Description: A startling juxtaposition of images, The Rock depicts a shattered red rock resting on top of a base that is being demolished by workers below. Peter Blume labored for years to complete this painting, which was commissioned in 1939 by the Edgar Kaufmann family for Fallingwater, their Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home in Pennsylvania. Although the complex imagery resists easy interpretation, it may point to devastation and reconstruction, reflecting the turbulence of World War Il and its aftermath. In the end, The Rock proved too large for Fallingwater and it was never displayed there.
Where? In an interview, Blume said that the building on the right was meant to symbolize a British building during the Blitz period when London was being bombed by the German Luftwaffe. It would be kinda weird to put swastikas onto the building in that case without putting it on a weapon or otherwise making it obvious it’s not meant to be a German building.
Source Interview. The full interview nor transcript are accessible online, because it is 14 hours long, or 195 pages respectively. However, if you go in person or request access via Reference Services, they may provide it on a case by case basis online.
In the angles of the broken, burt-out timbers. Compare to Max Ernst’s " The Triumph of Surrealism ".
That’s very interesting, thanks. I’m surprised Blume assigned such straightforward symbolism to the various parts of the painting, usually something this surreal leaves a fair amount open to interpretation.