Fitzgerald, James (1899-1971) OLD TREE. Cat Raisonne 1223. Watercolor on paper, c. 1930. Signed, lower left. 19 x 25 1/2 inches, framed to 27 5/8 x 33 1/4 inches. Provenance: Estate of the artist to Anne M. & Edgar F. Hubert 1971, to a private Massachusetts colleciton.Fitzgerald was born in Boston. He served in the Marine COrp in 1918-1919, and then enrolled in art school. He also worked briefly as a commercial fisherman. In 1928, as a seaman, he worked his way to California, where he settled in Monterey,married and built a house and studio. In Monterey, he became part of the Cannery Row circle led by Edward Riketts, which included John Steinbeck, Krishnamurti, Robinson Jeffers, John Cage and Joseph Campbell, among others. Through his association with this group, Fitgerald became interested in Eastern philosophy; its priciples and aesthetic underlay his work in California and afterward. In Califonria he exhibited his work regularly, and was awarded prizes for his watercolors. Old Tree, dated to about 1930, was likely painted in California. In 1948, after having visited Monhegan Island in Maine for several years, he moved there permanently. He purchased the house which had been Rockwell Kent's studio when he lived on Monhegan. Fitzgerald liked to stand and watch the sea, the fishermen, the flying gulls of Monhegan, and use his observations to created his paintings and watercolors. Fitzgerald died while on a visit to Ireland in 1971.
