Guy Pène Du Bois Oil Figure Painting of Seated Woman

Item Details

Guy Pène Du Bois (New York / Connecticut / Massachusetts / France, 1884 – 1958)
Untitled (seated woman in repose)
Oil on paperboard
Signed “Guy Pène Du Bois” to lower left

Guy Pène Du Bois was a prominent New York artist who was among those who challenged conventional approaches practiced at the National Academy of Design. He was especially known for his satirical genre scenes, often critical of high society, many of which are populated with figures depicted in a caricature style or Regionalist style. In 1899, he dropped out of high school and became the youngest student in William Merritt Chase’s school, later known as The New York School of Art. Aside from Chase, some of his instructors include Frank DuMond, Kenneth Miller, and Robert Henri whose Social Realism had significant impact on Du Bois. He moved to Paris in 1905 and studied at the Acádemie Colarossi and painted numerous scenes of cafe society. Due to the death of his father in 1906, Du Bois returned to the United States and worked as a music and art critic for several prestigious publications. Beginning in 1924, he spent six years in France, which pushed him to broaden his subject matters, turning toward more satirical elements. Du Bois is particularly celebrated for his paintings of 1920s Jazz culture in the United States, many of which communicate the emptiness of bourgeois lifestyle and are critical of the urban elite. His work has been exhibited and collected by multiple institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, among others.

Condition

- light accretion across painting surface; wear to frame.

Dimensions

- painting measures 11.5″ × 9.5″.

Item #

ITMG455320