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Game Of Checkers
Artist James Hardy Jr.
James Hardy Jr. from 1832 to 1889,
Bristol, England.
- Artist James Hardy was born into an
artistic British family, as his father,
James Hardy Sr. was a renowned landscape
painter and his brother, Heywood, was a
painter of equestrian and canine motifs
depicted within genre settings; his cousin,
Daniel Frederick Hardy, was a leading member
of the Cranbrook colony of artists.
- James Hardy was most renown for his paintings
of dogs and game in hunting or sporting
scenes and for his rustic landscapes often
depicted in Highland scenery.
- Artist James Hardy painted his classical
themes in both oil and watercolor and the
scenes often held an element of romanticism
within the realistic portrayal.
- In his painting, The Draughts (Checkers)
Players, game of checkers artist James
Hardy focused his genre scene on a family
checkers game set in a rustic cabin; the
rather conventional triangular composition
depicted a father and son seated at a wooden
table, facing each other across the checkerboard;
the postures expressed the place each checkers
player was in the game, as the male figure
patiently gazes at the young boy trying
to determine his next move with his checker
piece; all the while the female looks intently
at the checkerboard on the table.
- This painting was a very small canvas
of 6” x 8”, yet artist James
Hardy was able to depict the cozy scene
with detail in the setting and soft, subdued
tones bringing expression to the quiet
mood and pensive moment; the three figures
were highlighted to bring focus to the
checkers game.
- The artist exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy
and between 1862 and 1886 he showed 9 sporting scenes at
the British Institution and 45 paintings at the Society
of British Artists between 1853 and 187; he also had
exhibits of his animal genre at the Suffolk Street
Gallery and the New Watercolor Society, where he became
a member in 1877.
- Checkers artist James Hardy died in Bristol
on April 4, of 1889.
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