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Baits

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@ Smithsonian American Art Museum

Description

David Bates loved this bait shop, which stood for many years on Galveston Bay. He called it "a place where the real folks were," and captured the lively traffic on the docks, the noise of seagulls, and a humble, makeshift business. Bates has painted all along the Gulf Coast, from Mexico to northern Florida. The fish shacks and beer joints are stand-ins for the studio that he always wanted, where he could smell the sea and feel the humid air while he painted. Bates believes that the strong brushwork and color contrasts come from his heightened memories, bringing back the experience of the bait shop "even stronger than if you're there." His paintings evoke Marsden Hartley's forceful portraits of fishermen from earlier in the century. Bates marvels that when he paints, "dead guys" like Hartley "start showing up" in ways that he doesn’t expect.Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006
Type:
Image
Format:
Oil On Canvas
Rights:
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program
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Record Contributed By

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Record Harvested From

Smithsonian Institution

Keywords

  1. African American
  2. African Americans
  3. Architecture
  4. Architecture Interior
  5. Bait Seller
  6. Bates, David
  7. Beverage
  8. Detail
  9. Ethnic
  10. Ethnicity
  11. Figure Male
  12. Fishing
  13. Foodstuff
  14. Object
  15. Occupation
  16. Occupations
  17. Sea
  18. Vendor
  19. Waist Length
  20. Waterscape
  21. Waterscapes
  22. Window
  23. Windows

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