George Biddle
Portrait of Helene Sardeau (The Artist’s Wife)
1936

Name: Portrait of Helene Sardeau (The Artist’s Wife)
Brand: George Biddle
Price: 12500 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

(Note: This work is part of our exhibition Connected by Creativity: WPA Era Works from the Collection of Leata and Edward Beatty Rowan) Fresco, 20 x 16 inches unframed, 22 x 18 inches framed, note verso reads: “George Biddle/ Head of his wife/ Detail Justice/ Dept Mural” The note verso and Rowan family tradition indicate this fresco panel was part of Biddle’s mural “Society Freed Through Justice” at the Department of Justice Building, Washington, DC. The preliminary sketches for the mural bear a strong relationship to his work, although the final “replaced” version of this figure deviates somewhat from the original. Apparently, Biddle was displeased with the way the fresco dried, so he removed the section and repainted the head and shoulders of the figure using a different model. Biddle then gifted the removed portion of the fresco to Rowan, whose image Biddle used in a different section of the mural. About the Artist: Born in 1885 in Philadelphia, George Biddle was a socially conscious artist who experimented with a variety of media during the WPA Era including murals, painting, and sculpture. He received a B.A. from Harvard in 1908 and LLB in 1911. Biddle then pivoted his studies to art and attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Académie Julian in Paris. He painted in Giverny and served as an ambulance driver during World War I. In the 1920s, he painted in Tahiti, France, and Mexico, where he met Diego Rivera. Biddle was influential in the creation of New Deal arts programs during the Great Depression. In 1933, he wrote to his former schoolmate and friend, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and urged him to create government programs to aid struggling artists and contribute to the beautification of government buildings. Biddle was among the first to receive a federal mural commission for the Justice Department Building in Washington D.C. Biddle was married to the Belgian-born sculptor Helene Sardeau who often served as inspiration in his works. During World War II, Biddle worked as an artist correspondent for Life magazine and served in various teaching roles during and after the war. Biddle’s work has been exhibited at dozens of institutions across the US, including the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the National Academy of Design, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Biddle was recently the subject of a solo exhibition at the Woodmere Art Museum. He is listed in Who Was Who in American Art and all other standard references.

Creator:

George Biddle (1885 - 1973, American)

Creation Year:

1936

Dimensions:

Height: 20 in (50.8 cm)Width: 16 in (40.64 cm)

More Editions & Sizes:

22 x 18 inches framedPrice: $12,500

Medium:

Mixed Media,Plaster

Movement & Style:

American Modern

Period:

1930-1939

Condition:

Gallery Location:

Los Angeles, CA

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU1859212569492

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George Biddle

Born to a prominent family in Philadelphia on January 24, 1885, George Biddle put his interest in art aside to accommodate his family's wishes and study law. He graduated from Harvard University in 1908 and Harvard Law in 1911, becoming a member of the Philadelphia bar. However, by the end of that same year, Biddle abandoned law and began studying art at the Académie Julian in Paris. Biddle continued his studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts during 1912 and 1913. He returned to Europe in 1914, studying in Munich and then in Madrid, where he studied printmaking. Biddle also spent the summers of 1915 and 1916 painting Impressionist works in France before he enlisted in the army in 1917. Following World War I, Biddle experimented in sculpture and graphics in Tahiti for two years and then in France between 1924–26. In 1927, Biddle returned to the United States settling in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. The following year, he traveled through Mexico on a sketching trip with Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera. During the Great Depression, Biddle actively sought government funding for the arts. His correspondence with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was a former classmate at Groton Preparatory School and Harvard, resulted in the establishment of the Federal Arts Project of the Works Progress Administration. The Depression fueled Biddle's desire to create socially conscious art. He established himself as a Social Realist through powerful murals depicting poverty. The Tenement, which he created in 1935 for the Department of Justice Building in Washington, D.C., was his first federally commissioned mural. The project led to controversy as people deemed his depiction of poverty to be inartistic. In addition to his artwork, Biddle authored several art books including An Artist at War and An American Artist's Story and he contributed regularly to national art magazines. In 1937, Biddle wrote the introduction for Boardman Robinson: Ninety-Three Drawings which was published by the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, where he taught in 1936 and 1937. In addition to teaching in Colorado, Biddle later taught at the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, the American Academy in Rome and Saugatuck, Michigan. He served as a chairman of the U.S. War Artists Committee during World War II and in 1950, President Truman appointed him to the Fine Arts Commission for which he served a 14-year term. Biddle died on November 6, 1973, in Croton-on-Hudson.