Happy, Crazy, American Animals and a Man and Lady at My Place

John Wilde, Happy, Crazy, American Animals and a Man and Lady at My Place, 1961, oil on wood, 12 x 17 ⁷⁄₈ in. (30.4 x 45.3 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., 1969.47.47

Artwork Details

Title: Happy, Crazy, American Animals and a Man and Lady at My Place
Artist: John Wilde
Date: 1961
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 12 x 17 ⁷⁄₈ in. (30.4 x 45.3 cm.)
Credit Line: Gift of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.
Mediums: oil
Mediums Description: oil on wood
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Animal — deer
Figure female — nude
Animal — bird
Animal — cat
Figure group
Animal — opossum
Architecture Interior — domestic — house
Animal — armadillo
Animal — wolf
Object Number: 1969.47.47
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1969.47.47

Artwork Description

John Wilde paints in painstaking detail, filling his small images with real and imagined creatures. He incorporates nude female figures to symbolize nature, and in this work the running woman echoes the galloping pronghorn antelope beside her. Wilde's careful technique makes all the animals appear frozen in time, but it is easy to imagine them coming back to life at any moment, screeching and thumping their way through the house. The artist himself stands in the very back of the scene, watching the madness unfold with a calm expression as if he is controlling every movement.