#barscene

Shooting Film

Rollei 35 / Fuji 400 Film

Happy Birthday to Charles Demuth (1883-1935) who was born on this day!

Here is interesting background information for Demuth’s painting entitled “At The Golden Swan.”

“Upon arriving in New York from his hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Charles Demuth was immediately drawn to the Bohemian culture of Greenwich Village. He spent much of his early career indulging in and capturing the vitality of the city's vaudeville, cabaret and nightclubs. In "At the Golden Swan," Sometimes Called "Hell Hole" the artist depicts himself and Marcel Duchamp, the acclaimed French Dadaist, seated at the left table of the popular meeting spot for young artists and bohemians. Other patrons included the artist John Sloan, who produced an etching of the bar in 1917, and the playwright Eugene O'Neill, who incorporated it into some of his plays including The Iceman Cometh.

As noted by historians Arthur and Barbara Gelb in their book, O'Neill, "The Hell Hole was a representative Irish saloon. It had a sawdust covered floor, rude wooden tables, and was filled with the smell of sour beer and mingled sounds of alcoholic woe and laughter. Its barroom was entered from the corner of Sixth Avenue and Fourth Street--the 'front room,' in which women were not allowed. Above the doorway swung a wooden sign decorated with a tarnished gilt swan.” – from Christie’s Lot Essay.

Image description: A lively bar scene showing a group of men and women drinking and having fun.