After studying in Düsseldorf and Paris, Julius Gari Melchers settled in Holland, where he was inspired by contemporary Dutch painters of the Hague School. He specialized in naturalistic depictions of peasant life, including this compassionate rendering of a Dutch woman and her child. Melchers portrayed the pair with vivid intensity, contrasting the mother’s direct gaze with the charming appeal of the baby’s chubby face. The rapid brushwork used to describe the clothing and the swaddling blanket contributes to the freshness of his depiction. In 1906 Mother and Child was exhibited at both the Paris Salon and the Art Institute.
Date
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Art Institute of Chicago, Nineteenth Annual Exhibition of Oil Paintings and Sculpture by American Artists, Oct. 16–Nov. 29, 1906, no. 218.
San Francisco, Department of Fine Arts, Panama–Pacific International Exposition, Feb. 20–Dec. 4, 1915, no. 2564.
Washington DC, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Paintings by Gari Melchers, Feb. 2–Mar. 3, 1918, no. 18.
New York, Montross Gallery, Exhibition of Pictures by Gari Melchers, Figures and Landscapes, Jan. 10–31, 1920, no. 5.
Detroit Institute of Arts, Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings by Gari Melchers, Oct. 1927, no. 10. (ill.)
Buffalo, Albright Art Gallery, Exhibition of a Retrospective Collection of Paintings Representing the Life Work of Gari Melchers, no. 7. (ill.)
Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Paintings by Gari Melchers, Thomas J. Mitchell, and Thurty Cleveland Artists, Mar. 13–Apr. 20, 1930, no. 4; Dayton Art Institute, Apr. 25–May 24, 1930.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, June 1–Nov. 1, 1933, no. 468.
Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, A Memorial Exhibition of the Work of Gari Melchers, Jan. 11–Feb. 18, 1934, no. 14. (ill.)
Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, June 1–Nov. 1, 1934, no. 401.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Jan. 17–Feb. 28, 1938, no. 59. (ill.)
Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Survey of American Painting, Oct. 24–Dec. 15, 1940, no. 192. (ill.)
Milwaukee Art Institute, The Story of Medicine in Art, Sept. 11–Oct. 25, 1953, no. 195.
Madison Art Center, Exhibition of Traditional Paintings from the Art Institute, Mar. 1956.
Fredericksburg, Virginia, Belmont, the Gari Melchers Memorial Gallery, Gari Melchers Spotlight Exhibition, Mar. 1–Dec. 15, 2008, no cat.
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