Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object Name |
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Caption |
"By the Country Store" |
Description |
Framed print "By The Country Store" by Minnesota wildlife artist Les C. Kouba. He painted himself in three stages of his life: a man sitting in front of the store wood carving; a boy sitting on a box watching a man painting a Coca-Cola sign on the side of the store. Thirteen geese are flying over the store. A vintage automobile is parked by a gas pump and a Coca-Cola truck is parked on the left side of the store. A sign for Clabber Girl is in the store window and a greyhound sign above the door indicates it is a bus depot. A bicycle and water pump are behind the boy and two ladders extend to the roof and provide scaffolding for the painter. A rural mailbox sits in a milk can across the road and a house and farm are in the distance. 1667/5000. Wood frame; glass. From 5th Avenue Antiques, 45-5th Avenue N.W., Hutchinson, MN, specializing in Kouba Prints. Kouba: "This intensely personal painting is an accurate and romantic dual-portrait of the way it was when I was a young man in 1939 working my way around the country painting Coca-Cola signs and trucks, and the way it is now some 50 years later as I sit on a bench in front of the same country store in quiet contemplation pursuing my hobby of carving duck decoys. Like many wildlife artists in my generation, I started basic training wherever I could, and in this case it was sign painting. It was a way of paying my dues while always keeping in mind the final goal of graduating into fine art as a painter of wildlife. As the years went by, I finally got to do the thing I always wanted to to make a living with my paint brush. This autobiographical painting is a pleasant echo of America as it used to be in times more quiet and simple, and it is the next best thing to living life over again. The Country Store was a headquarters for the whole community, often including a Post Office, a bus depot, a center of activity, news, and gossip for the local countryside. Just as we now have Classic Coca-Cola, this is a painting and limited Edition prints in remembrance of vintage, Classic Americana. I hope you enjoy the painting not only for its charm and nostalgia, but also for its recorded history of America growing up in the countryside. I have tried to make the past real for those in this generation as well. We share a lament for what we as people have lost from these earlier times, but as long as the wild geese fly overhead, we can share their faith and hope for the future." - Signed, Les C Kouba 1991. |
Catalog Number |
2003-0173-001 |
Search Terms |
Kouba prints Artists Stores & shops General stores Country life Coca Cola Company Advertising "By the Country Store" |
Subjects |
Prints Artists Stores & shops Country life Advertising |
People |
Kouba, Leslie Carl |