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The County Election.
One of the three engravings making up George Caleb Bickham's famed 'Election Series' (comprising 'The County Election', 'Stump Speaking' and 'The Verdict of the People') that depicts a thematic overview of the electioneering process, from the campaign, through the casting of the votes to the final outcome of the race.
The scene includes men of many ages and social classes. Many of the characters are drunk or drinking; some assisted to the poll in their inebriated state, some so drunk as to be rendered incapable. There is a cider stall handing out alcoholic inducements to the left of the image. The polling clerk carries out his duty unobserved by the voters on the other side of the scene. In the foreground a boy can be seen playing the game 'Mumble-the-Peg'; perhaps comparing politics to a game played by tossing a knife in the air? At first glance the image appears to be a negative critique of the election process - the artist was a Whig - and moking of Jacksonian egalitarianism and the rule of the common man. However, the scene can also be viewed as a tribute to democracy with the inclusion of all social types and ages and the depiction of eager debate being engaged by all strata of society: the two most prominent positions are, after all, given to an Irishman, a recent immigrant, and 'Old '76', a veteran of the Revolutionary War.
In Bingham's lifetime, his friend, fellow Whig James Rollins wrote:
'The County Election is pre-eminently a National painting… as a mere work of art… it is superb. But this is not the point of view in which its excellence is to be regarded. The elective franchise is the very cornerstone, upon which rests our governmental superstructure and as illustrative of our fine institutions, the power and influence which the ballot exerts over our happiness as a people, the subject of this painting was happily chosen… From its character and style of execution, it would arrest the attention of every class of our population… and such a picture engraved would be equally [sic] sought after, to decorate the walls of a palace or those of a log cabin'
George Caleb Bingham enjoyed a national reputation for his genre pictures of small town and river life (Jolly Flatboatmen in Port, Raftsmen Playing Cards), and portraits, as well as for his politically themed paintings. He was himself a politician. He ran for the Missouri State House twice before the Civil War, winning a seat in 1848. He served as wartime Missouri State Treasurer, 1862-65, and became the Missouri Adjutant General in 1875. He had always been a strong Union supporter, serving, in spite of very bad health, a short hitch in the U.S. Army at the outbreak of the Civil War.
Mezzotint, printed in colours and finished by hand. Engraved by John Sartain (1808-1897).
Bloch, Raisonne, p.220; Husch 'George Caleb Bingham's The County Election: Whig Tribute to the Will of the People' in The American Art Journal/Volume XIX, No. 4 pp.5-22, 1987.
The scene includes men of many ages and social classes. Many of the characters are drunk or drinking; some assisted to the poll in their inebriated state, some so drunk as to be rendered incapable. There is a cider stall handing out alcoholic inducements to the left of the image. The polling clerk carries out his duty unobserved by the voters on the other side of the scene. In the foreground a boy can be seen playing the game 'Mumble-the-Peg'; perhaps comparing politics to a game played by tossing a knife in the air? At first glance the image appears to be a negative critique of the election process - the artist was a Whig - and moking of Jacksonian egalitarianism and the rule of the common man. However, the scene can also be viewed as a tribute to democracy with the inclusion of all social types and ages and the depiction of eager debate being engaged by all strata of society: the two most prominent positions are, after all, given to an Irishman, a recent immigrant, and 'Old '76', a veteran of the Revolutionary War.
In Bingham's lifetime, his friend, fellow Whig James Rollins wrote:
'The County Election is pre-eminently a National painting… as a mere work of art… it is superb. But this is not the point of view in which its excellence is to be regarded. The elective franchise is the very cornerstone, upon which rests our governmental superstructure and as illustrative of our fine institutions, the power and influence which the ballot exerts over our happiness as a people, the subject of this painting was happily chosen… From its character and style of execution, it would arrest the attention of every class of our population… and such a picture engraved would be equally [sic] sought after, to decorate the walls of a palace or those of a log cabin'
George Caleb Bingham enjoyed a national reputation for his genre pictures of small town and river life (Jolly Flatboatmen in Port, Raftsmen Playing Cards), and portraits, as well as for his politically themed paintings. He was himself a politician. He ran for the Missouri State House twice before the Civil War, winning a seat in 1848. He served as wartime Missouri State Treasurer, 1862-65, and became the Missouri Adjutant General in 1875. He had always been a strong Union supporter, serving, in spite of very bad health, a short hitch in the U.S. Army at the outbreak of the Civil War.
Mezzotint, printed in colours and finished by hand. Engraved by John Sartain (1808-1897).
Bloch, Raisonne, p.220; Husch 'George Caleb Bingham's The County Election: Whig Tribute to the Will of the People' in The American Art Journal/Volume XIX, No. 4 pp.5-22, 1987.
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The County Election.—
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Description
One of the three engravings making up George Caleb Bickham's famed 'Election Series' (comprising 'The County Election', 'Stump Speaking' and 'The Verdict of the People') that depicts a thematic overview of the electioneering process, from the campaign, through the casting of the votes to the final outcome of the race.
The scene includes men of many ages and social classes. Many of the characters are drunk or drinking; some assisted to the poll in their inebriated state, some so drunk as to be rendered incapable. There is a cider stall handing out alcoholic inducements to the left of the image. The polling clerk carries out his duty unobserved by the voters on the other side of the scene. In the foreground a boy can be seen playing the game 'Mumble-the-Peg'; perhaps comparing politics to a game played by tossing a knife in the air? At first glance the image appears to be a negative critique of the election process - the artist was a Whig - and moking of Jacksonian egalitarianism and the rule of the common man. However, the scene can also be viewed as a tribute to democracy with the inclusion of all social types and ages and the depiction of eager debate being engaged by all strata of society: the two most prominent positions are, after all, given to an Irishman, a recent immigrant, and 'Old '76', a veteran of the Revolutionary War.
In Bingham's lifetime, his friend, fellow Whig James Rollins wrote:
'The County Election is pre-eminently a National painting… as a mere work of art… it is superb. But this is not the point of view in which its excellence is to be regarded. The elective franchise is the very cornerstone, upon which rests our governmental superstructure and as illustrative of our fine institutions, the power and influence which the ballot exerts over our happiness as a people, the subject of this painting was happily chosen… From its character and style of execution, it would arrest the attention of every class of our population… and such a picture engraved would be equally [sic] sought after, to decorate the walls of a palace or those of a log cabin'
George Caleb Bingham enjoyed a national reputation for his genre pictures of small town and river life (Jolly Flatboatmen in Port, Raftsmen Playing Cards), and portraits, as well as for his politically themed paintings. He was himself a politician. He ran for the Missouri State House twice before the Civil War, winning a seat in 1848. He served as wartime Missouri State Treasurer, 1862-65, and became the Missouri Adjutant General in 1875. He had always been a strong Union supporter, serving, in spite of very bad health, a short hitch in the U.S. Army at the outbreak of the Civil War.
Mezzotint, printed in colours and finished by hand. Engraved by John Sartain (1808-1897).
Bloch, Raisonne, p.220; Husch 'George Caleb Bingham's The County Election: Whig Tribute to the Will of the People' in The American Art Journal/Volume XIX, No. 4 pp.5-22, 1987.
The scene includes men of many ages and social classes. Many of the characters are drunk or drinking; some assisted to the poll in their inebriated state, some so drunk as to be rendered incapable. There is a cider stall handing out alcoholic inducements to the left of the image. The polling clerk carries out his duty unobserved by the voters on the other side of the scene. In the foreground a boy can be seen playing the game 'Mumble-the-Peg'; perhaps comparing politics to a game played by tossing a knife in the air? At first glance the image appears to be a negative critique of the election process - the artist was a Whig - and moking of Jacksonian egalitarianism and the rule of the common man. However, the scene can also be viewed as a tribute to democracy with the inclusion of all social types and ages and the depiction of eager debate being engaged by all strata of society: the two most prominent positions are, after all, given to an Irishman, a recent immigrant, and 'Old '76', a veteran of the Revolutionary War.
In Bingham's lifetime, his friend, fellow Whig James Rollins wrote:
'The County Election is pre-eminently a National painting… as a mere work of art… it is superb. But this is not the point of view in which its excellence is to be regarded. The elective franchise is the very cornerstone, upon which rests our governmental superstructure and as illustrative of our fine institutions, the power and influence which the ballot exerts over our happiness as a people, the subject of this painting was happily chosen… From its character and style of execution, it would arrest the attention of every class of our population… and such a picture engraved would be equally [sic] sought after, to decorate the walls of a palace or those of a log cabin'
George Caleb Bingham enjoyed a national reputation for his genre pictures of small town and river life (Jolly Flatboatmen in Port, Raftsmen Playing Cards), and portraits, as well as for his politically themed paintings. He was himself a politician. He ran for the Missouri State House twice before the Civil War, winning a seat in 1848. He served as wartime Missouri State Treasurer, 1862-65, and became the Missouri Adjutant General in 1875. He had always been a strong Union supporter, serving, in spite of very bad health, a short hitch in the U.S. Army at the outbreak of the Civil War.
Mezzotint, printed in colours and finished by hand. Engraved by John Sartain (1808-1897).
Bloch, Raisonne, p.220; Husch 'George Caleb Bingham's The County Election: Whig Tribute to the Will of the People' in The American Art Journal/Volume XIX, No. 4 pp.5-22, 1987.
