Book of Pictures

Kenyon Cox, Book of Pictures, 1910-1917, oil on canvas, 29 ⁷⁄₈ x 36 in. (76.0 x 91.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Allyn Cox, 1959.10.2

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Artwork Details

Title: Book of Pictures
Artist: Kenyon Cox
Date: 1910-1917
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 29 ⁷⁄₈ x 36 in. (76.0 x 91.5 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Allyn Cox
Mediums: oil
Mediums Description: oil on canvas
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Figure group — female and child
Dress — historic — classical dress
Recreation — leisure — reading
Object — written matter — book
Occupation — education — teacher
Landscape — tree
Object Number: 1959.10.2
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1959.10.2

Artwork Description

Kenyon Cox was as much an art critic as a painter. He contributed articles to prestigious magazines such as The Nation and Scribner’s, and much of his writing dealt with the power of art to speak a universal language. His Raphael-inspired Book of Pictures, of a mother showing her child an illustrated book, represents this conviction. In the early years of the twentieth century, many Americans learned about European art through mass-produced images in books and magazines. Cox advocated using such means to encourage lessons of good taste that would extend into all aspects of American life. (Morgan, Kenyon Cox, 1856-1919: A Life in American Art, 1994)