(Portrait Sketch of an Actor)

Object Details

Date
ca. 1830
Artist
Unidentified
Sitter
unidentified
Luce Center Label
This unfinished portrait captures the guile and wariness of an actor who very likely had to struggle for a living. America’s middle class in the nineteenth century regarded actors as little better than peddlers and cardsharps. Only a few, such as Edwin Booth and Fanny Kemble, managed to achieve a measure of respectability. The uncertain, appraising look in the man’s eyes undercuts the cocky assurance of his preposterous and tattered straw hat. In 1867 a critic for the Atlantic Monthly wrote: “It is an accepted dogma in dramatic art, that whatever is presented on the stage must necessarily be enlarged and exaggerated . . . [an actor] is apt to represent all shades and degrees of passion through . . . exaggerated tone, stride, and gesture.”
Topic
Portrait male
Performing arts\theater
See more items in
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department
Painting and Sculpture
On View
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor, 15B
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase
Data Source
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Object number
1977.132
Type
Painting
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Medium
oil on wood
Dimensions
20 x 15 7/8 in. (50.9 x 40.4 cm.)
GUID
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk7f0854978-7672-4239-af9c-63c2195e2e8d
Record ID
saam_1977.132