Creating an icon of American art.(Current and coming)(George Caleb Bingham: The Making of "The County Election")

An intriguing exhibition at the Saint Louis Art Museum examines the making of an icon of American painting, George Caleb Bingham's The County Election of 1851-1852, shown on page 20, and a number of related prints including the widely circulated engraving of it made by the Philadelphia artist John Sartain. In creating the work, one of a series of six election paintings dating from between 1849 and 1855, Bingham capitalized on the national fascination with politics, when boisterous debates and public balloting were standard practices. The County Election, which depicts voters lining up in front of a Missouri courthouse, also reflects the widespread taste among the art-consuming public at the time for scenes with varied types of people.

That Bingham devoted great attention to the characterization of each of the figures in the lively crowd is demonstrated by the detailed drawings he made in preparation for the painting, all eighteen surviving examples of which are included in the exhibition. He would pin the drawings to the blank canvas, trace the outlines with a sharp point to impress a line into the primer coat, and draw over the impressed lines before finally picking up his brush. The muse-um's conservators have used infrared reflectography, a technique that allows them to look through layers of paint, to ...