Squirrel with Nuts

Joseph Decker’s Squirrel with Nuts is an intimate glimpse of a bright-eyed squirrel munching from a hoard of nuts, some still in the shell, scattered on the ground amidst wild grasses and tree trunks. The close-up view cuts off the horizon, filling the frame with the natural world as perceived by the diminutive animal. As if taking his cue from its soft, bristling fur, Decker renders the squirrel’s surroundings with a similar delicate touch of feathery brushstrokes, complementing the overall color scheme of muted browns and grays.

Decker already had something of a reputation for featuring nuts in his still-life paintings when, beginning in 1889, he first exhibited one of several pictures showing his pet squirrel, Bonnie, of which Squirrel with Nuts is one. An emotionally distant man, Decker was fond of animals and owned a dog and a pet bird in addition to the tamed squirrel. His earliest paintings of Bonnie portray the animal with a close-up still-life arrangement of nuts, in Decker’s more precise, “hard” style of the 1880s. Later, he painted her in a natural woodland setting using a soft-focus approach, as in this work. In search of the critical and financial success that eluded him throughout his career, Decker may have seen his squirrel paintings as an opportunity to create accessible, appealing images that united his ambitions as a landscapist and his talents at still life.

Nineteenth Century Genre Painting from The Daniel J. Terra Collection,Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, November 15, 1985–January 12, 1986.

Now Reposing in Green-Wood Cemetery...Artists, Heroes, Villains and Other Illustrious Residents, Museum of the Borough of Brooklyn at Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York, April 9–May 20, 1986. [exh. cat.]

A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 21–June 21, 1987. [exh. cat.]

Joseph Decker: Still Lifes, Landscapes and Images of Youth, Coe Kerr Gallery, Inc., New York, New York, May 17–June 11, 1988. [exh. cat.]

American Paintings III 1985. New York: Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., 1985. Text p. 49; ill. p. 49 (color).

Reynolds, Gary A. and Shelly Mehlman Dinhofer. Now Reposing in the Green-Wood Cemetery...Artists, Heroes, Villains and Other Illustrious Residents. (exh. cat., Museum of the Borough of Brooklyn). Brooklyn, New York: Museum of the Borough of Brooklyn, 1986. No. 23, p. 4.

Atkinson, D. Scott et al. A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art. Edited by Terry A. Neff. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1987. Pl. T-82, p. 191 (color).

Gerdts, William H. Joseph Decker: Still Lifes, Landscapes and Images of Youth. (exh. cat., Coe-Kerr Gallery, Inc.). New York: Coe-Kerr Gallery, Inc., 1988. Pl. V (color).

Southgate, M. Therese. "The Cover." The Journal of the American Medical Association 266:16 (October 23/30 1991): cover, 2180. Text p. 2180; ill. cover (color).

Southgate, M. Therese. The Art of JAMA III: Covers and Essays from the Journal of the American Medical Association. Chicago, Illinois: American Medical Association, 2011. Text p. 60; ill. opposite p. 60 (color).