Fourth Commandment: Work not on Sabbath days at all, but go to see the teams play ball

Artist:

Peter Paone

(b. 1936)

Fourth Commandment: Work not on Sabbath days at all, but go to see the teams play ball

Medium: Etching and aquatint on paper
Date: 1963
Dimensions:
30 x 22 in. (76.2 x 55.9 cm.)
Accession number: 2023.13.35
Curatorial RemarksIn this work, Peter Paone (b. 1936) interprets Ambrose Bierce’s words in a deadpan, perverse way by depicting the daunting figure of an ape holding a human head in place of a football.


Completed in 1963, The Ten Commandments of Ambrose Bierce garnered Paone a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in 1965, allowing him to study in London and Paris. The Brandywine’s exhibition, “In Shadows’ Embrace: Prints by Peter Paone” (2024) is the first time in 57 years that the portfolio is being shown in full, the last being at the Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris.

On view