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John Koch , (Aug 18, 1909–Apr 19 1978)

The Toast

1964
10 in. x 15 in. (25.4 cm x 38.1 cm)

Medium and Support: Oil on canvas

Credit Line: Purchased as the gift of Londa Weisman in honor of the 80th birthday of her husband, Sidney R. Knafel (PA 1948)

Accession Number: 2011.38

Commentary

Gallery label for Walls and Beams, Rooms and Dreams, January 23 - July 31, 2016

In the absence of perspectival exactitude, Koch imbues his elegantly staged interior scenes with nuanced psychological subtext. In this work, he captures his sitters—Dora, the artist’s wife and a music teacher, and a young man, possibly one of her privately tutored students—in a moment of celebration, as indicated by the title. In the vein of his artistic heroes, ranging from Vermeer to Eakins, Koch usually posed his sitters individually, a practice that may explain the psychological disengagement that can be felt between the two, with the young man facing Dora directly and raising his glass in her direction, and Dora gazing enigmatically into the distance, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. At the same time, the informality of the furniture arrangement also signals a familiarity between sitters and domestic environment; despite occupying a small, less central area of the composition, Dora’s position nonetheless demonstrates her purview over her domestic domain.

Kelley Tialiou
Charles H. Sawyer Curatorial Assistant | Librarian | Archivist

Exhibition List

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

80 @ 80 Addison Gallery of American Art , 10/15/2011 - 12/31/2011
Eye on the Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 4/27/2013 - 7/31/2013
Walls and Beams, Rooms and Dreams: Images of Home Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/23/2016 - 7/31/2016

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This object is a member of the following portfolios:

Themes: MLC Portfolio: Houses and Homes

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