Peggy Bacon

1895–1987

Throughout her work as an artist, illustrator, and writer, Peggy Bacon affectionately satirized the early twentieth-century art world of New York. From 1915 to 1920, she honed her precocious talents at the Art Students League, where her artist parents first met. Influenced by the life drawing classes of John Sloan, who encouraged his students to capture the everyday details around them, she began to sketch caricatures of her artist colleagues—a practice she continued through the 1930s. Though initially trained as a painter, in 1917 Bacon taught herself drypoint, a steel-pen etching technique that would become her primary medium for a decade. She developed a style remarkable for its tonal variation and its use of sketchlike marks such as cross-hatching, and quickly gained prominence as a printmaker (she began showing her prints at the Whitney Studio Club in 1925).

The Ardent Bowlers demonstrates Bacon’s drypoint skills and her ability to capture her social milieu with wit and precision. Set in a bowling alley on Third Avenue, the scene depicts a weekly social gathering of artists associated with the Woodstock circle, to which Bacon and her husband belonged. The composition is characteristically crammed with figures; yet, as Bacon explained of those depicted in her work, “every one of the people was a portrait of a particular individual.” Bacon sits center foreground, turned to the right in conversation with another woman; the artist Reginald Marsh is seated at far left. In spite of the dramatic perspectival recession of the bowling lanes beyond, the raucous crowd dominates our field of vision. We, like the bowlers, are drawn into the social dynamics of the group, who are clearly more engaged in one another’s company than the sport at hand.

Wikipedia entry

Introduction

Margaret Frances Bacon (May 2, 1895 – January 4, 1987) was an American artist, best known for her satirical caricatures.

Bacon studied under Kenneth Hayes Miller at the Art Students League of New York, where she taught herself drypoint and published her first caricatures in the student magazine. They soon appeared in publications such as The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, as well as major art galleries. Bacon earned many awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship for creative work in the graphic arts.

Wikidata identifier

Q7160630

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Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License . Accessed April 30, 2025.

Getty record

Country of birth

United States

Roles

Artist, author, caricaturist, engraver, etcher, illustrator, lithographer, painter, pastelist, poet, writer

ULAN identifier

500024574

Names

Peggy Bacon, Margaret Bacon, Margaret Frances Bacon, Peggy Brook Bacon, Peggy Frances Bacon, Peggy. Bacon, Margaret Frances Bacon Brook, Peggy Bacon Brook

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Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed April 30, 2025.

Not on view

First acquired
1931

Date of birth
May 2, 1895

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