A Rainy Day, The Artist's Tavern at Barbizon

1.31.11

Christopher A. Booker

University of Maine at Augusta

History of Art and Architecture II

Dr. Virginia Goodlett

Formal Analysis Essay # 1

Henry Bacon (1839 – 1912)

A Rainy Day, the Artist's Tavern at Barbizon, 1874

Oil on canvas

40 in. x 54 in.

The Lunder Collection

Colby Museum of Art

Accession Number: 001.1996

A Rainy Day, the Artist's Tavern at Barbizon

One of the many works of art hanging on the walls at the Colby College Museum of Art, A Rainy Day, the Artist's Tavern at Barbizon caught my attention. This oil on canvas painting was created by Henry A. Bacon in 1874 and currently resides as part of Colby's Lunder Collection.

“Henry A. Bacon was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1839. During the American Civil War, he enlisted in the Union Army on July, 16 1861 and acted as a field artist for Frank Leslie's Weekly while he served as a soldier within the 13th Massachusetts Infantry. Badly wounded at Bull Run, he was discharged on December 19, 1862. In 1864, he went to Paris, with his first wife Elizabeth Lord, to study figure painting. He was admitted to the National School of Fine Arts and was one of Alexandre Cabanel's scholars. Henry Bacon died in Cairo, Egypt in 1912.” [1]

The painting is framed in a 40 in. x 54 in. darkened bronze colored frame typical of presentations of 19^th century paintings. As you look at the piece, the immediate focal point of attention is on a man dressed in khaki colored pants, sport jacket, and round brim hat sitting on a bench in front of dark red piano. As this singing man plays you notice the other patrons within the room. Behind him is a long table with a white table cloth that has been pushed back exposing the table beneath. Directly behind the table on a bench sits two women. The women on the right in a blue dress seems to be enjoying the entertainment as she leans back with her hands flailed beside her head. The women seated to the left of her, wearing a turquoise dress crouches, covering her ears as if the noise from the standing musician to her left might be too much. Still behind the table to the far left a man sits with his head propped up by his arm while his wife sits comfortably behind him. The whole event is being documented by an artist that sits in front along side of the table. The artist wears a dark jacket with gray slacks and sprawls back against his chair painting the events out of a box containing his canvas and supplies. Two dogs howl along with the music, one black under the table and one white with black spots in the far right next to the piano. Eventually you notice a boy standing to the left side of the dog on the far right of the painting. The young boy wears a blue shirt and backpack and holds a dark hat out in front of him. A clue emerges, because the hat is dripping a stream of water, which makes you realize it's raining outside. The more you look, the more details you see; a man behind the piano, paintings on the wall, wine bottles on the table, a dog bone on the floor.

Everything is captured in a detailed and realistic sense. The two point perspective view is stronger to the right and you can feel yourself drawn towards the center where the action is taking place. The lines in the work are only distinct because of the use of texture and shading. Bacon uses a full array of colors in a dark setting, in which value depicts the lighting, of which the center of the room shines the brightest. I have never painted a portrait, at best a Crayola crayon drawing, but I can still appreciate the talent and skill it takes for an artist such as Bacon. He really brings life to this painting.

In my opinion, and I can only speculate, Bacon seems to be trying to capture life. The painting was made about ten years after Bacon attended the National School of Fine Arts in Paris. He has definitely mastered the art of figure painting learned while under Alexandre Cabanel's guidance. Through his skill he portrays an event that takes place in a tavern on a rainy day and brings it to life with oil paint, a bristled paint brush, and canvas. He has the skill to paint, but it takes talent to capture life.

I enjoy looking at it because of its realism, knowing that its liquid material was manipulated in such a way that can capture a moment in time and harden into a work of art. I appreciate realism produced from skill of the artist and the ability to capture the humanistic emotion within events. There are many different types of art, not all I would hang on my wall. I would be privileged to hang a painting like this on my wall.

References

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Bacon_(painter)