Mt. Swan of Darling Mtn. Range Near Perth of Western AustraliaJanuary 8, 1968Sheet: 12 x 18 " (30.5 x 45.7 cm)
Frame: 19 x 26 " (48.3 x 66 cm)Colored pencil, pastel, ballpoint pen on paperAnthony Petullo Collection2025.7.111678019266Joseph E. YoakumDrawingsCopyright for this work is under review.upper center: 'This a patron / not to sold or painted'upper left: 'Mt. Swan of Darling Mtn. Range / near Perth of Western Australia / by Joseph. E. Yoakum'http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster27212http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster12319ChicagoChicagoUnited StatesIllinoisWorks on PaperAmerican Folk Art MuseumChicagoThis exquisite composition by Joseph Elmer Yoakum provides a great opportunity to enrich the Museum’s small holdings with an excellent example by this sought-after artist. On the top left corner of this work, Yoakum inscribed with a pen: “Mt. Swan of Darling Mtn. Range Near Perth of Western Australia.” On each side of this drawing are two dominant head-shaped rock formations—the one on the left recalling a brain without its skull, formed of fluid landscapes of evergreen forests, yellow fields and brown rocks. The right one resembles an Arcimboldo-type of profile whose teeth are formed by an alley of trees. The front part of a building—an uncommon motif in the artist’s repertoire, maybe a school or a church—emerges in isolation between the rocks, set against a background of jagged cliffs, a lonely tree, and a dress-like green shape—possibly an open valley. As in many of the rhythmic and luminous landscapes of Yoakum, the real and imagined are colliding. Indeed, the caption seems to amalgam two territories: Mount Swan, a mountain in east South Australia located at an altitude of about 2045 feet above sea level, and the Darling Range, a low escarpment running north–south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia.On each side of this drawing are two dominant head-shaped rock formations—the one on the left recalling a brain without its skull, formed of fluid landscapes of evergreen forests, yellow fields and brown rocks. The right one resembles an Arcimboldo-type of profile whose teeth are formed by an alley of trees. The front part of a building—an uncommon motif in the artist’s repertoire, maybe a school or a church—emerges in isolation between the rocks, set against a background of jagged cliffs, a lonely tree, and a dress-like green shape—possibly an open valley. As in many of the rhythmic and luminous landscapes of Yoakum, the real and imagined are colliding. Indeed, the caption seems to amalgam two territories: Mount Swan, a mountain in east South Australia located at an altitude of about 2045 feet above sea level, and the Darling Range, a low escarpment running north–south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia.Object information is a work in progress and may be updated
with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art
Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orghttp://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster27212http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster12319http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster27212http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster12319http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster27212http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster1231919681968 2025 7 1 This exquisite composition by Joseph Elmer Yoakum provides a great opportunity to enrich the Museum’s small holdings with an excellent example by this sought-after artist. On the top left corner of this work, Yoakum inscribed with a pen: “Mt. Swan of Darling Mtn. Range Near Perth of Western Australia.” On each side of this drawing are two dominant head-shaped rock formations—the one on the left recalling a brain without its skull, formed of fluid landscapes of evergreen forests, yellow fields and brown rocks. The right one resembles an Arcimboldo-type of profile whose teeth are formed by an alley of trees. The front part of a building—an uncommon motif in the artist’s repertoire, maybe a school or a church—emerges in isolation between the rocks, set against a background of jagged cliffs, a lonely tree, and a dress-like green shape—possibly an open valley. As in many of the rhythmic and luminous landscapes of Yoakum, the real and imagined are colliding. Indeed, the caption seems to amalgam two territories: Mount Swan, a mountain in east South Australia located at an altitude of about 2045 feet above sea level, and the Darling Range, a low escarpment running north–south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia.On each side of this drawing are two dominant head-shaped rock formations—the one on the left recalling a brain without its skull, formed of fluid landscapes of evergreen forests, yellow fields and brown rocks. The right one resembles an Arcimboldo-type of profile whose teeth are formed by an alley of trees. The front part of a building—an uncommon motif in the artist’s repertoire, maybe a school or a church—emerges in isolation between the rocks, set against a background of jagged cliffs, a lonely tree, and a dress-like green shape—possibly an open valley. As in many of the rhythmic and luminous landscapes of Yoakum, the real and imagined are colliding. Indeed, the caption seems to amalgam two territories: Mount Swan, a mountain in east South Australia located at an altitude of about 2045 feet above sea level, and the Darling Range, a low escarpment running north–south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia.Object information is a work in progress and may be updated
with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art
Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org