Washington Crossing the Delaware: Waves

Alex Katz, Washington Crossing the Delaware: Waves, 1961, assembled, nailed, bolted, and screwed plywood painted in oil, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1979.56.2B
Copied Alex Katz, Washington Crossing the Delaware: Waves, 1961, assembled, nailed, bolted, and screwed plywood painted in oil, 15 3⁄4 x 219 3⁄4 x 1 in. (40.0 x 558.2 x 2.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1979.56.2B

Artwork Details

Title
Washington Crossing the Delaware: Waves
Artist
Date
1961
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
15 3⁄4 x 219 3⁄4 x 1 in. (40.0 x 558.2 x 2.5 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection
Mediums
Mediums Description
assembled, nailed, bolted, and screwed plywood painted in oil
Classifications
Subjects
  • Waterscape
  • History — United States — Revolution
  • Waterscape — river — Delaware River
Object Number
1979.56.2B
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1979.56.2B

Artwork Description

In 1959, Alex Katz began painting figures on canvas, cutting them out and then pasting them onto wooden boards. Two years later the playwright Kenneth Koch saw an exhibition of these and asked Katz to produce the props and sets for his one-act play George Washington Crossing the Delaware. In Koch's satire, Washington’s famous crossing was motivated by his childhood when, after cutting down the cherry tree, the young Washington swam across a river to avoid his father's wrath. The play became an underground hit largely because of Katz's irreverent image of Washington. At the time, art critic Irving Sandler described the cutouts as "the perfect setting for the delivery of such lines as the following from the father of our country: 'I am tired and I need sleep. Good night America.'"