ca. 1920-25
American
oil on canvas
Unframed: 16 5/8 × 12 1/2 in. (42.23 × 31.75 cm)
Framed: 23 15/16 × 20 × 2 3/8 in. (60.8 × 50.8 × 6.03 cm)
L2015.13.38
 Thickly applied strokes of pigment define the cherubic, wide- eyed features in George Luks’s Young Boy . Dark black and brown colors are offset by highlights of pink in the face and a thin green halo above his head. The sitter was one of many children the artist encountered in the parks and streets of his northern Manhattan studio. Painting quickly, Luks attempted to capture the vitality and spontaneity of the unpredictable youngsters—what he described as “a wonder, a half-awakened expectancy. This is at once one of the most engaging and most elusive things an artist may try to catch.”
James W. and Frances Gibson McGlothlin Collection

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