Beschreibung:

Eric Sloane (1905-1985)Passing Storm signed '-Eric Sloane' (lower left) oil on Masonite 17 1/4 x 21 3/8 in. (43.8 x 54.3 cm.)FootnotesProvenance Acquired from the artist by the present owner, circa 1976-77. The present work by Eric Sloane beautifully demonstrates his mastered abilities as an atmospheric painter and exhibits his fascination with clouds and the sky, a theme central to his work throughout his career. Sloane started painting clouds and the sky in the 1930s after being inspired by his flying lessons with Wiley Post (1898-1935) at Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York in exchange for teaching Post to paint. Among his earliest clients were those pilots at Roosevelt Field whose planes he painted the identifying markers for at their insistence and it was Amelia Erhardt (1897-1939) who bought his first cloud painting. In 1976, Sloane painted and unveiled his largest cloud painting, titled Earth Flight Environment for the opening of the National Air and Space Museum where it remains today. (1976, National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.) In the present work, Sloane depicts a panoramic view of a western American landscape, arguably reminiscent of the New Mexico landscape where Sloan built a home in 1975, christened Las Nuves (The Clouds) in La Tierra near Santa Fe. In the distance, isolated rain showers fall and cloud formations rise above toward a glowing evening sky. These elements depicted in the present work that beautifully culminate together are hallmarks of Sloane's best cloud paintings in the artist's oeuvre.