Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2011.

Images(2)

Photographed by Scott Wolff. Scanned from a slide. Color corrected by Pat Cagney.

The Wedding Cake

Artist George Benjamin Luks (American, 1867-1933)

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)

ClassificationsAmerican art

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.678

Terms

Girl
Wedding
Cake
White
Black
Brown
Blue
Yellow
Pink

On View

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