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"What you laughin' at?"  "You, maybe."  for The Boy, the Girl and the Union 1909 20th Century 14 in. x 20 3/4 in. (35.56 cm x 52.71 cm) John Sloan (Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, 1871 - 1951) Object Type: Drawing Medium and Support: ink on paper Credit Line: Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Collection: Purchased with a gift from the Vineyard in the Park. 1979.069 Accession Number: 1979.069 Comments: American artist John Sloan began his professional career as a newspaper illustrator in Philadelphia where he worked for the Inquirer and the Press from 1892 to 1903. This was a time just before the technical process to reproduce photographs in commercial printing had been invented. The newspaper artist not only produced advertising illustration but also went on the scene to record newsworthy events as they happened. Such artist typically developed a style of journalistic immediacy, a method of sketching rapidly but accurately, of using quick pen or pencil strokes to capture contour, volume, shading, space, depth, and motion. It was, by nature, a calligraphic mode, and many artists came to be recognized for a distinctly personal graphic touch. Sloan was one of the best of these. His rendering technique shows the sharp eye, skill and verve by which he recorded the interior view of an early twentieth-century American parlor. Notice how he used heavier line to show close objects, lighter for the back wall and furnishings at the rear of the room. The Boy, the Girl, and the Union depict as well social proprieties of the period. The young man has come to court his girlfriend. For such an occasion he is suitably dressed in coat and tie. The pair sit a discreet distance apart. Close contact or touching at this stage of the relationship would have been quite unseemly. Yet, from her expression, the young woman is obviously pleased at having a suitor. She sits on only half the chair seat. One feels she would like to stand up, walk over and sit beside her admirer-after all, there is room for two on the small sofa. For the present however, they be content with casual conversation. Source: Art and Storytelling, William T. Henning, former curator, Arkansas Arts Center, 1990

Keywords:

• drawing
• American
• figure
• ink

Portfolio List
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• Masterworks: Drawing

Keywords:

• Artist:North American:American
• Class:Fine Arts:drawing
• Class:Fine Arts:drawing:ink
• Subject:figure

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