Passing Song

Albert Pinkham Ryder, Passing Song, before 1902, oil on wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly, 1929.6.103
Albert Pinkham Ryder, Passing Song, before 1902, oil on wood, 8 1⁄2 x 4 3⁄8 in. (21.6 x 11.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly, 1929.6.103
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Artwork Details

Title
Passing Song
Artist
Date
before 1902
Location
Dimensions
8 1⁄2 x 4 3⁄8 in. (21.6 x 11.1 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of John Gellatly
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on wood
Classifications
Subjects
  • Literature — Ryder — Passing Song
  • Performing arts — music — voice
  • Landscape — coast
  • Landscape — water
  • Waterscape — boat
  • Figure female
Object Number
1929.6.103
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1929.6.103

Artwork Description

In the mid-1890s, Albert Pinkham Ryder was infatuated with a voice he heard in his apartment building. He found the woman who was singing and immediately asked her to marry him. His friends intervened, saying that the woman was unsuitable, but Ryder immortalized the event by painting images of beautiful women bewitching men with their songs. In Passing Song the sailor wants to approach the woman but is unable to turn his rudderless boat as it drifts away with the current. This helpless figure probably symbolizes the artist, who felt passionately about women and fell in love easily, but never married. (Broun, Albert Pinkham Ryder, 1989)

Works by this artist (20 items)

View all artworks
Louis Schanker, Abstract Man, 1936, carved and painted wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Patricia and Phillip Frost, 1986.92.80
Abstract Man
Artist
Date1936
carved and painted wood
On view
Louis Schanker, Black and White, 1964, wood: birch, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Louis Schanker, 1968.136
Black and White
Artist
Date1964
wood: birch
On view
Louis Schanker, Owl, 1937, carved wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Patricia and Phillip Frost, 1986.92.81
Owl
Artist
Date1937
carved wood
On view
Louis Schanker, Circle Image no. 1, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Woodward Foundation, 1976.108.102
Circle Image no. 1
Artist
Not on view

Audio

Stop 135: Passing Song

Passing Song
about 1840, oil on canvas

ALBERT PINKHAM RYDER
Born: New Bedford, Massachusetts 1847– Died: New York, New York 1917

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