Aaron Douglas, Into Bondage, 1936 - Corcoran Gallery of Art

Charles Bird King (born Newport, RI, 1785–died Washington, D.C., 1862)
Poor Artist’s Cupboard, c. 1815
Oil on panel, 29 13/16 x 27 13/16 in. (75.7 x 70.7 cm)
Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund and Exchange, 1955
About the Artist
Born in Newport, Rhode Island, Charles Bird King began his formal
art training in New York with portraitist Edward Savage. He later
moved to London, where he lived for seven years, to continue
studying with painter Benjamin West. He returned to the U.S.
to live and work in Philadelphia, but had a lackluster career,
selling only two portraits during his four years there. King settled
in Washington D.C. in 1818, where he achieved great success as
a painter of society and diplomatic portraits. In addition, he ran
a for-profit gallery in his home on Twelfth Street where he exhibited
his own paintings. King’s portraits of Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun,
both commissioned while King resided in D.C., are in the Corcoran’s
collection. Although he was from a family of means and apparently
never had to support himself through the sales of his works, at times
King chose to live in self-imposed privation; as a student in London,
he and portraitist Thomas Sully shared a small, one-room apartment
and subsisted on bread, milk, and potatoes in order to stretch their
budgets. King is best known for his paintings of Native American
delegates to the nation’s capital, making him one of the first
portraitists of Western tribal leaders. Unfortunately, many of these
works were destroyed in an 1865 fire at the Smithsonian Institution.
About the Art
Although King based Poor Artist’s Cupboard on personal experience,
he was not by any means a “starving artist.” The still life painting
has been understood by art historians to be a meditation on the
impoverishment of cultural life—especially that of Philadelphia—
as symbolized by the tattered books and papers. Through the various
objects in the niche, King introduces his audience to the sad story
of fictional artist, C. Palette. Drafting tools are at the center, flanked
by a crust of bread—perched, ironically, on a richly bound art
history tome—and a humble glass of water. Just below are two
calling cards, each addressed to Mr. Palette. One, from a miserly
patron, Mrs. Skinflint, requests that he visit her after tea, and
a second asks Palette to repay a debt of five dollars that he owes
to a “lover of the arts.” Above, two thin volumes bear handwritten
titles which were traditional proverbs about poverty: “We Fly by
Night” and “No Song, no Supper.” On top of them lies a stack
of unpaid bills. Surrounding these objects is a host of books with
rather gloomy titles: The Miseries of Life, The Advantages of Poverty
– Part III, and Cheyne’s Vegetable Diet. At the upper left of this
tableau is an advertisement for a Sheriff’s Sale listing the “property
of an artist,” a few articles of clothing, a peck of potatoes, and
several still lifes of rich repasts painted “from recollection.”
King’s trompe l’oeil panel is also reminiscent of Dutch still life
paintings in the tradition of vanitas, which are contemplations
on the fleeting pleasures of life. Indeed the tattered books, as well
as the cylinder of papers—which one art historian has observed
when viewed obliquely resembles a skull—suggest decay and death.
Suggested Dialogue
• How do we know that fictional artist C. Palette is poor?
Are King’s visual clues easily translated by 21st-century audiences?
• If you were to construct a still life about a contemporary
struggling artist, what objects would you include?
What would you name the fictional artist?
• Do you think King is sympathetic with Palette’s circumstances?
Note the beaver top hat on the right; do you think that would
be an item that an artist of little means would typically possess?
Extended Dialogue
• If you created an “identity niche” to describe yourself, what
would you include? Would your family and friends be able
to recognize you from the items in your niche?
Vocabulary
Benjamin West (1738-1820): An Anglo-
American Neoclassical painter of historical
scenes and portraits during and after the
time of the Revolutionary War.
Henry Clay (1777-1852): A 19th-century
American statesman and orator who
represented Kentucky in both the Senate
and the House of Representatives, where
he served as Speaker. He also served as
Secretary of State from 1825 to 1829.
John C. Calhoun (1782-1850): The seventh
Vice President of the United States and
a leading Southern politician from South
Carolina during the first half of the 19th
century.
Portrait: A portrait is a painting,
photograph, sculpture, or other artistic
representation of a person, in which the
face and its expression is predominant.
The intent is to display the likeness,
personality, and even the mood of
the person.
Still life: An arrangement or work
of art showing a collection or grouping
of inanimate objects.
Vanitas: The word is Latin, meaning
“emptiness.” A type of symbolic work of
art especially associated with Northern
European still life painting in the 16th
and 17th centuries.
Trompe l’oeil: Trompe l’oeil is French for
“deceive the eye.” This term is used to
describe pictures in which a deliberate
visual illusion is intended by the artist.
Niche: A niche is an architectural recess
in a wall or the like, usually semicircular
in plan and arched, as for a statue or other
decorative object.
Support for Arts 101 materials is made possible in part by the Women’s Committee of the Corcoran and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.