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Daingerfield’s graphite sketch for the large-scale painting The Spirit of the Storm, circa 1912, Reynolda House Museum of American Art, exemplifies the sure hand of the artist in mid-career. A nude female figure is seen in a position that shows her right flank, part of her right breast, and her right arm raised in a gesture of salutation. Her partly obscured left leg is in a contrapposto stance, slightly bent without full weight on it. As a result, her right hip is raised, accentuating the s-curve of her body. Her left arm projects upward and outward, then bends back, as if she is leaning on something. Her head, with hair gathered close to it, tilts forward, and turns to the right so that the features can be seen in profile. The overall outline of the drawing is firm and shading creates the illusion of musculature.
In the final painting, Daingerfield made a few changes, enhancing the mystery of his figure. He turned her head away from the viewer so that her facial features cannot be seen, and he gave her a shock of reddish-brown hair that takes flight and mirrors her gesture. In addition, her lower body is partially concealed by a pink drape that billows around her from the left.
An artist who sought to portray beauty and evoke emotion, Daingerfield believed in artistic inspiration: “If we are to escape the ‘blight’ of literalness, of reportorial copy, of the arranged, literary subject picture…we must teach self-expression—the power of selection, or arrangement, of taste. …and all those sensitive matters of light and atmosphere, and of values…I cannot find myself interested in what any man can see with his eyes alone.” [1] The use of preparatory drawings might be seen as a contradiction to this statement, or as a prudent way for the artist to achieve the expressive results he was seeking by trying them out first with his pencil.
Notes:
[1] Daingerfield, “Nature vs. Art,” Scribner’s Magazine 54 (February 1911), 255.
ProvenanceTo 1991
Joseph D. and Raleigh Dulaney, Sr.
From 1991
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Joseph D. and Raleigh Dulaney, Sr. in 1991.
Notes:
[1] Old Reynolda House Collections Management Database.
[2] See note 1.
Exhibition History
DepartmentAmerican Art
Sketch for Spirit of the Storm
Artist
Elliott Daingerfield
(1859 - 1932)
Datecirca 1912
Mediumgraphite on paper
DimensionsFrame: 24 1/4 x 17 3/4 in. (61.6 x 45.1 cm)
Paper: 16 x 10 in. (40.6 x 25.4 cm)
Signed<unsigned>
Credit LineGift of Joseph and Raleigh Dulaney
CopyrightPublic Domain
Object number1991.2.1
DescriptionFrom the time of the Renaissance, it was common practice for artists to do preparatory drawings for their paintings. Drawing—especially of nudes—was also a standard teaching method at art academies. Elliott Daingerfield, an artist trained in the academic tradition at the Art Students League, followed in the footsteps of such artists as Raphael, Michelangelo, and Ingres, and did his preparatory drawings at a time when some artists, specifically the Impressionists, began to abandon preliminary studies.Daingerfield’s graphite sketch for the large-scale painting The Spirit of the Storm, circa 1912, Reynolda House Museum of American Art, exemplifies the sure hand of the artist in mid-career. A nude female figure is seen in a position that shows her right flank, part of her right breast, and her right arm raised in a gesture of salutation. Her partly obscured left leg is in a contrapposto stance, slightly bent without full weight on it. As a result, her right hip is raised, accentuating the s-curve of her body. Her left arm projects upward and outward, then bends back, as if she is leaning on something. Her head, with hair gathered close to it, tilts forward, and turns to the right so that the features can be seen in profile. The overall outline of the drawing is firm and shading creates the illusion of musculature.
In the final painting, Daingerfield made a few changes, enhancing the mystery of his figure. He turned her head away from the viewer so that her facial features cannot be seen, and he gave her a shock of reddish-brown hair that takes flight and mirrors her gesture. In addition, her lower body is partially concealed by a pink drape that billows around her from the left.
An artist who sought to portray beauty and evoke emotion, Daingerfield believed in artistic inspiration: “If we are to escape the ‘blight’ of literalness, of reportorial copy, of the arranged, literary subject picture…we must teach self-expression—the power of selection, or arrangement, of taste. …and all those sensitive matters of light and atmosphere, and of values…I cannot find myself interested in what any man can see with his eyes alone.” [1] The use of preparatory drawings might be seen as a contradiction to this statement, or as a prudent way for the artist to achieve the expressive results he was seeking by trying them out first with his pencil.
Notes:
[1] Daingerfield, “Nature vs. Art,” Scribner’s Magazine 54 (February 1911), 255.
ProvenanceTo 1991
Joseph D. and Raleigh Dulaney, Sr.
From 1991
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Joseph D. and Raleigh Dulaney, Sr. in 1991.
Notes:
[1] Old Reynolda House Collections Management Database.
[2] See note 1.
Exhibition History
Status
Not on view