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Game Of Checkers
Checkers Artist Charles Hunt Jr.
Charles Hunt Jr. from 1829 to 1900 was British.
- He was the son of artist, Charles Hunt
(1803-1877) and he was exposed to the world
of art as seen through his father’s
eyes; he learned a lot about the genre
style from Charles Sr. who frequently exhibited
in private galleries until 1846, but it
was not until Charles Sr. was about sixty
that he presented his paintings to the
Royal Academy of London; during his later
years, the senior British artist painted
humorous themes involving children performing
in various play scenes such as police court
or renditions of Shakespeare.
- From a rich artistic heritage derived
through his father, Charles Jr. also began
to paint genre scenes in a classical, traditional
mode using realistic detailing and expressionism.
- Charles Hunt Jr.’s warm earth tones
were often enhanced with occasional splotches
of bold color.
- ‘A Game
of Draughts (Checkers)’ was
painted primarily in soft, muted earth
tones that befit the setting of the workshop
barn; Hunt realistically depicted a simple
game of checkers between a young boy,
simply dressed and in bare feet and an
older man, quite elegantly dressed; the
subtle distinction between the two figures
was an interesting feature in the composition
and theme of the painting as the boy
remained standing, gazing at the old
checkers player, who was seated in a
chair, contemplating the next checker move.
- The addition of the animals informed
the viewer that the checkers game took
place in the barn.
- The following year, Charles Hunt Jr.
painted another artistic version of the
same checkers theme, with only slight variations
in the composition, which included a choice
of different objects within the barn and
stonework on the floor and instead of a
horse in the background, the artist had
included a woman gazing at the checkers
players; also, the exterior view through
the door at the back was different in this
game of checkers motif.
- However, the postures of the boy and
the older man at the table facing the checkerboard
were depicted by the checkers artist Charles
Hunt Jr. This piece of art was the same
and the facial expressions of the checkers
players were very similar to the first
painting; whether the earth tone colors
and shadows were painted as dark is now
hard to tell but the mood reflected was
certainly much the same in both canvases
and each genre motif depicted a moment
in a game of checkers in the daily life
of the figures.
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