Paper

Student Artwork Guide

Mountains

Marion Post Wolcott, 1938

Name Class Date
Marion Post Wolcott, Mountains (1938). Reproduced for reference; rights reserved by the rights holder. See this canvas under a moving light: the drawing, the true colour under the varnish, the bare pigment

The facts

Artist
Marion Post Wolcott wahooart.com/en/artists/marion-post-wolcott/
Artist’s dates
1910 – 1990
Painted
1938
Original size
28 x 36 cm

Copyright This work is still under copyright. Marion Post Wolcott died in 1990; copyright lasts 70 years after the artist’s death, so it remains in force until 2060. The image is shown here for classroom reference; rights remain with the rights holder.

Source: WahooArt.com — accessed Oct. 9, 2026

Mountains — Marion Post Wolcott Part 1 · The artwork

In context

Mountains — Marion Post Wolcott

How big is it?

The original measures 28 × 36 cm (height × width), drawn here beside an adult of average height.

When was this painted?

  1. 1910
  2. 1920
  3. 1930
  4. 1940
  5. 1950
  6. 1960
  7. 1970
  8. 1980
  9. 1990

Row above: the years. Row below: how old the artist was at the start and at the end of each span — 0 at birth, 80 at death.

Painted when the artist was 28. The artist lived to 80. 0 of the 64 dated works by this artist in our catalogue came earlier.

Shaded: the lifetime of Marion Post Wolcott (1910–1990) ▲ this work, 1938 every dated painting, decade by decade

First works: up to 1938 Main working years: 1938–1940 Late works: from 1940

Those three bands split the works this catalogue has a date for into a first quarter, a middle half and a last quarter. They are not the artist’s complete output: a thin stretch may be a gap in the record rather than a quiet spell. The same years with the artist’s life laid along them

Compare with

Pick one work above: name two things it shares with this one, and one thing that's different.

More works to set beside this one: wahooart.com/en/art/similar/marion-post-wolcott-mountains-AQRLF5-en/

Colours

Measured from the image

    Main colour

    Gray #8e8e8e

    Catalogued palette

    • #8E8E8E
    • #151515
    • #4B4B4B
    • #E3E3E3

    These colours inside the artist’s whole palette Find other paintings by colour

    Main colour name
    Gray
    Intensity
    Monochromatic How saturated and varied the colours are, from a single toned-down hue to many bright ones.
    Contrast
    Statement How much the colours differ in lightness and saturation across the picture.
    Harmony
    Unified Palette How well the colours work together, from clashing to fully unified.
    Brightness
    Shadow How light or dark the picture reads overall, from deep shadow to bright highlight.
    Saturation
    Muted How pure and strong the colours are, from near-grey to fully vivid.

    Where in the world is this painting looked at?

    • under 1%
    • 1–3%
    • 3–8%
    • 8–20%
    • 20% and over
    This painting alone has too few recorded visitors to map, so the plate reads every work by Marion Post Wolcott over the last twelve months — 2 countries in all. Where these figures come from

    The ten leading countries

    1. 1 China 90.0%900 visits
    2. 2 United States of America 10.0%100 visits

    Find the three darkest countries on the map. Is the museum that keeps this painting in any of them? Write down one reason people far away might look at it.

    The 11 most looked-at works by Marion Post Wolcott

    1. 1 Winter Tourists Picnicking on Beach near Sarasota, Fla., 1980 18.2%200 visits
    2. 2 Lake Providence Grocery, 1938 9.1%100 visits
    3. 3 Migrant family from Missouri camping out in cane brush. One woman said, We ain't never lived like hogs before, but we sure does now. Canal Point, Florida, 1939 9.1%100 visits
    4. 4 Jorena Pettway sorting peas inside her smokehouse. She still has many fruits and vegetables, which she canned last year, on the shelves around her. Gee's Bend, Alabama, 1939 9.1%100 visits
    5. 5 Children of migrant workers. Near Homestead, Florida, 1939 9.1%100 visits
    6. 6 Hot lunches for children of agricultural workers in day nursery of Okeechobee, Migratory Labor camp. Belle Glade, Florida, 1941 9.1%100 visits
    7. 7 Child in doorway of shack of migrant pickers and packing house workers, near Belle Glade, Florida, 1939 9.1%100 visits
    8. 8 Mountaineers cutting tobacco. Jackson, Kentucky, 1940 9.1%100 visits
    9. 9 Coal Miner's child carrying home a can of kerosene, Scotts Run, West Virginia, 1938 9.1%100 visits
    10. 10 Carnival signs, Strawberry Festival. Plant City, Florida, 1978 9.1%100 visits
    11. — Mountains, 1938 this painting 0.0%0 visits

    Together these works take 100.0% of all the attention this artist's paintings received over the last twelve months. The catalogue holds 65 works by this artist, of which 10 were looked at at least once. This painting has not been looked at yet in that time — it closes the list without a rank. The same counts, month by month

    Bars measure attention, not quality. Pick the work at the top and this one: name one thing that might make a painting famous beyond how well it is painted.

    Source: WahooArt.com — accessed Oct. 9, 2026

    Mountains — Marion Post Wolcott Part 2 · In context

    Artist and museum

    Artist

    Marion Post Wolcott

    The Genesis of a Visionary Eye

    Born in the quiet enclave of Montclair, New Jersey, Marion Post Wolcott’s journey toward becoming one of America's most poignant visual chroniclers was shaped by a childhood of both artistic richness and personal upheaval. Growing up amidst the vibrant, bohemian atmosphere of Greenwich Village after her parents' divorce, she was immersed in a world where music and dance were not merely entertainments but vital expressions of the human spirit. This early exposure to the arts instilled in her a profound sensitivity to rhythm and emotion—a quality that would later define her photographic compositions.

    Her studies at the New School further refined this aesthetic sensibility, yet it was her encounter with the work of Viennese photographer Trude Fleischmann that truly ignited her technical passion. As the shadows of Nazi persecution loomed over Europe, Wolcott’s return to the United States was marked by a burgeoning awareness of the world's fragility, setting the stage for a career dedicated to documenting the raw, unvarnished truths of the American experience.

    Documenting Dignity Amidst Desolation

    When Wolcott joined the Farm Security Administration in the late 1930s, she stepped into a landscape of profound economic devastation. Her lens became a tool for social justice, capturing the quiet resilience of those caught in the grip of the Great Depression. Unlike some of her contemporaries who focused solely on the tragedy of poverty, Wolcott possessed a unique ability to find dignity within the struggle. Whether she was documenting the weary strength of black workers in rural fields or the heavy burdens carried by women in Natchez, Mississippi, her images transcended mere reportage.

    Her work in the Jim Crow South provided an unflinching look at systemic inequality, yet she approached her subjects with an unwavering empathy that prevented her photos from becoming purely exploitative. Through her camera, the struggle for survival was elevated to a narrative of human endurance, turning the dust and hardship of the American South into a powerful testament to the strength of the human soul.

    A Lasting Legacy of Social Realism

    The technical mastery of Wolcott’s work lies in its stark, silver gelatin simplicity. Utilizing the profound emotional weight of black and white photography, she stripped away the distractions of color to focus on texture, light, and expression. Her compositions were often direct and unpretentious, mirroring the honesty of her subjects. Through her involvement with the New York Photo League alongside luminaries like Paul Strand and Ralph Steiner, she helped shape the movement of social realism in American photography.

    Historical Significance: Her FSA archive remains an essential primary source for studying the Great Depression and the Jim Crow era.

    Artistic Influence: She pioneered a style of documentary photography that balances journalistic truth with poetic composition.

    Humanitarian Impact: Her work brought the overlooked realities of rural America to the forefront of national consciousness.

    Where to read more

    Find this online

    QR code linking to the download page for Mountains

    wahooart.com/en/art/download/marion-post-wolcott-mountains-AQRLF5-en/

    Cite this artwork

    MLA
    Wolcott, Marion Post. Mountains. 1938, https://wahooart.com/en/art/marion-post-wolcott-mountains-AQRLF5-en/
    APA
    Wolcott, Marion Post (1938). Mountains [Painting]. https://wahooart.com/en/art/marion-post-wolcott-mountains-AQRLF5-en/
    Chicago
    Marion Post Wolcott. Mountains. 1938. https://wahooart.com/en/art/marion-post-wolcott-mountains-AQRLF5-en/
    Harvard
    Wolcott, Marion Post (1938) Mountains. Available at: https://wahooart.com/en/art/marion-post-wolcott-mountains-AQRLF5-en/

    Source: WahooArt.com — accessed Oct. 9, 2026

    Mountains — Marion Post Wolcott Part 3 · Artist and museum

    Look closely

    Mountains — Marion Post Wolcott

    Look closely

    Answer in your own words. There are no wrong answers here — only answers you can explain.

    1. What catches your eye first, and why?
    2. Which colours or shapes create the mood — and what is that mood?
    3. Look back at Man Playing Guitar on Porch, Natchitoches, Louisiana (1940), earlier in this guide. Name two things it shares with this work, and one that is different.
    4. Marion Post Wolcott was about 28 when this was made. What in it looks like the work of an artist at that stage?
    5. What might the artist have wanted you to feel?

    Your response

    Write a short paragraph about this artwork. Use the facts from the earlier parts of this guide, and your answers above.

    Source: WahooArt.com — accessed Oct. 9, 2026

    Mountains — Marion Post Wolcott Part 4 · Look closely

    Questions & Answers

    What saturation and intensity does "Mountains" by Marion Post Wolcott show?

    The color of "Mountains" is muted in saturation and monochromatic in intensity.

    Can I watch "Mountains" as a full-screen slideshow?

    "Mountains" by Marion Post Wolcott can be viewed as a slideshow on the artwork's Diaporama page.

    How much light do the colors of "Mountains" appear to reflect?

    "Mountains" by Marion Post Wolcott has a gentle luminance luminance. Luminance describes how much light the colors appear to reflect.