MFA VTS: Depictions of Leisure through time in Art Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Lesson 1

What is going on in this image? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find? Untitled (Children playing with their father) 1959 Imogen Cunningham, American, 1883–1976 Dimensions Image/Sheet: 19.2 x 18.7 cm (7 9/16 x 7 3/8 in.) Mount: 36.8 x 29.2 cm (14 1/2 x 11 1/2 in.) Accession Number 1993.1012 Medium or Technique Photograph, gelatin silver print

What is going on in this image? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find? Baseball on the Beach; frontispiece illustration for Indoor and Outdoor Games (Naigai yûgi hô), vol. 30 of the series The Everyday Encyclopedia (Nichiyô hyakka zensho) 1898 (Meiji 31) Tomioka Eisen, Japanese, 1864–1905 Medium Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper Classification Prints Accession Number 2000.319

What is going on in this image? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find? Girl Skipping Rope 1943 Ben Shahn (American (born in Lithuania), 1898–1969) Dimensions 40.32 x 60.64 cm (15 7/8 x 23 7/8 in.) Accession Number 1971.702 Medium or Technique Tempera on board

Lesson 2

What is going on in this image? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find? Children Belgian about 1900 Artist Henri Meunier (Belgian, 1873–1922), Publisher O. De Rycker & Mendel (Belgian) Dimensions Horizontal: Overall: 8.9 x 14 cm (3 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.) Accession Number 2012.6935 Medium or Technique Color lithograph with metallic pigment on card stock

What is going on in this image? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find? Reading Lesson 1865 Auguste Toulmouche (French, 1829–1890) Dimensions 36.5 x 27.6 cm (14 3/8 x 10 7/8 in.) Accession Number 24.1 Medium or Technique Oil on canvas

What is going on in this image? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find? The Tea Le Thé about 1880 Mary Stevenson Cassatt (American, 1844–1926) Catalogue Raisonné Breeskin 78 Dimensions 64.77 x 92.07 cm (25 1/2 x 36 1/4 in.) Accession Number 42.178 Medium or Technique Oil on canvas

Lesson 3

What is going on in this image? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find? Children at Play: Kite-flying Contest (Kodomo asobi tako-age kurabe) 「子供遊凧あげくらべ」 Japanese Edo period 1865 (Genji 2/Keiô 1), 10th month Artist Utagawa Yoshitora (Japanese, active about 1836–1887), Publisher Enshûya Hikobei (Japanese), Blockcutter Matsushima Masakichi (Hori Masa) (Japanese) Dimensions Vertical ôban triptych Accession Number 11.39743a-c Medium or Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper

What is going on in this image? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find? Children on the Seashore, Guernsey Inscription Stamped, lower right: Renoir Provenance Sold by the estate of the artist to the Galérie Barbazanges, Paris (stock no. 11756) [see note 1]; sold by Barbazanges to Howard Young Galleries, New York (stock no. 2020) [see note 2]; November 6, 1922, sold by Howard Young to John Taylor Spaulding (b. 1870 - d. 1948), Boston; 1948, bequest of John Taylor Spaulding to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 3, 1948) NOTES: [1] According to a label on the reverse of the painting. [2] According to a letter from Howard Young to Angelica Rudenstine of the MFA (December 8, 1961). Credit Line Bequest of John T. Spaulding about 1883 Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French, 1841–1919 Dimensions 91.4 x 66.4 cm (36 x 26 1/8 in.) Accession Number 48.594 Medium or Technique Oil on canvas

What is going on in this image? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find? Chinese Children Playing in Snow 唐子の雪遊び Japanese Edo period Artist Utagawa Kunitora (Japanese, active early 19th century), Publisher Yamamotoya Heikichi (Eikyûdô) (Japanese) Dimensions Horizontal ôban; 24.6 x 37.1 cm (9 11/16 x 14 5/8 in.) Accession Number 11.25856 Medium or Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper

Lesson 4

What is going on in this image? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find? Rustic Dance After a Sleigh Ride 1830 William Sidney Mount (American, 1807–1868) Dimensions 56.2 x 68.9 cm (22 1/8 x 27 1/8 in.) Accession Number 48.458 Medium or Technique Oil on canvas

What is going on in this image? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find? Cocktails about 1926 Archibald Motley (American, 1891–1981) Dimensions 81.3 x 101.6 cm (32 x 40 in.) Accession Number 2011.1859 Medium or Technique Oil on canvas

What is going on in this image? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find? Dance at Bougival 1883 Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French, 1841–1919 Dimensions 181.9 x 98.1 cm (71 5/8 x 38 5/8 in.) Medium Oil on canvas Classification Paintings Accession Number 37.375

Lesson 5

What is going on in this image? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find? Clover 1934 Tateishi Harumi, Japanese, 1906–1994 Dimensions Image: 180 x 199 cm (70 7/8 x 78 3/8 in.) Medium Panel; ink and color on paper Classification Paintings Accession Number 2004

What is going on in this image? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find? The Boys 1990 Tina Barney (American, born in 1945) Dimensions 121.9 x 152.4 cm (48 x 60 in.) Accession Number 1993.186 Medium or Technique Photograph, chromogenic print (Ektacolor)

What is going on in this image? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find? Title: Tuckered Out —The Shoeshine Boy Date: about 1888 By: John George Brown American (born in England), 1831–1913 Object Number: 64.467 Status: Not On View Dimensions: 61.59 x 40.96 cm (24 1/4 x 16 1/8 in.) Medium: Oil on canvas Credit Line: Bequest of Maxim Karolik Web Description: John George Brown made childhood his primary subject. At first he painted middle-class country children. In the 1870s, he switched to poor city children, who populated urban streets in increasing numbers as immigrant and rural families seeking jobs flocked to the cities. Brown became known for his depiction of bootblacks, the street urchins who made a few pennies by polishing shoes. As in "Tuckered Out-The Shoeshine Boy," he showed them in tattered clothing but clean, well-fed, and healthy. Brown's paintings allowed his patrons (mostly successful businessmen) to disregard the wretched conditions in which these children lived. The artist presented the bootblacks as young entrepreneurs about to begin their rags-to-riches climb in American society.  Paintings like this were the pictorial equivalent of the immensely popular "Ragged Dick" stories, written in the late nineteenth century by New York novelist Horatio Alger.  In Alger's stories, disadvantaged children exhibit pluck and determination that enables them to rise from horrible poverty to wealth and respectability. Born in England, Brown came to New York in 1853, working in a glass factory and painting portraits before turning to genre paintings. He served as vice president of the National Academy of Design, to which he had been elected in 1863. Brown's sentimental images of poor but pretty children earned him many patrons eager to overlook the ravages of urban poverty, and he became a wealthy man. This text was adapted from Carol Troyen and Janet Comey, "Children in American Art" (Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 2007, in Japanese). Provenance: The artist; Maxim Karolik, Newport, R.I.; to MFA, 1964, bequest of Maxim Karolik.