On View
Not on viewObject number1991/2.23
Skaters
Artist
William James Glackens
(American, 1870-1938)
Dateca. 1910-1930
Mediumgouache on brown paper
Dimensionsimage: 11 3/4 × 17 1/2 in. (29.8 × 44.5 cm)
frame: 18 3/4 × 24 1/4 × 1 in. (47.6 × 61.6 × 2.5 cm)
frame: 18 3/4 × 24 1/4 × 1 in. (47.6 × 61.6 × 2.5 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Flora Kirsch Beck
Exhibition History"70 Years, 70 Works from the KIA Permanent Collection," KIA (Nov. 19, 1994 - Feb. 10, 1995).
"Two by Twenty: Artists from the KIA Collection," KIA (Sept. 3 - Dec. 5, 1996).
On loan to Muskegon Museum of Art (May 27, 1997 - Aug. 4, 1998).
"Highlights from the Permanent Collection: Prints and Drawings," Sept. 15 - Nov. 25, 2001;
"Artists as Storytellers," KIA Nay Gallery (Feb. 12 - Nov. 10, 2000).
"At Work and Play," KIA Long Gallery (Apr. 1 - July 22, 2005).
"Master Drawings from the Permanent Collection," KIA (Nov. 18, 2006 - Feb. 4, 2007).
"For and Against Modern Art: The Armory Show + 100," DePaul Art Museum (Apr. 4 - June 16, 2013) and the KIA (June 29 - Sept. 29, 2013).
"Lasting Legacy: A Collection for Kalamazoo," Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan (Sep. 6, 2014 - Jan. 4, 2015).
"American Realism: Visions of America 1900-1950," Muskegon Museum of Art (May 11 - August 27, 2023); Flint Institute of Arts (September 9 - December 30, 2023); KIA (January 21 - April 14, 2024).Label TextWilliam Glackens began his career in Philadelphia as an artist-reporter for the local newspaper. With his friends John Sloan, Robert Henri, George Luks, and Everett Shinn, Glackens formed a group of realist painters, who became known as “The Eight” when
they exhibited together in 1908.
Rather than focus on the rougher side of city life that fascinated many of his friends, Glackens preferred to select views of the suburban middle class at leisure.
In this rendering, Glackens depicts a group of skaters. Their figures create lively vignettes, pivoting and gliding about on the ice. The artist’s masterful draftsmanship, sharpened by his work as a newspaper illustrator, is evident here in the fluency and incisiveness of his brush.
