Bart J Morse (b.1938)

View from Casa Seton, Ground Crew, 1981
Watercolor, 38" x 26"

View from Casa Seton, Ground Crew is an interior watercolor and collage that depicts a Deco tile room with a wall fountain, still-life elements, and a large window to an outdoor landscape. The landscape is reminiscent of WWII landing invasion imagery with an amassing air fleet and boat in the distance. On the foreground beach, a ground crew of men is joined by an anteater and kangaroo rat, though their roles are ambiguous. Back inside, a toy plane and house have been left behind perhaps, and a curious back and forth evolves between the "real" and "unreal" levels of painted, dream-like space. As in several paintings, Morse used collage beads around the ceiling light fixture to suggest insects or dust, which helps activate the picture.

This image is taken from a Bart Morse slide and the writing is not completely legible. The date is most likely 1981. The title written on the front is "View from Casa Seton." There are conflicting dimensions on slides and their duplicates, perhaps the difference between artwork dims and frame dims or Morse guessing the dims after the fact. Signed Bart J. Morse in the red tile near bottom right.

Collector and location unknown.