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South Beach, Staten Island, New York 1908 JS0810 Costume Lady in brown bathing dress shortsleeve with hose and probably shoes. Adjusting white hat Older woman right in white sleeved bathing dress, fuller and with hat. Other women similar attired. Man looking up at woman wears white shirt and brown slacks, shoes and socks, and a straw hat. His appears to have laid a towel out he ground and is displaying objects to the woman; he has one in his hand. Other men wear black maillot pantaloons. Ladies all: Face and arms. Vendor: Face and arms. Bathing men: TL (and face and arms) and including feet. Actions The politics of a New York city beach, out Staten Island way, just south of the Narrows and looking East, with Brooklyn off on the horizon and not to be confused with what may be Hoffman Island off to the right. The playful family atmosphere here (note the older woman in white adjusting the girl, the foursome in the foreground, with girls' hands and arms on one of the young men and not exactly two couples, the onlookers, the ball game down-beach) suggests that the artist is bearing witness to a snapshot of the era (1). Commentary So much copy about just one picture, but strong, single pictures can be like that. Bikini Science advocates exploring how many different people see and perform in the world. Source John Sloan, "South Beach Bathers," oil on canvas, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1908. Scanned from Ann S. Olson, editor, At the Water's Edge, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida, 1989. 1 picture. |
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