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Aesthetic Pleasure

Maker (American, 1895 - 1987)
ClassificationsPRINTS
Date1936
Mediumdrypoint on white wove paper
Dimensions6 x 8 1/2 in. (15.2 x 21.6 cm.)
DescriptionHumorous depiction of a group of art lovers in a gallery.
SignedSigned in lower right of recto in graphite: Peggy Bacon.
InscribedSigned in lower right of recto in graphite: Peggy Bacon. Inscribed in lower left of recto in graphite: Aesthetic Pleasure - 1936.
Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Gift of Mrs. Homer D. Crotty.
Copyright© Peggy Bacon Estate
Label TextIn this etching, Bacon's satirical eye is directed at gallery visitors rather than her fellow artists. The image is based on her experiences traveling to museums in Europe, specifically the Pitti Palace in Florence. She catalogued a variety of reactions to the Renaissance masterpieces: the pontificating of an officious guide; tourists squinting in their attempt to understand the works' greatness; and a woman at the far left standing with her back to the art, happier to read about it in her guidebook than to look at it. In the background, Bacon included an art student, dutifully copying one of the paintings.
Status
Not on view
Object number91.284.1
Dance at the League
Peggy Bacon
1919
Object number: 2019.3
Frenzied Effort
Peggy Bacon
1925
Object number: 91.284.4
Pleasure Boats, A House in the Background
Thomas Rowlandson
n.d.
Object number: Sessler70A
The Pursuit of Pleasure
Martin Anderson
n.d.
Object number: 69.68A.101
Youth on the prowl & pleasure at the helm
Martin Anderson
n.d.
Object number: 69.68A.64
Mandarin's Pleasure Boat
William Alexander
n.d.
Object number: 59.55.24
William Russell Flint
n.d.
Object number: 91.284.133
Water Street Stairs, New York
Joseph Pennell
1919
Object number: 98.5.5
Chance Meeting
Martin Lewis
1940-1941
Object number: 86.14
The Lime-Burner
James McNeill Whistler
1859
Object number: 94.31.103
The Presentation in the Temple, in the Dark Manner
Rembrandt van Rijn
ca. 1654
Object number: 72.62.394
By the Pond
Mary Cassatt
ca. 1895-1898
Object number: 84.34