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"I Hear America Singing", Important Art Deco Drawing for White House Piano, 1938
$2,900
£2,222.50
€2,554.37
CA$4,073.19
A$4,558.65
CHF 2,386.29
MX$55,379.38
NOK 30,299.85
SEK 28,593.08
DKK 19,060.11
About the Item
Filled with floating nude, mythological figures, highly stylized in the Art Deco manner, this study for the lid of the famous grand piano given by the Steinway Company to the White House in 1938, during the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration, was drawn by Dunbar Beck. Each of the figures is paired with a musical instrument reflecting the drawing's purpose, including the lyre, cymbals and panpipes. The image is inspired by "I Hear America Singing," one of Walt Whitman's famous poems:
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong"
Beck is best known for his WPA work and his mural painting at the 1939-1940 New York World's fair, but his work with Steinway is equally important, artistically and historically. Beck painted a series of figures along the side of the piano, and generated a series of studies for the piano lid, including this one. The medium is pencil on heavy paper.
- Creator:Dunbar D. Beck (Painter)
- Dimensions:Height: 14.25 in (36.2 cm)Width: 20.5 in (52.07 cm)Depth: 0.1 in (2.54 mm)
- Style:Art Deco (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1938
- Condition:Minor smudging to paper.
- Seller Location:Philadelphia, PA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU865145848102
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