Ernest Scanes (1909 - 1994)

Mother Elizabeth, c. 1930 - 40s, tempera on Masonite, signed and titled upper left, 22 5/8 x 16 inches, artist's name inscribed verso of original frame

$2,250

Ernest W. Scanes was a Michigan based artist who was prominent in the Detroit area during the late 1930s through the 1950s. Scanes was born on November 6, 1909, in Lorain, Ohio. He received his early art education at Cass Technical High School (Detroit) under Marty Davis who was a prominent teacher, including of David Friedenthal. Scanes earned a scholarship to the John P. Wicker School of Fine Arts. In 1939, he was awarded a prestigious fellowship at the Cranbrook Academy of Art where he likely perfected tempera painting techniques.

Scanes began his professional career in commercial art, joining General Motors’ advertising studio in 1933, where he advanced to become Art Director of Public Relations. Parallel to his commercial work, he pursued fine art across painting, sculpture, lithography, and printmaking. Many of his works blended elements of Regionalism, figurative realism, and illustrative design, reflecting both his fine art training and his professional career in commercial art.

The present work, which likely dates from the late 1930s or early 1940s after his time at Cranbrook, depicts Scanes mother, Elizabeth. The image evokes Grant Wood's Women with Plant from around a decade earlier. Both compositions are devotional and feature unvarnished, warts-and-all images of their respective mothers looking out sternly from the picture plane with plants featured prominently, as well as broaches decorating otherwise drab clothing. With its smooth surface, careful drawing, complex background, and memetic qualities, all painted in tempera on Masonite, Mother Elizabeth, also bears comparison to Scanes' Girl in Landscape in the collection of the Flint Institute of Arts.

An active member of Detroit’s Scarab Club from 1931, Scanes garnered considerable recognition, becoming a voting member by 1937 and winning Gold Medals in 1950 and 1951. Scanes was a consistent exhibitor in the Great Lakes region, including at the Detroit Institute of Art, Milwaukee Art Institute, Art Institute of Chicago, Albright Knox Gallery (now AKG) and the Butler Art Institute. He also exhibited at the New York World's Fair in 1939, where he also won a prize. He is listed in Who Was Who in American Art and all other standard references.