On the Bridge
Artist
Guy Pène Du Bois
(American, 1884 - 1958)
Date1926
MediumOil on wood panel (1/4" thick)
Dimensions21 5/8 x 17 7/8 in. (54.9 x 45.4 cm)
Other ([prob frame]): 25 5/8 × 22 1/4 × 1 1/8 in. (65.1 × 56.5 × 2.9 cm)
Other ([prob frame]): 25 5/8 × 22 1/4 × 1 1/8 in. (65.1 × 56.5 × 2.9 cm)
ClassificationsOil Painting
Credit LineHarriet Russell Stanley Fund
Terms
Object number1944.09
Description"On the Bridge", 1926Oil on panel, 21 5/8 x 17 7/8 in. (54.9 x 45.4 cm)
Signed and dated (lower left): Guy Pène du Bois '26
Harriet Russell Stanley Fund (1944.9)
The problematic relations between men and women were a source of continued fascination for Pène du Bois, and his canvases depict a variety of social situations in which a lack of communication between couples is a regular theme. Typical is "On the Bridge", executed in France. In this canvas, a Parisian streetscape vignette, a couple stands together yet their emotional separation is evident. The man stares up the river toward another bridge, while his female companion gazes fixedly at the street. Their self-absorption bespeaks mutual estrangement, an impression reinforced by the chilly air around them, for the tree to their right is leafless, suggesting the barren quality of their relationship. Her fashionably thin dress and open coat provide her with little warmth.
While the cafés Pène du Bois painted are sometimes identified in the title, many of his streetscape scenes, such as "On the Bridge", picture locales as a type rather than a specific place. Pène du Bois was fascinated by the American expatriates and visitors to France he observed in such public social situations. Typical is his "Americans in Paris" (1927; Museum of Modern Art, New York), in which four women briskly cross a bridge enroute to shopping or sightseeing. In contrast to those in the New Britain painting, the women in "Americans in Paris", when liberated from their male companions, assume an energetic role focused outside themselves, not on the constricted conventions of male-female interaction.
BF
Bibliography:
Guy Pène du Bois, Artists Say the Silliest Things (New York: American Artists Group, 1940); Betsy Fahlman, "Guy Pène du Bois: Painter, Critic, Teacher," Ph.D. diss., University of Delaware, 1981; Betsy Fahlman, Guy Pène du Bois: Artist about Town, exhib. cat. (Washington, D.C.: Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1980); Betsy Fahlman, "Guy Pène du Bois: Painter and Critic," Art and Antiques 3 (November-December 1980): 106-13; Betsy Fahlman, Guy Pène du Bois: The Twenties at Home and Abroad, exhib. cat. (Wilkes-Barre, Penn.: Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes University, 1995).
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