Artist:
William Holbrook Beard
(American, 1824 - 1900)
Five Bears
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1869
Dimensions:
14 1/8 × 20 5/16 in. (35.9 × 51.6 cm)
Accession number: 2016.11.1
Label Copy:
William Holbrook Beard is widely known as a painter of animals endowed with human characteristics, and was particularly fond of using bears and monkeys. He made clever observations in his paintings about human nature, often with the implication of an underlying political or social statement. In this work, the bear standing on his hind legs wears a collar with a broken chain, suggesting he may be a dancing bear, escaped from a circus sideshow. Painted soon after the Civil War, Beard may be commenting on Reconstruction policies related to formerly enslaved people.
William Holbrook Beard is widely known as a painter of animals endowed with human characteristics, and was particularly fond of using bears and monkeys. He made clever observations in his paintings about human nature, often with the implication of an underlying political or social statement. In this work, the bear standing on his hind legs wears a collar with a broken chain, suggesting he may be a dancing bear, escaped from a circus sideshow. Painted soon after the Civil War, Beard may be commenting on Reconstruction policies related to formerly enslaved people.
Curatorial RemarksThe mid-nineteenth-century artist William Holbrook Beard is widely known as a painter of animals imbued with human characteristics. Bears and monkeys were among his favorite subjects for making clever observations about human nature, often rendered with the implication of an underlying political or social statement.
In this 1869 work, the bear standing on his hind legs at the left wears a collar with a broken chain, suggesting he may be a dancing bear, escaped from a circus sideshow or other traveling entertainment. He extends a paw to a bear family lolling on the ground, one of whom eyes him with suspicion. The interloper appears to be looking for a handout from his country brethren, whose feast of fruits, vegetables, and a honey-filled bee skep indicates their recent plundering of a farm.
In this 1869 work, the bear standing on his hind legs at the left wears a collar with a broken chain, suggesting he may be a dancing bear, escaped from a circus sideshow or other traveling entertainment. He extends a paw to a bear family lolling on the ground, one of whom eyes him with suspicion. The interloper appears to be looking for a handout from his country brethren, whose feast of fruits, vegetables, and a honey-filled bee skep indicates their recent plundering of a farm.