Landscape of Michoacan
William Fett
American, 1918–2006
1942
A watercolor and gouache on paper in which William Fett reimagines a Michoacán landscape as a vibrating, biomorphic terrain, aiming to convey the land’s energy and inner life rather than a literal view.
The sheet seems to pulse with pooled, saturated washes—electric purples, blood reds, and deep blues—cut by sinuous, root‑like strokes so that hills, clouds, and water read like living, moving organisms.
Made in 1942, the work fuses modernist abstraction and Surrealist biomorphism to push American landscape painting toward expressive, nonliteral impressions and broader experiments in color and gesture.
Medium
Watercolor and gouache on paper
Dimensions
13 3/4 x 19 7/8" (35 x 50.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of James Thrall Soby
Accession
69.1943
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
