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Preview image of work. oil on panel,  The Life Soldier 6164
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1966.37

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The Life Soldier

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Artist

Guy Pène Du Bois (1884 - 1958)

Title

The Life Soldier

Creation Date

1922

Century

20th century

Dimensions

25 in. x 20 in. (63.5 cm. x 50.8 cm.)

Object Type

painting

Creation Place

North America, United States

Medium and Support

oil on panel

Credit Line

Gift of Walter K. Gutman, Class of 1924

Copyright

Public Domain

Accession Number

1966.37

The two somewhat cylindrical figures can hardly be called an intimate couple; their wooden movements seem to preclude meaningful interaction. A single light casts the shadow of the woman’s head on the soldier’s chest as a subtle indicator of their ambiguous relationship. During the 1920s, Guy Pène du Bois was preoccupied with themes and places of contemporary urban life: cafés and restaurants, theater performers and flappers, and—as seen here—men and women in private moments observed in undescribed public spaces. His “narrative of inaction,” to use curator Barbara Haskell’s phrase, has been compared to similar visual strategies in Edward Hopper’s work. Both artists represent a trend toward order and objectivity that was widespread in American and European art of the 1920s. As a painter and art critic, Pène du Bois emerged from Robert Henri’s circle and participated in the groundbreaking Armory Show of 1913.