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Mark Beard
Prosperous Family: Academic Figurative Painting by Mark Beard aka Bruce Sargeant

date unknown

About the Item

Academic style figurative painting on canvas of a family and red tractor against a classic American farm field "Prosperous Family", painted by Mark Beard under his fictitious persona, Bruce Sargeant 84 x 58 inches unframed, 91 x 65 x 3 inches with a gold painted wood frame Excellent condition, ready to hang as is This Academic style figurative oil painting on canvas was painted by Mark Beard as Bruce Sargeant, a pseudonym in homage to the fashion photographer, Bruce Weber, and figurative painter, John Singer Sargeant. Here, the artist captures a blue collar American farming family in their field with an old red tractor. The man and woman stand stoically with their young child, dressed in simple white garments, perhaps to symbolize their purity. Rolling mountains and rows of golden yellow corn are pictured in the background. This figurative painting is complemented with a gold painted wood frame measuring 91 x 65 x 3 inches. About the artist: Mark Beard is perhaps the most literal example of an artist pulled in so many different directions that he chose to “invent” six different personae in which to channel his overflowing energy and need for expression. Each painting style is radically different from the next, so it remains entirely believable that the work could stem from six completely different people of different time periods and different schools of thought. With a background in set design, Beard has always been one who could conjure total magic with anything available. Beard paints under the fictitious persona of Bruce Sargeant, his half American-half English uncle who painted a parade of Arcadian scenes suggesting afternoons of young men sporting in the countryside, rowing, bicycling, hunting or wrestling during the 1930's and 40's. Clean shaven, well manicured youths pose casually, indulging every opportunity to display a titillating flex of stone-like musculature. Like modern Greek statues, Beard paints these prestigious figures oftentimes in pairs of twos and threes in a lazy state of beautiful passivity. Mark Beard keeps himself fresh with challenge, undertaking ambitious commissions and committing to weekly sketch sessions with live models in his Manhattan studio. The result of this dedicated practice is a stunning array of graphite and conte crayon drawings on Arches paper. Mark Beard, born in 1956 in Salt Lake city, now lives in New York City. His works are in museum collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; the Museum of Modern Art, New York City; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City; the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; and the Harvard, Yale, and Princeton University Art Museums; among many others. We would not be the least bit surprised to see new ‘personas’ emerge in the coming years.
  • Creator:
    Mark Beard (1956, American)
  • Creation Year:
    date unknown
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 91 in (231.14 cm)Width: 65 in (165.1 cm)Depth: 3 in (7.62 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Hudson, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU2277098142
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