Snow in the Hermitage Gardens

ClassificationsPaintings-watercolors

Artist Millard Sheets (American, 1907 - 1989)

Date1961

Made AtSt. Petersburg, Russia, Europe

Place DepictedSt. Petersburg, Russia, Europe

MediumWatercolor on paper

Dimensions6 × 8 in. (15.2 × 20.3 cm)
Framed: 11 3/8 × 13 3/8 × 1 3/8 in. (28.9 × 34 × 3.5 cm)

Credit LineAnn and Bill Cullen Memorial Collection

Object number2018.6.33

DescriptionMerritt “Muggs” Van Sant first met Millard Sheets in the Bradbury building where he was selling insurance and Sheets was painting the building’s iconic iron stairs. Muggs was fascinated by Millard’s talent, and Sheets was about as personable a type as one comes by. The pair became fast friends, travelling together to paint—a hobby first introduced to Muggs by Sheets. Throughout their entire 60 year friendship, Sheets sent Muggs Christmas cards and gifts in the form of paintings with personalized inscriptions. After Muggs’ passing, David Starry-Sheets, Millard Sheets organized the sale of the Muggs Van Sant Collection, purchased by Ann Cullen. Like Snow in the Hermitage Gardens, paintings in this collection tend to be snapshots of Sheets’ travels abroad sent back home to his good friend Muggs. This was painted during a visit to the USSR as part of a U.S. State Department arts ambassador. The sparing, yet precise additions of color indicate that Sheets was no stranger to using the white paper of his chosen medium as a vital part of the final painting.

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