Raymond Breinin (1910 - ) 
The Dead Tree, 1937 
opaque watercolor on illustration board, 20 by 30 inches 
Illinois State Museum Collection
Gift of Harriette Crummer 

The distant buildings in this landscape appear to be floating. How did the artist achieve this effect?

What details in the picture tell you something disastrous happened to these farms? (Contrast this farm scene with others in this Web unit.)

This scene could be based on a real tragedy in some states referred to as The Dust Bowl, a subject for more research or reading about the Depression.

Raymond Breinin was born in Vibetsk, Russia, and studied at the Vibetsk Academy, which was founded by artist Marc Chagall, also a native of the city. Breinin immigrated to the United States in 1923 and went to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago to continue his studies. He was a painter, a muralist, and a printmaker. He taught at Southern Illinois University from 1943 to 1944 and later at the University of Minnesota. He exhibited in Illinois and Toronto, Canada, and designed the sets for the ballet Undertow.