|
|
|
Item No: 25058
|
|
| Keywords: Man, Boat, River, Cat, Hat, Tree, Sky, Cloud, American, Landscape, Realistic, View, Figures, Men, Boat, Rowing, River, Cat, Brown, Oil, Painting, Masters, Century, American, |
|
Bingham, George Caleb (1811-79)
George Caleb Bingham was born in the Piedmont country of Virginia, where he remained until 1819 when a turn in fortune forced his family to move to Franklin, Missouri. In 1823 his father died and the Binghams moved to a farm outside the city, where the sons laboured under the stern eye of Mrs. Bingham. Whenever he could, Caleb retreated to a bluff near the farm where he studied the fascinating life on the Missouri River. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker in Columbia, Missouri, an occupation that led to sign painting. By the time he was twenty-two, Bingham was travelling up and down the river, painting portraits in a vigorously drawn and linear style, with strong colour applied in large areas, a manner that he probably acquired from the ancestral portraits he had seen in settlers' homes.
His art was appreciated locally, but he received less acclaim when he opened a studio in St. Louis in 1835. Bingham realized that he must move from Missouri in order to become a better artist, and after some study at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, he moved to Washington in 1840, again to paint portraits. Sitters were few, so Bingham, always interested in politics, returned to Missouri for the 1844 presidential election campaign of Henry Clay versus James Polk. Bingham favoured Clay but the banners he painted for him did not prevent his losing the election.
The artist then began the series of genre pictures of river life. In his river paintings, we see only male figures. They are never at work, but dance, make music, play cards, fish, or hold conversations. They relax against generalized river backgrounds that recede mistily in the distance. His paintings generally present a composition based on the pyramid, its base being the lower horizontal. His foreground figures stand quite free and are sharply delineated. He laid out his compositions carefully, and drew his figures from life, realistically and often humorously, using friends for models and changing faces to suit his needs. His finest work, done between 1845 and 1855 when he painted the people and country he loved, is fresh and vigorous, truthful and enthusiastic. He later went abroad to Dusseldorf, where he exchanged his former methods of composition and lighting for a more sophisticated European style that weakened his natural artistic strength. |
WorldGallery.co.uk is the UK's favourite online Art Print gallery offering reduced prices, 100% secure online ordering, framing and a money back guarantee on thousands of posters and art prints like Fur Traders Descending The Missouri by George Caleb Bingham. Our range includes modern, classic, abstract and impressionist art, Modern European art prints and more.
Print images are the property of their copyright owners and may not be used in any way without express permission.
|
|
