William Glackens

William Glackens:

Pier at Blue Point

The painting that I decided to examine is by an American painter, William Glackens. It's entitled Pier at Blue Point, it was created in the Twentieth century in the year 1914. I discovered this painting at the Columbus Museum of Art; it was located on the ground floor of the museum, in Bellows Room. I viewed this painting on Sunday, October 9, 2005.

In the painting, Pier at Blue Point, the setup is outside, on a beach. From my observation the painting is realistic, meaning that the painter observed the scene and captured it. Although the painting is set in a natural setting, the objects, mainly the people, are drawn as skewed figures and this characteristic gives the painting a surrealistic quality. It seems that the painter was not trying to focus on details but rather on the scene as a whole.

Glackens uses earthly tones, which makes the painting look very alive, and generally, in the painting there is lots of things that are happening. Such as people swimming in the lake, people sitting under umbrellas, children playing in the sand, women standing on the dock, and a person getting ready to go down the water slide. Even though the subjects are going with their daily endeavors, it seems like there is chaos with nature, mostly, because the sky is painted dark blue with clouds. Also the trees in the painting are slanted, as if wind, or possibly a storm which might be approaching, is blowing on the trees. Another observation with the trees is that they are painted with an array of colors, such as red, green, and pink, which means that it is probably late summer or the beginning of fall. I also noticed the three women who are standing on the dock. They are dressed in white and they are also wearing hats. The color white, in art, usually symbolizes purity and cleansings, but I think in this particular painting white symbolizes