Collections: American Art: Deserted House

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This image is presented as a "thumbnail" because it is protected by copyright. The Brooklyn Museum respects the rights of artists who retain the copyright to their work.

Deserted House

Unlike many American Scene painters, Paul Sample was associated with multiple regions (Southern California and New England) and both urban and rural subjects. His pictures were highly regarded for their powerfully direct compositions that, like this barren scene, often struck a note of Depression-era melancholy. As one Art News critic observed in 1934, “[Sample] paints simply and conservatively, omitting startling devices . . . and unusual fabrications of color. There is a frank open quality to his work which is rather winning after much current showmanship and affectation.”


• Artist: Paul Starrett Sample, American, 1896-1974
• Medium: Watercolor with graphite underdrawing and opaque watercolor highlights on white, heavy weight, moderately textured handmade wove paper made from multiple laminated sheets
• Dates: 1938
• Dimensions: Sheet: 11 1/4 x 15 3/8 in. (28.6 x 39.1 cm) Frame: 17 7/8 x 23 7/8 x 1 1/2 in. (45.4 x 60.6 x 3.8 cm)
• Markings: Blind embossment from paper manufacturer in lower right corner: "VERITABLE PAPIER / FIN / *D'ARCHES*"
• Signature: Signed lower left: "Paul Sample"
• Collections: American Art
• Museum Location: This item is not on view
• Accession Number: 40.380
• Credit Line: Gift of Friends of Southern Vermont Artists, Inc.
• Image: Overall, 40.380_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2006
Paul Starrett Sample (American, 1896-1974). Deserted House, 1938. Watercolor with graphite underdrawing and opaque watercolor highlights on white, heavy weight, moderately textured handmade wove paper made from multiple laminated sheets, Sheet: 11 1/4 x 15 3/8 in. (28.6 x 39.1 cm) Frame: 17 7/8 x 23 7/8 x 1 1/2 in. (45.4 x 60.6 x 3.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Friends of Southern Vermont Artists, Inc., 40.380 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 40.380_PS2.jpg)