Edwin Dikinson
Catalogue entry
Constant
Catalogue no. 387
1940–1941 & 1944
Wellfleet, MA
Oil on canvas
24 x 29 in. (61 x 73.7 cm)
Signed and dated along right side: "E W Dickinson 1944"
Inscribed at bottom: " Xmas CONSTANT"
Inscribed upper left corner:
"1st LOVE / 2" ?~ or "1st COVE / 2" ?~
Inscribed top right: "2 Jan. '44"
Inscribed upper right corner: "RP"
Inscribed at bottom: " Xmas CONSTANT"
Inscribed upper left corner:
"1st LOVE / 2" ?~ or "1st COVE / 2" ?~
Inscribed top right: "2 Jan. '44"
Inscribed upper right corner: "RP"
Private Collection
Photo: Babcock Galleries
Notes
Notes: Painted in Wellfleet, MA, the first painting done in studio built in 1940. Begun December 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 "painted fiddle", 31 "painted fiddle"; 1941, January 1, 2 "fini", 3, boxed & sent it to Passedoit. 1949, May 30"Painted - finished the fiddle scroll on Constant's portrait." (dates from journals). Initials "RP" refer to old friend Dr. Richard Parmenter who lent $500 for the building of the studio. Later in the 1940s he forgave the debt. Format of painting is an outline of the interior of a French oval frame. It is unknown why ED dated the piece "1944." He put on a swatch of paint for the purpose.
To EHS, January 4, 1941: "I had promised to have a painting of a musical instrument in N.Y. by New Year, and my new studio, in which I was to paint it, was completed later than I had planned. (This piece is for a show of musical instruments which opens Monday at Passedoits)."
COH: p 144;
Provenance
Private Collection
Exhibition History
Chicago, 1941.
Georgette Passedoit Gallery, New York, Paintings, Edwin Dickinson, April 1–21, 1941.
Monomoy Theatre, Chatham, Massachusetts, Work by Edwin Dickinson, August 11–18, 1942.
Pittsburgh, 1949.
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, 1950.
Art Students League, New York, Diamond Jubilee, 1951.
National Academy of Design, New York, 1952.
National Academy of Arts and Letters, 1954.
Cushman Gallery, Houston, 1958.
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1959.
Waltham, Massachusetts, 1959.
Boston University Art Gallery, Boston, Edwin Dickinson, Retrospective Exhibition, March 7–April 4, 1959.
James Graham & Sons, New York, Edwin Dickinson, Retrospective, February 1–March 11, 1961.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Edwin Dickinson, 1961–63. Traveled to: Tennessee Fine Arts Center, Nashville, Tennessee, November 15, 1961; Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, South Carolina, January 5, 1962; Chatham College, Pittsburgh, February 5, 1962; University of Texas, Austin, Texas, May 8, 1962; Art Center of La Jolla, La Jolla, California, June 22, 1962; Hunter Gallery of Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee, September 7, 1962; Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, October 15, 1962; Quincy Art Club, Quincy, Illinois, November 20, 1962; Telfer Academy of Arts and Science, Savannah, Georgia, January 7, 1963; Delaware Art Center, Wilmington, Delaware, February 15, 1963; University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, April 2, 1963; Madison Art Association, Madison, Wisconsin, May 8, 1963.
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Edwin Dickinson. Major retrospective, October 20–November 28, 1965.
Ridgefield, 1966.
Gilman Galleries, Chicago, Edwin Dickinson, Paintings, January 8– ? 1966.
Provincetown Art Association, Hawthorne Memorial Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts, Selections from the Work of Edwin Dickinson, August 3–September 4, 1967.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1968.
XXXIV International Biennial Exhibition of Art, Venice, Italy, The Figurative Tradition in Recent American Art: Edwin Dickinson, June 22–October 20, 1968. Traveled to: National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, D.C., December 19, 1968–February 2, 1969; Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, March 17, 1969.
Institute of Contemporary Art and Weeden Gallery, Boston, Paintings and Drawings by Edwin Dickinson, October 11–November 7, 1970.
Wellfleet Art Gallery, Wellfleet, Massachusetts, [summer], 1973.
Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, Massachusetts, Edwin Dickinson Retrospective, August 14–September 7, 1976.
National Academy of Design Galleries, New York, Art Students League Benefit Sale, May 18–July 4, 1982, dated 1941.
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, Realism and Abstraction: Counterpoints in American Drawings, 1900-1940, November 12–December 30, 1983.
Alpha Gallery, Boston, Edwin Dickinson, March 9–April 3, 1985.
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, Master Drawings from The Drawing Society's Membership, February 12–March 8, 1986.
The Art Show, New York, 1989.
Babcock Galleries, New York, Edwin Dickinson, 1891-1978: Centennial Exhibition, October 11–November 22, 1991.
Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Dickinson Baldwin, Helen. "Constant, 1940–1941 & 1944 (Catalogue no. 387)." In The Edwin Dickinson Catalogue Raisonné. www.edwindickinson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=387 (accessed on July 25, 2026).