[Bingham, George Caleb]: [Sartain, John]:

$8,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

THE COUNTY ELECTION. A striking political scene from one of the greatest American Realist painters of the 19th century.George Caleb Bingham was born on a plantation in Virginia but grew up in Missouri, where he lived most of his life. He was largely a self-taught painter, but one with immense talents and instincts; creating - in addition to a steady output of dignified portraits - a series of genre paintings depicting, with a blend of grace and humor, the way of life of the people of the plains and the Missouri river. Bingham was himself a politician of some renown, with an interesting record of party hopping. Bingham served a term as a Missouri state Congressman for the Whig party beginning in 1848, sided with Lincoln and the Republicans during the Civil War, and then served as a delegate for the Democratic Party in 1872. At various times, he also served as Treasurer of Missouri, first chief of police in Kansas City, and the Adjutant-General of Missouri. Throughout his political career, Bingham also remained a productive artist, leaving a catalogue of wonderful paintings that earned him the nickname, the "Missouri Artist."Bingham's political career inspired some of his finest - and most crowded - genre pictures, including The County Election (1852), The County Canvass (ca. 1854, also known as Stump Speaking), and The Verdict of the People (1854), a series of three political crowd scenes which delineated the political process as it existed in Missouri: a blend of free democra

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