Ranston House, Dorset

Walter Gay, artist

1856–1937

Ranston House, Dorset, 1884

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: oil; panel

Dimensions:
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 46.1 x 55 cm
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 18 1/8 x 21 5/8 in
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 20 1/2 x 24 x 1 3/4 in

Credit line: Museum purchase

Accession number: 1952.0006

Not on display

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Debut

These three paintings offer distinct perspectives on how built environments shape and reflect our lives. Walter Gay’s plush interior of an English country house painted in bright pastels is in stark contrast with Joseph Friebert’s gritty street scene rendered using a dark, earthy palette. While Gay was a wealthy expatriate living in Paris, Friebert grew up in Milwaukee in a Jewish working-class family and was profoundly influenced by the Socialist ideas of his father, a tailor and a union organizer.

Friebert’s Milwaukee street is empty and dark compared to the colorful Kinshasha street scene painted by Sam Illus. As with other arte populaire or “popular art” works, Illus captures the everyday hardships of poverty and disparities of life on the streets with penetrating honesty.

Debut