Lot 38026: FLORENCE ELLIOTT MCCLUNG (American, 1896-1994)

FLORENCE ELLIOTT MCCLUNG (American, 1896-1994) Volcanic Cone at Fort Davis, Texas, 1930 Oil on artist's board 16 x 19-3/4 inches (40.6 x 50.2 cm) Signed lower right: E. McClung Inscribed verso: 1930 Volcanic Cone at Ft. Davis Texas in Town Florence McClung began painting in the early 1920s, when she studied with Frank Reaugh, Olin Travis, Frank Klepper, Alexander Hogue, and Thomas M. Stell before training at several institutions across the country. Often following an urge to romanticize the rural landscape, McClung embraced Regionalist subject matter. She largely followed her own stylistic tendency toward the idealization, instead of the abstraction, of rural settings in the manner of many of her contemporaries and teachers. Volcanic Cone at Fort Davis Texas, 1930 is just such an example of her work. This charming painting captures the scenery in a most eloquent style and invokes feelings of peace and awe that can be simultaneously inspired by the dramatic Texas landscape.