Pène du Bois's portrayals of New York's high society between the wars frequently record the telling body language of his protagonists. This commissioned work depicts Chester Dale (a wealthy investment banker and prominent art collector) and his first wife, Maud (a painter and writer), seated stiffly in the fashionable Hotel Brevoort. In the early 1920s, their collection featured American art (including twenty-five paintings by Pène du Bois). Subsequent acquisitions, however, focused almost exclusively on French painting, from the late eighteenth to the twentieth century. Several important paintings, including Salvador Dalí's 1954 Crucifixion (MMA 55.5), were given to the Metropolitan Museum; the majority of the Chester Dale Collection is now at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Mr. and Mrs. Chester Dale Dine Out
Artist:Guy Pène du Bois (American, New York 1884–1958 Boston, Massachusetts)
Date:1924
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:30 × 40 in. (76.2 × 101.6 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Chester Dale, 1963
Object Number:63.138.1
Chester Dale, New York (1924–d. 1962; gift to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Three Centuries of American Painting," April 9–October 17, 1965, unnum. checklist (as "Mr. and Mrs. Chester Dale Dining Out," about 1925).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors from the Museum's Collections," October 1–December 7, 1969, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The 10s, the 20s, the 30s: Inventive Clothes, 1909–1939," December 13, 1973–September 3, 1974, not in catalogue [withdrawn April–June 1974 for loan to Exh. San Juan 1974].
San Juan. El Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. "Arte del Siglo Veinte: EE.UU. del Museo Metropolitano de Arte," April 19–May 31, 1974, no. 9.
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. "Inventive Clothes, 1909–1939," March 25–May 25, 1975.
University Park. Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University. "Portraits USA, 1776–1976," April 18–June 6, 1976.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Tribute to a Curator: Robert Beverly Hale," November 16, 1978–March 4, 1979, extended to March 18, 1979, no catalogue.
Washington, D. C. Corcoran Gallery of Art. "Guy Pène du Bois: Artist About Town," October 10–November 30, 1980, no. 31 (as "Mr. and Mrs. Chester Dale Dining Out").
Omaha. Joslyn Art Museum. "Guy Pène du Bois: Artist About Town," January 10–March 1, 1981, no. 31.
Evanston, Ill. Mary and Leigh Block Gallery, Northwestern University. "Guy Pène du Bois: Artist About Town," March 20–May 10, 1981, no. 31.
Jacksonville, Fla. Jacksonville Art Museum. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 9–April 21, 1985, unnumbered cat. (p. 79).
Oklahoma City. Oklahoma Museum of Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 5–June 30, 1985, unnumbered cat.
New York. National Academy of Design. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," July 16–September 1, 1985, unnumbered cat.
Evanston, Ill. Terra Museum of American Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 15–November 10, 1985, unnumbered cat.
Little Rock. Arkansas Arts Center. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 12, 1985–January 19, 1986, unnumbered cat.
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 9–March 30, 1986, unnumbered cat.
St. Paul. Minnesota Museum of Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 20–June 8, 1986, unnumbered cat.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Guy Pène du Bois: The 1920s," September 15–November 27, 1988.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "14 Americans," July 16, 1990–January 2, 1991, no catalogue.
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. "The 1920s: Age of the Metropolis," June 20–November 10, 1991, no. 125 (as "Mr. and Mrs. Chester Dale Dining Out").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "As They Were: 1900–1929," April 9–September 8, 1996, no catalogue.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "The American Century: Art and Culture, 1900–2000. Part 1: 1900–1950," April 23–August 22, 1999, unnumbered cat. (fig. 342).
Henry Geldzahler. American Painting in the Twentieth Century. New York, 1965, pp. 106–7, ill., calls it "Mr. and Mrs. Chester Dale Dining Out" and dates it mid-1920s.
Sam Hunter and John Jacobus. American Art of the 20th Century: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. New York, 1973, fig. 305.
Henry Geldzahler. Arte del Siglo Veinte: EE.UU. del Museo Metropolitano de Arte/ Twentieth-Century Art: U.S.A. from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., El Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. San Juan, 1974, p. 7, no. 9, ill.
Harold E. Dickson. "Portraits USA 1776–1976." American Art Review 3 (May–June 1976), p. 44, ill. p. 45 (color).
Betsy Fahlman. Guy Pène du Bois: Artist About Town. Exh. cat., Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, D. C., 1980, p. 75, no. 31, ill. p. 56 (color).
Lowery Stokes Sims. The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Jacksonville Art Museum. New York, 1984, pp. 71, 78–80, ill. (color).
Wynne Delacoma. "Challenge of the Human Figure: Terra Museum Exhibit Traces a Form Through Modern American Art." Chicago Sun-Times (October 13, 1985), p. 20, ill.
John Brandenburg. "Museum's Offerings Tell Story of 20th Century America." Daily Oklahoman/Times (May 30, 1985), p. 15, calls it "Mr. and Mrs. Chester Dale".
Michael Brenson. "Back in the City, a Display of the Figure in Modern Art." New York Times (August 2, 1985), p. C21, ill.
John Russell. "Art: Unexpected Juxtapositions in the Met's New Wing." New York Times (January 21, 1987), p. C17.
Maureen Mullarkey. "Tuesday at the Met." Hudson Review 40 (Summer 1987), pp. 198–99, calls it "Mr. & Mrs. Chester Dale Dining Out".
John Gross. "Caricature in the Hands of Red Grooms, and Satirists of the Jazz Age." New York Times (August 23, 1987), p. H29.
Paul Richard. "Mixing It Up At the Metropolitan: Standards & Surprises at the Museum's New Wallace Wing." Washington Post (February 1, 1987), p. F9, calls it "Mr. and Mrs. Chester Dale Dining Out".
Helen Kohen. "Metropolitan Goes Modern With New Wing." Miami Herald (February 1, 1987), p. 8K, calls it "Mr. and Mrs. Chester Dale Dining Out".
John Gross. "An American Who Feasted on the Upper Crust—And a British Show That Neglects It." New York Times (October 16, 1988), p. H43.
Michael Kimmelman. "Bold Images That Show Why the 20's Roared." New York Times (August 25, 1991), p. H23.
Janet Wolff. AngloModern: Painting and Modernity in Britain and the United States. Ithaca, N.Y., 2003, p. 106, fig. 4.2.
Betsy Fahlman. Guy Pène du Bois: Painter of Modern Life. Exh. cat., James Graham & Sons. New York, 2004, pp. 27, 30, 56, ill. p. 105 (color).
Kimberly A. Jones in Kimberly A. Jones and Maygene Daniels. The Chester Dale Collection. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2009, pp. 1, 158 n. 8, fig. 1 (color).
Maygene Daniels in Kimberly A. Jones and Maygene Daniels. The Chester Dale Collection. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2009, pp. 135, 162 n. 5, p. 163 n. 7.
Jorgelina Orfila. "Art Collecting in America during the Interwar Period: The Chester Dale Collection of Modern French Art." Archives of American Art Journal 50 (Spring 2011), ill. pp. 3 (color detail), 48–49 (color).
Guy Pène du Bois (American, New York 1884–1958 Boston, Massachusetts)
1934
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