Name/Title
Autumn SymphonyEntry/Object ID
2023.03.02Description
Oil-on-canvas landscape painting in a wooden, gilt frame. The painting depicts bright, sandy dunes as seen from a shaded viewpoint with pine trees and grasses in the foreground.
A note penciled on the frame of "Sept 24" may indicate the painting was created on September 24.Type of Painting
EaselContext
This painting hung in the Saugatuck Fruit Growers bank (and it many later iterations) for more than 90 years.
According to an article in the November 8, 1929 Commercial Record newspaper, the work was painted "near the end of the Skylin Drive on the Felt estate with the glistening dune near Gibson rising to the North. One of the picturesque old pines nearby is introduced in the foreground with its somber green contrast to the vivid coloration of advanced autumn."
The landscape captured by Hoerman still exists today in the Saugatuck Dunes State Park and the Shore Acres Township Park in Laketown Township.Collection
ArtworksCataloged By
Winthers, SallyAcquisition
Accession
2023.03Source or Donor
Mize Rose Garden north side/Fruit Growers State Bank/Clapp's Grocery/Flint's Shoes/Walz Meat Market/Griffin/TannerAcquisition Method
Donation, unconditionalMade/Created
Artist
Hoerman, Carl 1885-1955Date made
1929Inscription/Signature/Marks
Type
SignatureLocation
lower right cornerLocation
Room
2nd floor gallery/conference roomInterpretative Labels
Label
Carl Hoerman
1885 - 1955
Autumn Symphony
1929 | oil on canvas
Cool, deep shadows contrast bright slopes in this scene depicting the dunes north of Saugatuck on the Felt Estate.
Born in Bavaria, Carl Hoerman used his savings from working in a Hamburg shipyard and the sales of charcoal drawings to finance a move to Chicago in 1904. There, he studied architecture and in 1909, opened his own practice.
Hoerman closed his architectural firm in 1920 and with his spouse Christiana moved to Saugatuck to start a tree nursery on Silver Lake. In 1922 he gave up the nursery to devote his time to painting. In 1923, Hoerman built the Chalet at 621 Pleasant Street to be a residence, studio and private gallery.
Collection: Saugatuck-Douglas History Center
Gift of: Huntington Bank
Accession: 2023.03.02Research Notes
Notes
The painting appears on page 24 of the 1997 SDHC publication "Painting the Town" as "Big Pavilion from the Douglas Shore," 1949, with the following description on page 33:
"In Michigan and Chicago he [Hoerman] is best known for his landscapes and dune scenes, with dramatic foliage outlined against a sky of swirling clouds. In a large painting of Kalamazoo Lake the viewer looks over the south bank of the lake, past fall-tinted foliage to the village of Saugatuck on the north bank where the Big Pavilion looks pink in the brightness of a morning sun. The sandy top of Mount Baldhead gleams in the distance."Create Date
January 10, 2023Update Date
October 2, 2025
![silver-tone metlaic tag on frame: Citizens Tr. [Trust] & Savings Bank, South Haven, Michigan 809](https://d8e7jbdw4fu0e.cloudfront.net/4124/4cb5efd0-9126-11ed-9d05-17f107aab28f-vZvlVtt.lg@2x.jpg)
