Description

acrylic on canvas, 72 x 72″

Local news reports of sturgeon-tracking efforts focusing on “Muskegon Matilda,” a particularly large sturgeon, served as some of the inspiration for this painting. Elements of the composition are borrowed from the painting Gunnel Under by Montague Dawson in the Muskegon Museum of Art’s permanent collection.

The life car is based on an actual one on display at the Leelanau lighthouse. Since these unusual contraptions were used only briefly in the late 1800’s and sturgeons are known as “ancient” fish, we have fancifully depicted the contemporary Matilda as a fingerling (in the lower right corner) curiously witnessing the passage of the life car through the waves.