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October Day on Lake Kalamazoo

Painting
Oil-on-canvas landscape painting in a wooden, gilt frame with carved, Acanthus details in the corners. The top half of the painting is a blue sky with high cloud formations. The bare sand peak of Mt. Baldhead (minus a tower) and the Big Pavilion are visible across Lake Kalamazoo in the middle distance. In the foreground are orange, yellow, red and green trees and a strip of grassland. Two tags on the back of the frame date the work as 1929. An alternate title is "Lake Kalamazoo with View of Saugatuck"
October Day on Lake Kalamazoo picture number 1
back penciled note on of back of frame Penciled note on back of frame possibly part of bank inventory since all items in donation have the same marks.; 9172 - 36 1/4 x ?1/4 M? D U 11 - 60526 tag on back of canvas stretcher; October... Lake Kalamazoo from Gerb... property, Douglas, Mich, northward. By Carl Hoerman, Saugatuck, Done in October 1929. [view from Gerber Property aka Tara site] tag on back of frame; Carl Hoerman, October on Lake Kalamazoo, 1929, 36x42 photo by Eric Gollannek from 2-page flyer with information about the painting created by Eric Gollanneck Commercial Record newspaper, November 8, 1929 cmr_330417_prep_20230321151232507 (dragged).pdf 1.4MB; Commercial Record 23 March 2023

2023.03.01

Collecting the Art CoastGarden Art

Easel

Oil

Kalamazoo Lake

A prime example of Hoerman's West Michigan landscapes with the bonus of the Big Pavilion. This painting hung in the Saugatuck Fruit Growers State Bank (and its many later iterations) for more than 90 years. According to an article in the November 8, 1929 Commercial Record newspaper, the work is "painted from the scenic shoreline of hte Gerber (Spencer) estate in Douglas looking across towards Saugatuck, showing, in the foreground the colorful raiment of fall in three and bush, with the distant wood-clad dunes in the hazy blue-green shadows of an afternoon sun with Saugatuck's land mark—the Pavilion—near the center."

Artworks1909 Big Pavilion -1960

Winthers, Sally

2023.03

Huntington Bank, Douglas

Donation, unconditional

Hoerman, Carl 1885-1955

1929

Signature

lower right corner

40-1/2 in

46-1/2 in

2nd floor gallery/conference room

Very Good

Carl Hoerman 1885 - 1955 October Day on Lake Kalamazoo 1929 | oil on canvas “In Michigan and Chicago, Hoerman is best known for his landscapes and dune scenes with dramatic foliage outlined against a sky of swirling clouds. In this 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.”1 1Lane, Kit. Painting the Town: A History of Art in Saugatuck and Douglas. Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Society, 1997. Collection: Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Gift of: Huntington Bank Accession: 2023.03.01

From “Seasons at the Lakeshore” at the History Center 2024-2025 Carl Hoerman 1885-1955 October Day on Lake Kalamazoo 1929 | oil on canvas For more than 90 years, this painting by Carl Hoerman delighted lovers of art visiting Saugatuck’s Fruit Growers State Bank on Mason Street. Painted on October 26, 1929 from the southern shore of Lake Kalamazoo in Douglas, Hoerman created a harmonious landscape ablaze with fall foliage and a sky of swirling clouds. Comparing the view from 1929 to today, the middle ground of the composition reveals changes in Saugatuck’s landscape, including a treeless Mount Baldhead, the Big Pavilion (burned 1960) and Saugatuck Fruit Exchange (demolished 1999). SDHC Collection Gift of Huntington Bank Accession number 2023.03.01

From "Collecting the Lakeshore" 2025-2026 at the History Center main floor gallery Carl Hoerman 1885-1955 October Day on Lake Kalamazoo 1929 | oil on canvas For more than 90 years, this painting by Carl Hoerman delighted lovers of art visiting Saugatuck’s Fruit Growers State Bank on Mason Street. Painted on October 26, 1929 from the southern shore of Lake Kalamazoo in Douglas, Hoerman created a harmonious landscape ablaze with fall foliage and a sky of swirling clouds. Comparing the view from 1929 to today, the middle ground of the composition reveals changes in Saugatuck’s landscape, including a treeless Mount Baldhead, the Big Pavilion (burned 1960) and Saugatuck Fruit Exchange (demolished 1999). This painting along with Autumn Symphony was on view at Mason Street bank from November of 1929 until Huntington Bank donated them to the Saugatuck-Douglas History Center in January 2023. Huntington Bank donated two additional paintings by Carl Hoerman to the Saugatuck Center for the Arts where they are on public view. Gift of Huntington Bank Accession 2023.03.01

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."

01/10/2023

09/15/2026