The Wedding Cake
Artist
George Benjamin Luks
(American, 1867-1933)
CultureAmerican
Dateca. 1910
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall: 30 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm)
Overall, Frame: 37 1/2 x 32 1/2 x 2 1/2 in. (95.3 x 82.6 x 6.4 cm)
Overall, Frame: 37 1/2 x 32 1/2 x 2 1/2 in. (95.3 x 82.6 x 6.4 cm)
Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Object number71.678
Not on view
DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting of two wide-eyed children gazing at a wedding cake. The cake is a one layer cake topped with the traditional figures of the bride and groom. It is on a pedestal glass plate and cover with glass. The whites of the cake are infused with light touches of blue and pink. The cake occupies the left foreground of the picture plane while the children are in the dark background. One child is very small and all that is visible is the top of a head and a pair of eager eyes. The other child is taller, but her clothing and hair are as dark as the background. The gender of the children is only indicated by a straight cut of bangs across the forehead of the smaller child and a hint of a dress on the other.Label TextGeorge Benjamin Luks American, 1867–1933 The Wedding Cake, ca. 1910–15 Oil on canvas A white wedding cake glows within its domed glass stand, enticing the two young girls outside this shop. Urban consumer culture and the everyday amusements among New York’s lower classes fascinated the artist George Luks. “A child of the slums will make a better painting than a drawing-room lady gone over by a beauty shop,” he told students. Luks often painted in broad, gestural strokes, seen here in the countertop reflections, to reinforce the crude, yet delightfully unpretentious, character of such scenes. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.678 ProvenanceMrs. William Keighley; M. Knoedler and Co., New York, N. Y., 1957; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum of Art, 1971. Exhibition History"'The Eight'(of 1908) Thirty Years After," Macbeth Gallery, New York, NY, January 4th-17th, 1938. "Provincetown Past and Present," Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, Mass., September 27 - December 7, 1958. "The World of Art in 1910," The Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans, La., November 15 - December 31, 1960. "The Controversial Century, 1850-1950, Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Provincetown, Mass., June 16 - September 3, 1962; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, September 28 - November 4, 1962. "George Luks (1867-1933) Retrospective Exhibition," ACA Heritage Gallery, New York, N. Y., November 17 - December 23, 1967. "Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. "American Treasures at the Willoughby-Baylor House," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, January 2 - December 1, 2013. "American Appetite: Selections from the Chrysler Museum of Art," Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, VA, February 6 - June 6, 2021.Published References_The World of Art in 1910_, exh.cat., The Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans, La., 1960. _"The Eight" (of 1908) Thirty Years After_, exh.cat., Macbeth Gallery, New York, NY, 1938. Charles F. Comfort and William S.A. Dale, _The Controversial Century: 1850-1950_, exh. cat., Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, Provincetown, Mass., 1962, not paged. _George Luks, 1867-1933, Retrospective Exhibition_, exh. cat., ACA Heritage Gallery, New York, N. Y., 1967, no. 21. Dennis R. Anderson, _Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum_, exh. cat., Norfolk, Va., 1975. _The Chrysler Museum: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Norfolk, Virginia_ (Norfolk: Chrysler Museum, 1982). Joyce M. Szabo, "American Art - 1875-1913" _Gallery Guide_ (Norfolk: The Chrysler Museum, 1986), 5, no. 10. Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 149, no. 92. I Cynthia Amnéus, _Wedded Perfection: Two Centuries of Wedding Gowns_, exhib. cat., Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH, 2010, 49, fig. 15. Don Harrison, "Art Unveiled," _Coastal Virginia Magazine,_ April 2014, 49.
Pauly et Cie
