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(American, 1807–1868)

Fruit Piece: Apples on Tin Cups

1864
Oil on academy board
Image: 6 1/2 x 9 1/16 in. (16.5 x 23.0 cm)
Frame: 12 7/8 x 15 5/16 in. (32.7 x 38.9 cm)
Credit LineTerra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection
Object number1999.100
SignedLower right: Wm. S. MOUNT 1864
Interpretation
William Sidney Mount’s Fruit Piece: Apples on Tin Cups is a still-life image of an ostensibly simple, modest subject: two ripe apples, each set on the base of an overturned tin cup placed on a nondescript surface. The leaf still attached to the stalk on one of the apples and the spray of slightly curling apple leaves at the lower left allude to the fruit’s recent gathering, while the unobtrusive crescent-shaped mark on the skin of the nearer apple, like the imprint of a fingernail, subtly records the intervention of human hands. The mismatched tin cups also reflect their history, with the nearer one bearing the signs of use on its scuffed and tarnished but still reflective surface.

Mount painted very few still lifes. In his diary and in an inscription on the back of the painting he described Fruit Piece: Apples on Tin Cups as one of a pair of works that were his first attempts at painting arrangements of inanimate objects. He created them to donate to the Metropolitan Fair, held in New York in 1864 to benefit the United States Sanitary Commission (a forerunner of the American Red Cross), which supported sick and wounded soldiers of the Union Army during the Civil War. The asking price for Fruit Piece: Apples on Tin Cups was fifty dollars, but it was sold at auction for thirty-five.

Mount’s painting makes reference to the Civil War on several levels. The humble tin cup, known as a dipper, was part of a Union soldier’s equipment and typically hung from his belt during marches. Apples were commonly left outside homes by children as a gift to passing troops. The apple bore numerous other associations. In addition to its significance in the Bible and in classical lore, it was the most important fruit cultivated in America’s northern colonies by the time of the Revolution. By the mid-nineteenth century it had come to be considered the national fruit and thereafter it was prominent as a subject for still life painters. Drawing on the naturalistic tradition of European still life, in which the selection of objects and their arrangement often serve as the vehicle for moral narrative, Mount’s modest image of everyday things hints at the larger theme of national destiny. The apples, embodiments of the nation, are supported quite literally by the cups, symbols of the Union forces. Mount demonstrated his faith in the righteousness of the Union cause not only by donating paintings for sale but also by embedding his support in the very imagery of Fruit Piece: Apples on Tin Cups.
ProvenanceThe artist
Donated by artist to Spirit of the Fair, Fourteenth Street Building, New York, New York, April 5–23, 1864 (as "Apples and Tin Cups")
Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York
Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1984
Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1999
Exhibition History
Brooklyn's Bounty: Natural Splendor and Domestic Opulence, Museum of the Borough of Brooklyn at Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York (organizer). Venue: Museum of the Borough of Brooklyn at Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York, April 16–May 16, 1985.

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.]

Selections from the Permanent Collection: Life in 19th Century America, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, June 24–September 6, 1987.

The Apple of America: The Apple in 19th Century American Art, Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York (organizer). Venue: Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York, May 5–June 26, 1993. [exh. cat.]

Collection Cameo, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, December 1996.

Permanent collection installation, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 12–August 27, 1997.

Figures and Forms: Selections from the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 9–July 9, 2000.

New Faces, New Places: Recent Additions to the Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, October 14–December 31, 2000.

Deux collections en regard: oeuvres de la Terra Foundation for the Arts et du Detroit Institute of Arts (Side by Side: Works from the Terra Foundation for the Arts and the Detroit Institute of Arts), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, March 2–June 1, 2003. [exh. cat.]

La Scène américaine, 1860–1930 (Americans at Home, 1860–1930), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France, July 10–October 30, 2005.

La Scène américaine, 1860–1930 (Americans at Home, 1860–1930), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France, April 1–October 29, 2006.

Home Front: Daily Life in the Civil War North, Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois and The Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venue: The Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois, September 26, 2013–March 24, 2014. [exh. cat.]

American Encounters: The Simple Pleasures of Still Life (New Frontier IV: fastes et fragments, Aux origins de las nature morte américaine), Musée du Louvre, Paris, France, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, and Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venues: Musée du Louvre, Paris, France, February 4–April 27, 2015; Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, May 16–September 14, 2015; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, September 26–January 31, 2016. [exh. cat.]

Published References
The Spirit of the Fair. New York, New York: John F. Trow, 1864. Text p. 166 (checklist, as Apples and Tin Cups).

Catalogue of the Art Exhibition at the Metropolitan Fair in Aid of the U.S. Sanitary Commission. New York, New York: John F. Trow, 1864. Text p. 18, cat. no. 347 (checklist, as Apples and Tin Cups).

Catalogue of Paintings and Other Works Presented to the Metropolitan Fair in Aid of the U.S. Sanitary Commission. New York, New York: Geroge F. Nesbitt & Co., 1864. Text p. 10, cat. no. 136 (as Apples and Tin Cups).

Frankenstein, Alfred. William Sidney Mount. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1975. Text pp. 367, 379, 477.

“Painting.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 64, no. 5 (June 1977). Text p. 163.

American Paintings III. New York: Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., 1985. Text p. 14; ill. p. 14 (color).

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. Ill. p. 126, pl. T-17 (color).

Weber, Bruce. The Apple of America: The Apple in 19th Century American Art. (exh. cat., Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc.). New York: Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., 1993. Text p. 48 (checklist); ill. cover (color); p. 31, no. 17 (black & white).

Fruit Piece: Apples on Tin Cups, William Sidney Mount. Collection Cameo sheet, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, December 1996. Ill. (black & white).

Brownlee, Peter John, Sarah Burns, Diane Dillon, Daniel Greene, and Scott Manning Stevens. Home Front: Daily Life in the Civil War North with a foreword by Adam Goodheart. (exh. cat., Terra Foundation for American Art and Newberry Library). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013. Text pp. 129, 135-36, 146, 155, 163 (checklist); ill. p. 128, fig. 75 (color).

American Encounters: The Simple Pleasures of Still Life. (exh. cat., Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, High Museum of Art, Musée du Louvre and the Terra Foundation for American Art). Atlanta, Georgia: The High Museum of Art, 2014. Text pp. 23, 48, 50; ill. p. 49, cat. no. 5 (color).

New Frontiers IV: Fastes et fragments. Aux origines de la nature morte américaine. (exh. cat., Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, High Museum of Art, Musée du Louvre and the Terra Foundation for American Art). Atlanta, Georgia: The High Museum of Art, 2014. Text, pp. 24, 48, 50; ill. p. 49, cat. no. 5 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M., and Peter John Brownlee, eds. Conversations with the Collection: A Terra Foundation Collection Handbook. Chicago: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2018. Text pp. 86-87, 92; fig. 5, p. 87; ill. p. 92 (color).