The Farmer Wanted a Boy

Arts of the Americas

1942

Robert Gwathmey
American, 1903–1988

Known for depicting the plight of impoverished southern African Americans with dignity and sensitivity, Robert Gwathmey concentrated on destitute rural whites in The Farmer Wanted a Boy. World War II has taken the young men away, leaving the elderly, women, and children to fend for themselves. Yet the central focus on the infant and the title of the work suggests an optimistic meaning despite the grimness of the scene. The baby can be seen as a beacon of hope amidst the surrounding turmoil and depair; he is the only one in the composition not weighed down, literally and figuratively, by the overwhelming burden of poverty.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Robert Gwathmey
Title: The Farmer Wanted a Boy
Place: United States (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1942
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Signed l.r.: Gwathmey
Dimensions: 61.6 × 114.6 cm (25 1/4 × 45 1/8 in.)
Credit Line: Mary and Earle Ludgin Collection
Reference Number: 1981.261

Annual Report (Art Institute of Chicago, 1981–82) p. 38.
Michael Kammen, Robert Gwathmey, the Life and Art of a Passionate Observer, 1999, University of North Carolina Press, p. 86
Judith A. Barter, et al., American Modernism at the Art Institute of Chicago, From World War I to 1955 (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2009), cat. 77. 135.

New York, ACA Gallery, Robert Gwathmey, Jan. 21–Feb. 9, 1946, cat. 17.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Robert Gwathmey, Oct. 26–Nov. 13, 1946, cat. 6.
Art Institute of Chicago, Mary and Earle Ludgin Collection, Sept. 11–Oct. 31, 1982, no cat.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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