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Catalogue entry
JFF.961
Moonlight Summer
Alternate titles: August Moonlight; Moonlight
1913–15
Oil on canvas
16 x 20 in. (40.64 x 50.8 cm)
Signed lower left: John F. Folinsbee
Private collection
Provenance
Estate of the artist
Private collection, Pennsylvania
Sotheby's 5/23/2007, lot 101 (unsold)
Private collection, 2007
Exhibitions
1915 Louis Katz NY
Louis Katz Art Galleries, New York, Recent Paintings by Harry Leith-Ross and John F. Folinsbee, October 4–21, 1915, no. 30, as Moonlight Summer. Traveled to: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, November 1915.1915 Toledo
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Recent Paintings by John F. Folinsbee and Harry Leith-Ross, November 1915, no. 278, as Moonlight Summer.1916 Mahoning (Butler) II
Mahoning Institute of Art, Youngstown, Ohio, Midwinter Exhibition of Paintings Loaned by John F. Folinsbee, by Harry Leith-Ross, and by Artists and Citizens of Youngstown, January 4–22, 1916, no. 278, as Moonlight.Published References
Bowdoin 1915
Bowdoin, G. W. "Country Moods in 5th Ave Show of Two Painters." New York Evening World, October 6, 1915.Jensen 2013
Jensen, Kirsten M. Folinsbee Considered. Hudson Hills Press, 2013, p. 227, cat entry.Notes
The plaque on the frame for this painting suggests a date of ca. 1920, and a painting titled August Moonlight was indeed exhibited at McClees Gallery in Philadelphia that year. However, that painting was sold from the show--this particular work remained with the artist until it was sold for estate by Newman Galleries in 1985. Both the palette and style of the painting suggest that it was painted earlier, and is probably a scene in Connecticut rather than New Hope. Additional information suggests that the painting is instead titled Moonlight, Summer, and was exhibited at the Lewis Katz Gallery in October 1915. A review in the New York Evening World describes Moonlight, Summer as "a house in the gloaming. The somber shadows of the night mingle with the deep shadows cast by the overhanging trees, and from two open windows shine out fetching red lights,"--a description which fits this painting precisely.
Record last updated August 27, 2019. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Jensen, Kirsten M. ""Moonlight Summer, 1913–15 (JFF.961)." In John F. Folinsbee Catalogue Raisonné. www.johnfolinsbee.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=961 (accessed on May 1, 2025).