Guy Pène Du Bois (American, 1884-1958). Portrait of Patricia Pike in White Dress, 1941. Oil on canvas . 75-1/4 x 39-7/8 ...

Description

Guy Pène Du Bois (American, 1884-1958)
Portrait of Patricia Pike in White Dress, 1941
Oil on canvas
75-1/4 x 39-7/8 inches (191.1 x 101.3 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: Guy Pène Du Bois '41

PROVENANCE:
The artist;
Estate of the above;
James Graham and Sons, New York;
511 Gallery, New York.

EXHIBITED:
Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, Florida, "Edward Hopper and Guy Pène du Bois: Painting the Real," December 17, 2022-March 26, 2023.

Patricia Pike, a born and bred New Yorker, was the eldest daughter of socially prominent Mr. and Mrs. H. Harvey Pike. Mr. Pike was a resourceful importer and President of the New York Coffee and Sugar Exchange. When this portrait was painted, Patricia was twenty years old; within the next year she would meet Norwegian shipping magnate, H. Irgens Larsen, while skiing in Quebec and six weeks later would marry the 13-years older man. They would have 5 children. The Larsens were patrons of the arts. Patricia was a Fogg Fellow for the Harvard Art Museums and a member of the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1974, the couple made an important donation to MoMA of Edgar Munch's 1893 painting The Storm. Patricia Pike passed away in 2000.

Guy Pène du Bois taught Patricia Pike at the Art Students League and probably also in private lessons in New York and Stonington, Connecticut. This portrait was one that the artist was commissioned to paint, probably by her parents. We can tell that from its giant size, the formality of its title ("portrait of Patricia Pike" and not simply "Patricia Pike"), the fact of its being a full-standing portrait, and the implicit class and social standing of the sitter. Patricia's engagement was announced on May 7th of that year. In the painting, she wears no wedding ring, and thus this portrait would have been made probably that summer. Her dress is described in great detail--Floor-length and white, it is accentuated by blue and yellow stripes and yellow bows running down the front. The plain brown background allows the bright white of Patricia's dress to stand out. She wears a white bracelet on her right wrist and a small ring on her left pinky finger, but other than that no jewelry and little make-up. She gazes gently to her right, her stance quiet and reserved. And Pène du Bois has given her only half a shadow on the empty back wall, adding to her look of youth and innocence and to our sense that though cast into adulthood, she is perhaps not yet in control of her own life and future.


More information about Guy Pène Du Bois. See also: Du Bois, Guy Pène, Du Bois, Guy, Du Bois, Guy Pene, Guy Pene Du Bois Artist.



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