Artwork Page for A Builder of Boats

Details / Information for A Builder of Boats

A Builder of Boats

c. 1904

John George Brown

(American, born England, 1831–1913)
Culture
United States
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
Framed: 98 x 120 x 11 cm (38 9/16 x 47 1/4 x 4 5/16 in.); Unframed: 80 x 101.6 cm (31 1/2 x 40 in.)
Credit Line
Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection 1972.905
Public Domain
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Location
207 American Realism
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The object held in the sitter’s right hand is a drawing compass.

Description

Brown's preference for rural subjects in a time when the United States was undergoing rapid industrialization suggests nostalgia for the past. Indeed, A Builder of Boats, an image of an elderly craftsman working alone with hand tools in a tranquil setting replete with his sleeping dog, offered its contemporary audience a distinct alternative to mechanized factory production.
A horizontally oriented oil painting depicts an older man with light skin tone sitting in a wood-paneled workshop. Featuring a white beard and glasses, he wears suspenders and tan trousers while gazing at a curved piece of wood. A large red-framed bow saw hangs on the wall to our left. To our right, a small brown dog sleeps on the straw-covered floor beside a grindstone and various scattered tools.

A Builder of Boats

c. 1904

John George Brown

(American, born England, 1831–1913)
United States

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