY, Museum of Modern Art, "Maurice Sterne Retrospective Exhibition, 1902-1932," February 15-March 25, 1933, no. 20 (as Dance of the Elements, Bali, private collection), illus. (b-w).

Chicago, IL, Art Institute of Chicago, "A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture," June 1-November 1, 1934, no. 697 (as lent by the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco) [San Francisco Museum of Art, Sterne exhibition, 1935]

San Diego, CA, Fine Arts Gallery, "California Pacific International Exposition," 1936.

New York, NY, Museum of Modern Art, "Paintings for Paris," November 8-December 13, 1937, no. 38 (collection of Milch Art Gallery, New York).

[Possibly] New York, NY, Milch Galleries, May 1944.

New York, NY, Hirschl & Adler Galleries and Milch Galleries, "Maurice Sterne Retrospective Exhibition," February 6-24, 1962, no. 55 (as Dance of the Elements, Bali).

New York, NY, Whitney Museum of American Art, "The Decade of the Armory Show: New Directions in American Art, 1910-1920," February 27-April 14, 1963; St. Louis, MO, City Art Museum of St. Louis, June 1-July 14, 1963; Cleveland, OH, Cleveland Museum of Art, August 6-September 15, 1963; Philadelphia, PA, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, September 30-October 30, 1963; Chicago, IL, Art Institute of Chicago, November 15-December 29, 1963; Buffalo, NY, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, January 20-February 23, 1964, no. 99, illus. (b-w) 9.

New York, NY, Whitney Museum of American Art, "Art of the United States: 1670-1966," September 27-November 27, 1966.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "American Paintings since 1900 from the Permanent Collection," April 1-23, 1967, cat. no. 72, illus. (b-w).
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