Two Small Savoyards
Artist
Charles Nègre
(French, 1820 - 1880)
Dateca. 1853
MediumAlbumen print
DimensionsImage and sheet: 7 × 5 3/16 inches (17.78 × 13.12 cm)
Mount: 17 × 15 inches (43.18 × 38.1 cm)
Mount: 17 × 15 inches (43.18 × 38.1 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation
Object number2016.75.204
Signednone
Inscribednone
Markingsnone
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionImage of two young men; one standing with hand on shoulder of the other one which is seated. They both wear layers of tattered clothing, clogs, and floppy hats. Their expressions are neutral; the floor in front of them is dirt, and the background is blown out/bright white.Gallery LabelCharles Nègre refers to the threadbare young men in this photograph as “Savoyards” (originating from the Savoy region of France). Impoverished, migrant Savoyards have appeared in European art since the 1700s, and Nègre’s title could be shorthand for a certain type of person seen in the streets of Paris, regardless of the two boys’ actual place of origin.
A painter and a photographer, Nègre practiced the two mediums side-by-side. Like other artists of his time, he ascribed nobility to the poor, seeking to convey their “truth, warmth, and life.”
A painter and a photographer, Nègre practiced the two mediums side-by-side. Like other artists of his time, he ascribed nobility to the poor, seeking to convey their “truth, warmth, and life.”
Purchased from James Hyman Photography, London, England by The Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2016;
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2016.
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2016.
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Lewis W. Hine
ca. 1908-1912
2005.27.1438
