Tunis Ponsen
American, born Holland, 1891 - 1968The Old Pier, n.d.
Not on view
Oil on canvas
Dimensions26 1/4 × 30 1/4 in.
Museum purchase by popular subscription, 1929.1
Tunis Ponsen was born in 1891 in the Netherlands. He emigrated to the United States in 1913 and settled in Muskegon, where, at
age thirty, he had his first solo exhibition. Ponsen’s success as a traditional painter strengthened when he relocated to Chicago in
1924. Between 1924, when Ponsen entered the Art Institute of Chicago, and 1938, his work was included in thirty-four important
museum exhibitions.
This painting is the first purchase to enter the museum’s permanent collection and was purchased in 1929 by popular subscription.
According to The Flint Journal, a pasteboard box was placed under the painting for the season, where visitors could place their
contributions.
