Analysis of Artworks
Nude with Apple is a signature piece of Glackens’s career. It is said to be the turning point in his style and his division with The Eight. It is a portrait of a model resting on a couch, holding an apple. Critics have called it a “modern Eve” because of its reference to the fruit. The notable attention paid to bright, vivid colors sets this painting apart from those of The Eight.
It is interesting to compare the finished work to an earlier study in pastel. Glackens's method of working would include numbers of sketches where he would focus on each element of the composition.
Chez Mouquin is arguably Glackens’s most celebrated painting. It is set in the well-known restaurant regularly visited by many of Glackens' associates. The painting is a portrait of James B. Moore, a restaurant owner, who is depicted at a table with Jeanne Mouquin. He is drinking, while the lady is turned away looking uninterested. They are reflected in the mirror behind them, along with a large crowd of people in the room. The painting is often compared to those of Degas, but “the sense of despair in Degas’s picture is replaced in the Glackens by a buoyant 'joie de vivre'.” He portrays realist subject matter, the urban life, but does so with happiness and humor.
Portrait of the Artist’s Wife portrays Edith Glackens seated next to a fruit still life. It is one of many of Glackens’s portraits. He also painted likenesses of several members of The Eight. The portrait does not idealize Edith. Rather he “frankly acknowledges her pert nose and small chin.”
Read more about this topic: William Glackens
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