Provenance:
Heineman Galleries, New York, 1994;
acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Note:
In 1954, Frederick Rowland Emett was commissioned by Life Magazine to travel across the United States and make sketches of all that he observed. Twelve drawings from this commission were published in the magazine's July 5th issue, including a finished work based on the present lot.

Each drawing included witty captions by the artist. For White Sands Proving Ground, the caption ran, "Everyone knows that other planets are becoming keenly interested in the scientific goings-on in the desert. Here a flying saucer, slightly off course, has landed and is carefully dissecting a piece of pure American science to see what makes it tick."