This painting is titled “Canadian Night”.   It was originally painted with another work by Dabo titled “Moonlight Canada” around 1913.    Canadian Night was one of four works Dabo exhibited in the Armory Show.  It was thought to have been sold to Mrs. Payne Whitney, but research into letters found at the New York Historical Society tell a different story. She sent for “Canadian Night” but once received realized it was not the piece that she intended.  She wanted another “blue piece with the figures”.  Dabo arranged for the other painting to be delivered, and Mrs. Whitney returned Canadian Night. Dabo in turn sent “Canadian Night” to Elizabeth Severn a famous Psychiatrist Dabo was involved with at the time.  Theodore Roosevelt was asked to review the Armory show and its works in “ Layman’s View of an Art Exhibition,” published in the March 29, 1913, in an issue of “Outlook.” Roosevelt took a moderate approach, lauding the unconventional spirit of the Armory Show while casually dismissing the work of such “European extremists” as the Cubists and the Futurists.  Out of the famed paintings in the Armory show he mentioned “Canadian Night” was one of the first class works of the exhibition.

Exhibited:

1913 Armory Show, New York City

1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL #80

2015 An American Century, May 2015, ACA Galleries New Yok City

2015 Spring Masters, New York 2015, ACA Galleries New York City

Printed Media:

Original Armory Catalogue # 852

“International Exhibition of Modern Art, Art Institute of Chicago,”Chicago, IL 1913 # 80

“History of American Tonalism,1880-1920”, pub. 2010  by David Cleveland

“A Layman’s View of an Art Exhibition,” pub. March 29,1913 by The Outlook Magazine