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Buoy

A work made of oil on canvas.

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  • A work made of oil on canvas.

Date:

1941

Artist:

Peter Blume (American, born Smorgon, Russian Empire, now Belarus, 1906–1992)

About this artwork

As Peter Blume struggled with the commission for The Rock (also in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago) his health deteriorated and he traveled to Key West, Florida, during the winter of 1940 to recuperate. Buoy was one of three works he completed upon his return to Pennsylvania. Blume spoke of the buoys he viewed in Florida: They’d put out these bright red balls, and inside of three or four weeks they’d be covered with … all sorts of odd growths … I watched them stripping this stuff off and getting to the red thing again … I saw these balls, great big buoys, as a form of the earth and the laceration down to the red thing as a sort of bleeding world going on.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Peter Blume

Title

Buoy

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.

1941

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

40.6 × 45.7 cm (16 × 18 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Marcia W. Dunbar-Soule Dobson in memory of Helen Flanders Dunbar, M.D.

Reference Number

2003.432

Extended information about this artwork

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.

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