Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904)

As well known for his landscapes as he was for his still lifes, Martin Johnson Heade dedicated himself to becoming a master of each. Indeed, Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., declares, "Heade was unique [among his contemporaries] in giving equal attention to both landscape and still life throughout his career." (The Life and Work of Martin Johnson Heade: A Critical Analysis and Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven, 2000, p. 128)

Branch of Apple Blossoms and Buds is one of several finished permutations of "a now-unlocated oil sketch of a branch of flowering apple blossoms [which] appears in varying guises in one small painting after another until the early 1880s." (T.E. Stebbins, The Life and Work of Martin Johnson Heade: A Critical Analysis and Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven, 2000, p. 128) Here stripped of its natural context through placement against a gray-toned background, the subject of the painting becomes less the branch itself, and more the composition and effect of light on the surfaces of the leaves and blossoms. The painting serves as a clue to Heade's "pursuit to create a new kind of picture." (Novak, Martin Johnson Heade: A Survey: 1840-1900, West Palm Beach, Florida, 1996, p. 42)