Object Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
The Battery, Evening |
Artist |
Biddle, George |
Date |
1931 |
Medium |
oil |
Support |
canvas |
Dimensions |
26 1/2 x 26 1/2 inches |
Signature |
Biddle 1931 |
Signature Location |
bottom left |
Inscription |
Battery, Evening |
Inscription Location |
verso |
Credit line |
Museum Purchase with funds provided by Thomas Bennett, Thomas Gromme, Richard C. Dailey, Nathan and Marlene Addlestone Foundation, Inc., Mary Ramsay, and Mrs. Gertrude Legendre, and gifts of Mrs. Robert B. Mayer and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Woodward |
Accession Number |
1999.002 |
Collection |
Painting |
Description |
A native of Philadelphia, George Biddle graduated from Harvard Law School in 1911. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar the same year, but instead he decided to pursue a career in art. From 1911 to 1916, Biddle studied in Europe and America at the Académie Julian in Paris and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He learned printmaking in Munich and spent summers in Giverny with Frederick Frieseke. After serving in the army during World War I, Biddle traveled extensively visiting Tahiti, Mexico and Paris. In 1930, Biddle was commissioned by George and Ira Gershwin to illustrate the libretto for "Porgy and Bess." He spent that spring in Charleston where he became friends with DuBose Heyward. Charleston and its cultural reawakening inspired Biddle, and he created a number of paintings of life in the Lowcountry, including The Battery, Evening. |
Subjects |
Figures African Americans Children Women Parks Harbors Water Knitting |
Image |
011\1999.02.JPG |