Toning the Bell

1874

Walter Shirlaw
American, born Scotland, 1838–1909

Like many artists of his generation, Walter Shirlaw furthered his training in Europe, studying at the Royal Academy in Munich. German instruction focused on a dark, painterly realism and was steeped in an astute understanding of aesthetic traditions. In Toning the Bell, executed during his student years and now considered his best-known work, the artist demonstrated an accomplished Munich style, featuring noble peasants, a limited tonal palette, and strong contrasts of light and dark. Prior to his time abroad, Shirlaw had worked in Chicago and helped establish the Chicago Academy of Design, a forerunner to the Art Institute of Chicago.

Status: On View, Gallery 175
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Walter Shirlaw
Title: Toning the Bell
Place: Munich (Place depicted:)
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.: 1874
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Signed, lower left: "Walter Shirlaw / 1874"
Dimensions: 101.6 × 76.2 cm (40 × 30 in.)
Credit Line: Friends of American Art Collection
Reference Number: 1938.1280
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/89626/manifest.json

Carolyn Kinder Carr, et al., “Revisiting the White City: American Art at the 1893 World’s Fair” (University Press of New England, 1993), 317 (ill.).
Judith A. Barter, et al., American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago: From Colonial Times to World War I (The Art Institute of Chicago, 1998), 208–210, no. 96.
Susanne Böller, “Exkurs: ‘The Munich Men’ – Amerikanische Maler der Münchner Schule,” in Es war einmal in Amerika – 300 Jahre US-amerikanische Kunst [Once Upon a Time in America: Three Centuries of American Art], eds. Barbara Schaefer and Anita Hachmann (Cologne: Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud/Wienand Verlag, 2018), 110, fig. 11 (ill.).

Chicago, World’s Columbian Exposition, May 1–Oct. 31, 1893.
Chicago, Lyon and Healy, Apr. 14–30, 1952.
Evanston, Illinois, Scott Hall, Northwestern University, Apr. 2–9, 1954.
Art Institute of Chicago, Art at The Time of the Centennial, June 19–Aug. 8, 1976, no catalogue or checklist published.
Cincinnati Art Museum, Munich & American Realism in the 19th Century, Apr. 20–May 28, 1978; Milwaukee Art Center, July 13–Aug. 27, 1978; Sacramento, E.B. Crocker Art Gallery, Oct. 28–Dec. 10, 1978.
Berlin, Deutscheshistorisches Museum, VICEVERSA Geman Painters in America–American Painters in German 1813 – 1913, Sept. 19–Dec. 31, 1996.

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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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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.