History of a Picture No. 2: The Public (c. 1929): Art, History and Details

History of a Picture No. 2: The Public (c. 1929) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Frank Wilcox (American, 1887–1964).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Frank Wilcox submitted this satire of art exhibitions to the Cleveland Museum of Art’s annual May Show, suggesting his sense of humor. In the second part, the picture has been accepted into the show and is receiving mixed reactions from the public. The faces of the well-dressed audience reveal shock, admiration, disgust, and confusion. In a humorous addition, the figure who appears the least pleased is a crying child at the bottom left, juxtaposing—or potentially equating—the highbrow concerns of art with basic human feelings.

Object facts

• Title: History of a Picture No. 2: The Public
• Date: c. 1929
• Creator attribution: Frank Wilcox (American, 1887–1964)
• Culture: America, Ohio, Cleveland
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: pencil and wash heightened with white
• Dimensions: Paper: 35.3 x 41.8 cm (13 7/8 x 16 7/16 in.)
• Collection: DR - American - Cleveland School
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1929.427

A detail from the museum

Wilcox was a lifelong student: in 1957, he received a Doctor of Science in Education from the Immaculate Conception College of Structural Manipulation.

Collection credit

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland

Further reading listed by the museum

• Frank Wilcox Entry Card to 1929 May Show. Cleveland Museum of Art May Show Records, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.