Genre
GUY PENE DU BOIS (1885–1958)
At the Bench, 1947
Oil on paper board mounted on Masonite, 25 1/2 x 19 in.
Signed (at lower left): Guy Pène du Bois
RECORDED: Betsy Fahlman, Guy Pène du Bois: Painter of Modern Life (New York: James Graham & Sons, 2004), pp. 58 fig. 62 illus., 62–63
EXHIBITED: The Forbes Magazine Galleries, New York, February 16–November 8, 1988, and traveling, Chairman’s Choice: A Miscellany of American Paintings, no. 29 illus. // James Graham & Sons, May 11–June 30, 2006, Guy Pène du Bois: Painter of Modern Life
EX COLL.: the artist; [James Graham & Sons, New York]; [Bernard Danenberg Galleries, New York]; [Berry-Hill Galleries, New York]; [J. N. Bartfield Galleries, New York]; Helena E. Gunnarsson, Washington, D.C.; to her estate, until 2024
Pène du Bois was greatly admired for his ability to capture aspects of pose, gesture, and facial expression in relation to human interaction, especially between men and women. This is readily apparent in At the Bench, one of what Betsy Fahlman has described as a series of “remarkable” courtroom scenes painted by the artist during the 1940s (Fahlman, Guy Pène du Bois: Painter of Modern Life, p. 62). Pène du Bois initially explored this subject during his early days as a police reporter and he returned to it again later in his career, creating loosely rendered, introspective images featuring the influential men who presided over the country’s judicial system.
In At the Bench, a stylishly dressed attired young woman stands with her back to the viewer as her attorney presents a document to the judge that will decide her fate. During the 1920s Pène du Bois would have interpreted this scenario with his typically acerbic tone, poking fun at the impassive, confident, and sometimes pompous people who populated his canvases. However, he later adopted a more compassionate attitude towards mankind, interpreting his subjects as vulnerable men and women deserving of sympathy rather than contempt. This strategy is readily apparent in At the Bench wherein the lawyer—an inquiring and uncertain look on his face—makes his case before the powerful judge who will decide his client’s fate. The action that brought her before the magistrate in the first place remains a mystery, but the woman’s tension and anticipation is readily evident by her rigid stance and by the fact that—as attentive to her appearance that she obviously is—she is so preoccupied with the matter at hand that she’s completely unaware that her slip has fallen below her dress. As evident in At the Bench, Pène du Bois’s perceptive observation of people and his concern for the events and manners of everyday life remained the keynote of this art throughout his career. However, his approach is now wistful and nostalgic and––as apparent in the lady’s fashion faux pas––gently light-hearted too.
