This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:String Quartette
Artist:Jack Levine (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1915–2010 New York)
Date:1937
Medium:Tempera and oil on Masonite
Dimensions:47 1/2 × 67 1/2 in. (120.7 × 171.5 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, 1942
Object Number:42.156
Inscription: Signed (lower right): J. Levine
the artist (1937–42; sold through Downtown Gallery, New York to MMA)
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "1937 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting," November 10–December 12, 1937, no. 71 (as "String Quartet").
Pittsburgh. Carnegie Institute. "The 1938 International Exhibition of Paintings," October 13–December 4, 1938, no. 84 (as "String Quartet").
New York. Downtown Gallery. "Jack Levine: First One-Man Exhibition," January 17–February 4, 1939, brochure no. 5 (as "String Quartet").
Portland, Ore. Portland Art Museum. "An Exhibition of Contemporary Paintings Held on the Opening of the Solomon and Josephine Hirsch Memorial Wing," September 15–October 29, 1939, no. 84 (lent by Downtown Gallery).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Americans 1942: 18 Artists from 9 States," January 21–March 8, 1942, unnumbered cat. (p. 126, lent by the Downtown Gallery, New York).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Artists for Victory: An Exhibition of Contemporary American Art," December 7, 1942–February 22, 1943, unnumbered cat. (p. 7; awarded a Second Prize).
Washington, D. C. Corcoran Gallery of Art. "The Eighteenth Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Oil Paintings," March 21–May 2, 1943, no. 134.
Boston. Institute of Modern Art. "Artists for Victory: Prize Winners," May 22–June 19, 1943, no catalogue.
New York. Seventeenth Regiment Armory. "Art and Antiques Show," September 24–30, 1945, no catalogue [displayed in the "Critics' Choice" section chosen by Emily Genauer; see Ref. Genauer 1945].
New York. Downtown Gallery. "Loan Exhibition: A Selection of Outstanding Paintings and Sculptures by Leading Exponents of Progressive American Art and a Group of 19th Century Art," October 15–November 3, 1945, no. 11.
New York. Stern's. April 10–17, 1946 [on display in the store window for the MMA Diamond Jubilee Campaign fund].
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. "Milestones of American Painting in Our Century," January 20–March 1, 1949, no. 28 (dated 1934–37).
Art Association of Montreal. "Milestones of American Painting in Our Century," March 15–April 15, 1949, no. 28.
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. "Milestones of American Painting in Our Century," May 5–June 25, 1949, no. 28.
San Francisco. M. H. de Young Memorial Museum. "Milestones of American Painting in Our Century," July 10–August 25, 1949, no. 28.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Milestones of American Painting in Our Century," September 7–October 16, 1949, no. 28.
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Milestones of American Painting in Our Century," November 4–December 11, 1949, no. 28.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "20th Century Painters: A Special Exhibition of Oils, Water Colors and Drawings Selected from the Collections of American Art in the Metropolitan Museum," June 16–October 29, 1950, unnum. brochure (p. 8).
Los Angeles. Pan Pacific Auditorium. "6th Annual National Construction Industries Exposition and Home Show," June 14–24, 1951 [loan extended to the Tower Gallery, Los Angeles City Hall until August 10, 1951], no catalogue.
Hempstead, N. Y. Hofstra College. "Metropolitan Museum Masterpieces," June 26–September 1, 1952, brochure no. 49.
Seattle Art Museum. "Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture," February 4–April 5, 1953, unnum. brochure.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Painting, 1754–1954," December 18, 1953–September 1954, no catalogue.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Jack Levine," February 23–April 3, 1955, no. 6.
Waterville, Maine. Colby College Museum of Art. "Jack Levine: The Rediscovery of the Individual," April 3–20, 1956, no catalogue.
Palazzo Reale, Naples. "25 anni di pittura americana, 1933–1958," October 30–November 29, 1959 (circulated by United States Information Agency, Washington, D.C.), unnumbered cat. (p. 24; dated 1934–37).
Palazzo Strozzi, Florence. "25 anni di pittura americana, 1933–1958," December 12, 1959–January 10, 1960 (circulated by United States Information Agency, Washington, D.C.), unnumbered cat.
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome. "25 anni di pittura americana, 1933–1958," January 23–February 21, 1960 (circulated by United States Information Agency, Washington, D.C.), unnumbered cat.
Milan. Palazzo della Permanente. "25 anni di pittura americana, 1933–1958," March 1–22, 1960 (circulated by United States Information Agency, Washington, D.C.), unnumbered cat.
Amerika Haus, Berlin. "Moderne Amerikanische Malerei 1930–1958," April 10–May 16, 1960 (circulated by United States Information Agency, Washington, D.C.), no. 40 (dated 1934–37).
Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt. "Moderne Amerikanische Malerei 1930–1958," June 3–26, 1960 (circulated by United States Information Agency, Washington, D.C.), no. 40.
Göteborg. Göteborgs Konstmuseum. "Modernt Amerikanskt Måleri, 1932–1958," July 15–August 7, 1960 (circulated by United States Information Agency, Washington, D.C.), no. 40.
City of York Art Gallery. "Modern American Painting, 1930–1958," August 15–September 20, 1960, extended to September 30, 1960 (circulated by United States Information Agency, Washington, D.C.), no. 40.
New York. IBM Gallery. "Realism: An American Heritage," January 14–February 1, 1963, no. 35.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Three Centuries of American Painting," April 9–October 17, 1965, unnum. checklist (dated 1934–37).
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "The 1930's: Painting & Sculpture in America," October 15–December 1, 1968, no. 66 (dated 1934–37).
Omaha. Joslyn Art Museum. "The Thirties Decade: American Artists and Their European Contemporaries," October 10–November 28, 1971, no. 134.
American Embassy, Moscow. "American Painting, 1830–1970," opened June 1974, no. 16.
Moscow. State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. "Representations of America," December 15, 1977–February 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Leningrad. State Hermitage Museum. "Representations of America," March 15–May 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Minsk, Belarus. Palace of Art. "Representations of America," June 15–August 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Bellevue, Wash. Bellevue Art Museum. "Five Thousand Years of Faces," January 30–July 30, 1983, unnumbered cat.
Jacksonville, Fla. Jacksonville Art Museum. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 9–April 21, 1985, unnumbered cat. (p. 29).
Oklahoma City. Oklahoma Museum of Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 5–June 30, 1985, unnumbered cat.
New York. National Academy of Design. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," July 16–September 1, 1985, unnumbered cat.
Evanston, Ill. Terra Museum of American Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 15–November 10, 1985, unnumbered cat.
Little Rock. Arkansas Arts Center. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 12, 1985–January 19, 1986, unnumbered cat.
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 9–March 30, 1986, unnumbered cat.
St. Paul. Minnesota Museum of Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 20–June 8, 1986, unnumbered cat.
Roslyn Harbor, N. Y. Nassau County Museum of Art. "Town and Country: In Pursuit of Life's Pleasures," May 12–August 11, 1996, unnumbered cat. (p. 46; dated 1934–37).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Artists for Victory," October 1, 1996–January 12, 1997, extended to January 22, 1997, no catalogue.
Jack Levine. Letter to Edith Halpert. December 22, 1936 [Downtown Gallery records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.], remarks that he began working on this painting in August 1935.
Martha Davidson. "American Art at Home & Paris." Art News 36 (November 13, 1937), p. 14.
Edward Alden Jewell. "Realm of Art: Events Cluster Thickly; Lively Americans at the Whitney." New York Times (November 14, 1937), p. 10X.
Margaret Breuning. "Art in New York." Parnassus 9 (December 1937), p. 23.
Royal Cortissoz. "American and Foreign Art at Pittsburgh." New York Herald Tribune (October 30, 1938), p. E8.
M[artha]. D[avidson]. "Levine: Epic Painting in a First One Man Showing." Art News 37 (January 21, 1939), p. 12.
Edward Alden Jewell. "In the Realm of Art: The Season Keeps Up Its Pace." New York Times (January 22, 1939), p. 123.
E[mily]. G[enauer]. "New Paintings Shown by Isabel Bishop; Downtown Exhibits Bitter Protests of Jack Levine, 23." New York World-Telegram (January 21, 1939), p. 16.
Melville Upton. "Other Solo and Group Shows." New York Sun (January 21, 1939), p. 9.
A. Hyatt Mayor. Artists for Victory: An Exhibition of Contemporary American Art. A Picture Book of the Prize Winners. New York, 1942, unpaginated, ill.
"Artists for Victory Score Victory in Metropolitan Exhibition." Art Digest 17 (December 15, 1942), p. 6, ill.
Edward Alden Jewell. "Artists for Victory: Afterthoughts on the Huge Nation-Wide Survey at the Metropolitan Museum." New York Times (December 20, 1942), p. X9.
"Record Art Show Has $52,000 Prizes." New York Times (December 8, 1942), p. 30.
"Metropolitan Museum Opens Artists for Victory Exhibition." New York Herald Tribune (December 8, 1942), p. 21.
"The Met's Biggest." Newsweek 20 (December 14, 1942), p. 101.
Robert M. Coates. "The Art Galleries: Whew!." New Yorker (December 19, 1942), p. 82.
Alfred M. Frankfurter. "The Artists for Victory Exhibition: The Paintings." Art News 41 (January 1–14, 1943), pp. 11, 34, ill. p. 9.
"Private Levine Picked to Paint War at Front." New York Herald Tribune (March 28, 1943), p. 29.
"Jack Levine: 'String Quartette'." Art News 41 (January 15–31, 1943), ill. p. 16 (color).
"Metropolitan Show: Modern Artists Invade the Museum." Life 14 (March 8, 1943), p. 43, ill. (color), states that the artist began the work in 1932 [see Ref. Levine 1936].
Roy R. Neuberger. "Artists for Victory." Art in America 31 (January 1943), p. 54.
"This Week in the Art World: 'Artists for Victory' Exhibit Here." Daily Boston Globe (May 30, 1943), p. C7, ill.
"'String Quartette'." Jewish Advocate (April 30, 1943), p. 8, notes that a color print of this work was shown on the New York City subway trains as part of the subway's "Great Art" series, sponsored by MMA.
Peyton Boswell. "Comments: Nineteen Forty-Two." Art Digest 17 (January 1, 1943), p. 27, includes this picture in his nominations for the ten best contemporary American paintings exhibited in 1942.
M. R. "No More K.P." Art Digest 17 (January 1, 1943), p. 12, recounts the story how the artist's dealer, Edith Halpert, phoning Levine while he was in the army, stationed at Fort Oglethorpe [Georgia], to inform him that this work had been awarded the Artists for Victory second prize.
Downtown Gallery. Paintings by Leading American Artists... New York, [1944], ill. n.p.
Carlyle Burrows. "The Week in Art." New York Herald Tribune (September 23, 1945), p. C4, calls it "String Quartet".
"In the Art Galleries." New York Herald Tribune (October 21, 1945), p. D7.
Emily Genauer in "Critics' Choice at the Armory Show." Art News 44 (October 1–14, 1945), p. 21, calls it "String Quartet".
Ben Wolf. "Edith Halpert, Art Crusader, Marks Two Decades of Success." Art Digest 20 (October 15, 1945), p. 10.
"New York Critics Pick Exhibits for Armory Show—Prepare to Duck." Art Digest 19 (September 15, 1945), p. 7.
Holger Cahill. "In Our Time." Magazine of Art 39 (November 1946), p. 321, ill.
Alan D. Gruskin. Painting in the U.S.A. New York, 1946, ill. p. 55 (color).
"Revolt in Boston: Shootin' Resumes in the Art World." Life (February 21, 1949), p. 86, ill. (color).
Frederick S. Wight. Milestones of American Painting in Our Century. Exh. cat., Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. New York, 1949, pp. 31, 88, no. 28, ill. p. 89.
Dorothy Adlow. "Fifty Pictures at Institute Mark Milestones in Art." Christian Science Monitor (January 24, 1949), ill. p. 4.
"Notes." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 7 (February 1949), unpaginated, ill. and ill. front cover (color detail), quotes the artist statement that this work is not modeled from any specific group, but takes inspiration from a series of concerts by the Stradivarius Quartet at the Fogg Museum in Cambridge, Mass. and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Lawrence Dame. "Boston Institute Surveys American Painting." Art Digest 23 (February 1, 1949), p. 12.
Alexander Fried. "Restless Experiment in De Young Exhibit." San Francisco Examiner (July 24, 1949), p. 141.
Robert Beverly Hale. 100 American Painters of the 20th Century: Works Selected from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1950, ill. p. 81, dates it 1934–37.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Miniatures. Vol. 17, album W, Twentieth-Century American Painters. New York, 1950, unpaginated, no. 13, ill. (color).
Doris Brian. "The Metropolitan's American Policy—A Long View, No Blind Flying." Art Digest 24 (July 1, 1950), p. 9.
Edgar J. Driscoll Jr. "This Week in the Art World—Levine's One-Man Show Stimulating Exhibit." Daily Boston Globe (January 22, 1950), ill. p. 18A.
"Panorama of American 20th Century Art Exhibited." Santa Barbara News-Press (June 18, 1950), p. C-5.
Arthur Millier. "Art Masterpieces Lent for Exhibit." Los Angeles Times (June 17, 1951), p. 11.
Bernard Myers. "Jack Levine: One of the Most Versatile Painters in the World Today." American Artist 15 (June 1951), pp. 37–39, ill., reproduces and discusses a related drawing (Fogg Art Museum, 1936.101).
Northport Journal (August 21, 1952), p. 4, ill.
Frederick S. Wight. "A Jack Levine Profile." Art Digest 26 (September 15, 1952), p. 11, calls it "String Quartet"; notes that the work was painted on a Federal Arts Project in Massachusetts; relates the figures in this work to Chaim Soutine's painting style.
Robert M. Coates. "The Art Galleries: American Art, In Quantity." New Yorker (January 2, 1954), p. 47.
Frederick S. Wight inJack Levine. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Boston, [1955], pp. 10, 12, no. 6, calls it "String Quartet" in text.
Sidney Finkelstein. "Art Review: The Painting of Jack Levine." Jewish Life 9 (May 1955), p. 27.
"The Cover This Month." Etude: The Music Magazine 74 (October 1956), p. 6, ill. front cover (color).
"Levine Paintings are on Exhibit at Colby College." Waterville Morning Sentinel (April 10, 1956), p. 16.
Albert Ten Eyck Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the American Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1957, p. 29.
Alfred Werner. "The Peopled World of Jack Levine." Painter & Sculptor 2 (Summer 1959), p. 24.
Emery Grossman. "Jack Levine: Young Dean of American Artists." Temple Israel Light (January 1959), p. 15.
Henry Geldzahler. American Painting in the Twentieth Century. New York, 1965, pp. 113–14, ill., dates it 1934–37.
Patricia Boyd Wilson. Christian Science Monitor (December 6, 1965), p. 12, ill.
Frank Getlein. Jack Levine. New York, 1966, p. 14, pl. 8.
Robert Pincus-Witten. "The 1930’s, Whitney Museum of American Art." Artforum 7 (January 1969), p. 56.
William Germain Dooley. Christian Science Monitor (January 18, 1971), p. 8.
William A. McGonagle inThe Thirties Decade: American Artists and Their European Contemporaries. Exh. cat., Joslyn Art Museum. [Omaha], [1971], pp. 11, 67, no. 134, ill. p. 41, dates it 1934–37.
Amei Wallach. "The Painter Who Came in From the Cold." Newsday (April 25, 1972), p. 4A.
Frederick M. Winship. "Arts Profile: Critics Hostile, but Levine Oils Back in Vogue." Boston Globe (May 31, 1972), p. 62.
Mahonri Sharp Young. Jack Levine: Recent Paintings. Exh. cat., Kennedy Galleries, Inc. New York, 1972, unpaginated.
Linda Thorsen Bond. "Arts & Pleasures: Jack Levine, the Artist as Victim." Women's Wear Daily (February 14, 1973), p. 20, quotes the artist commenting that critics misrepresented this painting as "satirical".
"500 View U.S. Art at Moscow Embassy." New York Times (June 22, 1974), p. 18, calls it "String Quartet".
Henry Freedman. "Jack Levine: Painter and Protestor." PhD diss., Johns Hopkins University, 1974, pp. 32–33, 43, 88, 104, pl. 27.
Kenneth W. Prescott. Jack Levine Retrospective Exhibition: Paintings, Drawings, Graphics. Exh. cat., Jewish Museum, New York. New York, 1978, p. 15.
Bernard Chaet. "The Boston Expressionist School: A Painter's Recollections of the Forties." Archives of American Art Journal 20, no. 1 (1980), p. 26, calls it "String Quartet".
Piri Halasz. "Figuration in the '40s: The Other Expressionism." Art in America 70 (December 1982), p. 119.
Thomas Schlotterback inFive Thousand Years of Faces. Exh. cat., Bellevue Art Museum. Bellevue, Wash., 1983, unpaginated, dates it about 1934–37.
Lowery Stokes Sims. The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Jacksonville Art Museum. New York, 1984, pp. 10, 13, 28–29, 71, ill., dates it 1934–37.
John Brandenburg. "Museum's Offerings Tell Story of 20th Century America." Daily Oklahoman/Times (May 30, 1985), p. 15.
Piri Halasz. "Manhattan Museums: The 1940s vs. the 1980s; Part Two: The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Arts Magazine 59 (March 1985), p. 91.
Jack Levine. Jack Levine. Ed. Stephen Robert Frankel. New York, 1989, pp. 12, 25, 34, ill. (b/w and color), calls it "String Quartet" and dates it 1934–37; notes that he began the picture in 1934, completed the underpainting in 1935, and repainted the picture in 1937, after taking a pause on the work due to his WPA employment between 1935 and 1937.
Robert Henkes. Themes in American Painting: A Reference Work to Common Styles and Genres. Jefferson, N.C., 1993, pp. 244–46, ill.
Steven Z. Levine. Jack Levine. Exh. cat., Midtown Payson Galleries. New York, 1993, unpaginated.
Judith A. Bookbinder. "Figurative Expressionism in Boston and Its Germanic Cultural Affinities: An Alternative Modernist Discourse On Art and Identity." PhD diss., Boston University, 1998, pp. 159–63, 167, 169, 187–90, fig. 4-1, calls it "String Quartet".
Andrew Hemingway. Artists on the Left: American Artists and the Communist Movement 1926–1956. New Haven, 2002, pp. 144, 252.
Judith Bookbinder. Boston Modern: Figurative Expressionism as Alternative Modernism. Durham, N.H., 2005, pp. 92–97, 109, 217, 301–2 n. 105.
Samantha Baskind. Jewish Artists and the Bible in Twentieth-Century America. University Park, Pa., 2014, p. 27, dates it 1934–37.
Thomas Hart Benton (American, Neosho, Missouri 1889–1975 Kansas City, Missouri)
1930–31
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's engagement with art from 1890 to today includes the acquisition and exhibition of works in a range of media, spanning movements in modernism to contemporary practices from across the globe.
