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Lot Essay
The present painting was included in the landmark World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 in Chicago. In addition to being the most elaborate and last of the nineteenth century's World's Fairs, the event was a celebration of the significant cultural contributions in America of the recent past and in anticipation of a new modern age. "In presenting new visual art to mark the 400th anniversary of the Columbus voyage, the organizers of the fair were clearly asserting the arrival of American painting and sculpture on the world scene and signaling the emergence of the young nation from its long dependence on Europe." (E. Broun, Revisiting the White City: American Art at the 1893 World's Fair, exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C., 1993, p. 11)
Halsey C. Ives was the art director for the exhibition and in 1891 sent a circular to over 3800 American artists and architects. "In this letter Ives articulated his goals for the exhibit of American art, expressing the hope that it would show 'many important recent works,' which 'by bold departure from conventional lines of the old school have become representative of American art.' Echoing the theme of the fair as a whole, he envisioned an art exhibition that would be 'fully representative of the progress of the country during the last sixteen years.' And well aware of the critical drubbing that American art had received in Philadelphia more than a decade earlier, he wanted the art at the fair 'to show what has been accomplished by American artists...since the Centennial Exhibition of 1876.'" (C.K. Carr, "Prejudice and Pride: Presenting American Art at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition," Revisiting the White City: American Art at the 1893 World's Fair, pp. 71-72) Additional notable works also included in the exhibition were Winslow Homer's The Fog Warning (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), Thomas Eakins' The Gross Clinic (Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts), and John Singer Sargent's Portrait (Homer Saint-Gaudens), (Carnegie Museum of Art).
The Gambler is a significant early work from William Robinson Leigh's career that demonstrates the artist's European training fully realized through the depiction of distinctly American subject and imagery. The painting's inclusion in the 1893 exhibition signals a parallel theme to the overall function of the Columbian Exposition, rendering an image that is uniquely American and presenting it to a broader international stage.
Leigh, born on a plantation in 1866, knew struggle and adversity from his birth. After the war, the once comfortable Leigh family found their plantation in ruins, their help gone, and very little money left to their name. Young William showed immense talent as an artist, and through the financial help of his aunt and uncle, he was able to attend the Maryland Institute in Baltimore. He excelled at the Institute and in 1883, he enrolled at the Royal Academy in Munich, where he spent the next 12 years. From his Munich years, he emerged as an artist who was a superb draftsman with a strong sense of line and composition, and a vigorous brush technique on canvases depicting complex genre scenes.
"In 1930 Leigh wrote, 'I have always felt that the West was the place for me. Even in Europe (as a student), I had this in my mind as my objective, and consistently worked and planned to the end that I might go there and paint.' His earliest known western painting, The Gambler, was completed in 1892 while Leigh was studying in Munich. The rich, painterly quality, the dark umber tones, and the heightened dramatic narrative demonstrate the influence of European mentors." (P.H. Hassrick, 100 Years of Western Art from Pittsburgh Collections, exhibition catalogue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1982, p. 18) The Gambler dramatically demonstrates Leigh's Munich education while exploring an early western theme that would come to dominate his oeuvre for the remainder of his prolific career. To capture the intricately positioned figure in the foreground, Leigh used his friend and fellow-artist, Henry Raschen, to pose for the composition. The naturally yet almost theatrically staged positioning of the figure lends to the drama of the Western narrative and reinforces Leigh's training as a highly-skilled draftsman. Upon viewing the work, Leigh's instructor Professor Lindenschmidt commented, "Ah, now the real Leigh is coming out! Drama--America!" (W.R Leigh, My Life, unpublished autobiography, p. 215)
Over the next several years, Leigh made many trips west and endeavored to make the west his home. In his work, he remained true to his Munich training, striving for accurate realism in his highly finished canvases depicting Native Americans, whom he grew to respect and admire. The Gambler is most notably Leigh's earliest known Western painting and a a rare and superb example of the artist's idealistic realism borne in a classically dramatic American genre scene.
Halsey C. Ives was the art director for the exhibition and in 1891 sent a circular to over 3800 American artists and architects. "In this letter Ives articulated his goals for the exhibit of American art, expressing the hope that it would show 'many important recent works,' which 'by bold departure from conventional lines of the old school have become representative of American art.' Echoing the theme of the fair as a whole, he envisioned an art exhibition that would be 'fully representative of the progress of the country during the last sixteen years.' And well aware of the critical drubbing that American art had received in Philadelphia more than a decade earlier, he wanted the art at the fair 'to show what has been accomplished by American artists...since the Centennial Exhibition of 1876.'" (C.K. Carr, "Prejudice and Pride: Presenting American Art at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition," Revisiting the White City: American Art at the 1893 World's Fair, pp. 71-72) Additional notable works also included in the exhibition were Winslow Homer's The Fog Warning (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), Thomas Eakins' The Gross Clinic (Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts), and John Singer Sargent's Portrait (Homer Saint-Gaudens), (Carnegie Museum of Art).
The Gambler is a significant early work from William Robinson Leigh's career that demonstrates the artist's European training fully realized through the depiction of distinctly American subject and imagery. The painting's inclusion in the 1893 exhibition signals a parallel theme to the overall function of the Columbian Exposition, rendering an image that is uniquely American and presenting it to a broader international stage.
Leigh, born on a plantation in 1866, knew struggle and adversity from his birth. After the war, the once comfortable Leigh family found their plantation in ruins, their help gone, and very little money left to their name. Young William showed immense talent as an artist, and through the financial help of his aunt and uncle, he was able to attend the Maryland Institute in Baltimore. He excelled at the Institute and in 1883, he enrolled at the Royal Academy in Munich, where he spent the next 12 years. From his Munich years, he emerged as an artist who was a superb draftsman with a strong sense of line and composition, and a vigorous brush technique on canvases depicting complex genre scenes.
"In 1930 Leigh wrote, 'I have always felt that the West was the place for me. Even in Europe (as a student), I had this in my mind as my objective, and consistently worked and planned to the end that I might go there and paint.' His earliest known western painting, The Gambler, was completed in 1892 while Leigh was studying in Munich. The rich, painterly quality, the dark umber tones, and the heightened dramatic narrative demonstrate the influence of European mentors." (P.H. Hassrick, 100 Years of Western Art from Pittsburgh Collections, exhibition catalogue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1982, p. 18) The Gambler dramatically demonstrates Leigh's Munich education while exploring an early western theme that would come to dominate his oeuvre for the remainder of his prolific career. To capture the intricately positioned figure in the foreground, Leigh used his friend and fellow-artist, Henry Raschen, to pose for the composition. The naturally yet almost theatrically staged positioning of the figure lends to the drama of the Western narrative and reinforces Leigh's training as a highly-skilled draftsman. Upon viewing the work, Leigh's instructor Professor Lindenschmidt commented, "Ah, now the real Leigh is coming out! Drama--America!" (W.R Leigh, My Life, unpublished autobiography, p. 215)
Over the next several years, Leigh made many trips west and endeavored to make the west his home. In his work, he remained true to his Munich training, striving for accurate realism in his highly finished canvases depicting Native Americans, whom he grew to respect and admire. The Gambler is most notably Leigh's earliest known Western painting and a a rare and superb example of the artist's idealistic realism borne in a classically dramatic American genre scene.