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For Swinging in the Square, Sloan returned to one of his favorite subjects: young girls and women. It was a subject he addressed frequently in other prints, such as The Show Case and Fun, One Cent, from 1905. Sloan depicts a city park on a pleasant afternoon where two girls are taking turns on a swing. The girl in the swing has just reached the peak of the swing’s arc, and she turns a laughing face toward the viewer. She and her friend, who is similarly jovial, are oblivious that their lighthearted play is keenly watched by a rumpled man on the bench at right. Given the girls’ very young age, the man’s intent stare lends the work a subtle and unnerving sexual charge.
The swing as an erotic object has a long history in art; the work of the eighteenth-century French artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard is perhaps the best known example. Once the swing is in motion, observers have the opportunity to see ankles, knees, and stockings, while the rising and falling of the swing calls to mind the sexual act.
This print is one of a number in which Sloan portrays men leering suggestively at women or even young girls. Here, however, he complicates the image in a significant way. The park path extends forward toward the picture plane. Thus, it reaches not only the place where the artist/observer would have stood to take in the scene, but also the viewer’s space as well. By including both himself and the viewer in the scene, the artist implicates all of us in the guilty act of watching.
ProvenanceEstate of Helen Farr Sloan
To 2009
Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE, acquired from the estate of Helen Farr Sloan
From 2009
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by the Delaware Art Museum on September 17th, 2009
Notes:
[1] Deed of Gift, object file.
[2] See note 1.
[3] Accession Record and Deed of Gift, object file.
Exhibition History2018
John Sloan: New York Etchings
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (6/12/2018-11/25/2018)
2020
Girlhood in American Art
Reynolda Hosue Museum of American Art (10/20/2020-3/21/2021)
Published References
DepartmentAmerican Art
Swinging in the Square
Artist
John Sloan
(1871 - 1951)
Date1912
Mediumetching
DimensionsPaper (irregular): 7 x 9 in. (17.8 x 22.9 cm)
Image: 3 15/16 x 5 1/4 in. (10 x 13.3 cm)
Frame: 15 1/4 x 16 3/8 in. (38.7 x 41.6 cm)
SignedJohn Sloan
Credit LineGift of the Estate of Helen Farr Sloan, Courtesy of the Delaware Art Museum
Copyright© 2021 Delaware Art Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Object number2009.2.3
DescriptionBy 1912, John Sloan had achieved some degree of artistic success with his paintings, but he still turned to etching to make small, quick studies of street life. The resulting works preserve the artist’s freshness of vision while still conveying complex meanings.For Swinging in the Square, Sloan returned to one of his favorite subjects: young girls and women. It was a subject he addressed frequently in other prints, such as The Show Case and Fun, One Cent, from 1905. Sloan depicts a city park on a pleasant afternoon where two girls are taking turns on a swing. The girl in the swing has just reached the peak of the swing’s arc, and she turns a laughing face toward the viewer. She and her friend, who is similarly jovial, are oblivious that their lighthearted play is keenly watched by a rumpled man on the bench at right. Given the girls’ very young age, the man’s intent stare lends the work a subtle and unnerving sexual charge.
The swing as an erotic object has a long history in art; the work of the eighteenth-century French artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard is perhaps the best known example. Once the swing is in motion, observers have the opportunity to see ankles, knees, and stockings, while the rising and falling of the swing calls to mind the sexual act.
This print is one of a number in which Sloan portrays men leering suggestively at women or even young girls. Here, however, he complicates the image in a significant way. The park path extends forward toward the picture plane. Thus, it reaches not only the place where the artist/observer would have stood to take in the scene, but also the viewer’s space as well. By including both himself and the viewer in the scene, the artist implicates all of us in the guilty act of watching.
ProvenanceEstate of Helen Farr Sloan
To 2009
Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE, acquired from the estate of Helen Farr Sloan
From 2009
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by the Delaware Art Museum on September 17th, 2009
Notes:
[1] Deed of Gift, object file.
[2] See note 1.
[3] Accession Record and Deed of Gift, object file.
Exhibition History2018
John Sloan: New York Etchings
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (6/12/2018-11/25/2018)
2020
Girlhood in American Art
Reynolda Hosue Museum of American Art (10/20/2020-3/21/2021)
Published References
Status
Not on viewCollections