The Checker Players

1850

George Caleb Bingham American, 1811-1879

On View

American, Level 2, West Wing

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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About the Artwork

Title The Checker Players

Artwork Date 1850

Artist George Caleb Bingham

Life Dates 1811-1879

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 25 × 30 inches (63.5 × 76.2 cm) Framed: 30 1/2 × 35 9/16 × 2 3/4 inches (77.5 × 90.3 × 7 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department American Art before 1950

Credit Gift of Dexter M. Ferry, Jr.

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 52.27

Markings

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

by 1864, N.J. Eaton (St. Louis, Missouri, USA). John J. Herrick (Tarrytown, New York, USA)

George T. Herrick (Tarrytown, New York, USA). John B. Ingham (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA). 1952, The Old Print Shop (New York, New York, USA). 1952-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

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Published References

“Committee of Management Minutes, February 20, 1851: Register of Works of Art.” The American Art-Union, New York. Mss. no. 2711. [listed as Chequer Players]

Letter from Bingham to James S. Rollins. March 30, 1851. The State Historical Society of Missouri. Columbia, MO.

“The Chronicle: Art and Artists in America.” Bulletin of the American Art-Union (December 1, 1851): p. 151.

Fourth Annual Fair of the St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association. Exh. cat., The State Fair Grounds. St. Louis, 1859, no. 34. [as Game of Draughts]

Mississippi Valley Sanitary Fair. Exh. cat., The State Fair Grounds. St. Louis, 1864, no. 192. [as Chequer Players, collection of N.J. Eaton, St. Louis]

Rusk, Fern Helen. George Caleb Bingham, The Missouri Artist. Jefferson City, MO, 1917, pp. 54, 122.

Christ-Janer, Albert. George Caleb Bingham: The Story of an Artist. New York, 1940, p. 54.

Richardson, Edgar P. “The Checker Players by George Caleb Bingham.” Art Quarterly 15 (Autumn 1952): pp. 251-256.

Rediscoveries in American Painting. Exh. cat., Cincinnati Art Museum. Cincinnati, 1955, no. 2.

McDermott, John Francis. George Caleb Bingham, River Portraitist. Norman, 1959, p. 79 (pl. 31).

George Caleb Bingham Sesquicentennial Exhibition. Exh. cat., Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum. Kansas City, 1961, no. 12.

Taggart, Ross E. “George Caleb Bingham Sesquicentennial Exhibition.” Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum Bulletin 3, 3 (1961): p. 12.

Bloch, E. Maurice. George Caleb Bingham: A Catalogue Raisonné. Los Angeles, 1967, no. 193.

_______________. George Caleb Bingham: The Evolution of an Artist. Los Angeles, 1967, pp. 116-117 (pl. 33).

George Caleb Bingham 1811-1870. Exh. cat., The National Collection of Fine Arts. Washington D.C., 1968, pp. 46-47, no. 16.

Constant, Alberta Wilson. Paintbox on the Frontier: The Life and Times of George Caleb Bingham. New York, 1974, pp. 103-104.

Christ-Janer, Albert. George Caleb Bingham. New York, 1975 (pl. 167).

Chefs-d’Oeuvre de Museés des Etats Unis de Giorgione à Picasso. Exh. cat., la Museé Marmottan. Paris, 1976 (pl. 33).

Exhibition of Pictures from Museums of the United States of America. Exh. cat., The Hermitage. Leningrad, 1976, p. 11.

Bloch, E. Maurice. The Paintings of George Caleb Bingham: A Catalogue Raisonné. Columbia, MO, 1986, p. 189.

Tyler, Ron, et al. American Frontier Life: Early Western Paintings and Prints. Exh. cat., The Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Cody, WY, 1987, p. 42 (pl. 24).

Shapiro, Michael Edward. George Caleb Bingham. Exh. cat., St. Louis Art Museum. St. Louis, 1990 (pl. 31).

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