Existing comment:
Paul Sample
Spring Song, 1938
In the 1930s, Sample and his colleagues of the American-scene movement -- notably Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood -- consciously depicted aspects of daily life during the Great Depression. Their paintings, which evoke the decade's isolationist mindset, also champion the long-suffering "common man." Sample features one such fellow in Spring Song. Pictured in shades of soft brown -- suggestive of the haze of cigar smoke -- the fedora-clad consumer plunks out a tune on the piano in a neighborhood bar. The melody seems to strike a sentimental chord; the barkeeper leans forward, lost in thought.
After its exhibition at New York's 1939 World's Fair, Spring Song remained on view for a half century in Manhattan's famous "21" Club. |