Details

Title

Brown the Wheats

Artist/Maker

Samuel Johnson Woolf (American, 1880–1948)

Date

1913

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

50 x 40 1/8 inches

Credit

Purchase through funds provided by patrons of Collector's Evening 2022

Accession #

2022.75

On View

On View - Stent Family Wing, Level 3, Gallery 304

In the early 1900s, economic disparities had become increasingly visible. Samuel Woolf offers a commentary on daily life using a setting familiar to many at the time. He depicts an inviting scene, a restaurant packed with customers while a chef prepares buckwheat pancakes in the foreground. Lights gleam across the shiny white tiles, and a display of fruits—oranges and grapefruits topped with a then-exotic pineapple—suggests the wholesome and quality food on offer. By contrast, the hungry boy peering from the outside is emblematic of an age of haves and have nots.

Image Copyright

© Photo: Mike Jensen.

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