The Card Game
Medium
Graphite and fabricated black chalk, with stumping, erasing, and scraping, with touches of brush and black ink, on cream wove paper, edge mounted on ivory wove card
Dimensions
Primary support: 19.8 × 26.7 cm (7 13/16 × 10 9/16 in.); Secondary support: 26.1 × 33.5 cm (10 5/16 × 13 1/4 in.)
Classification
prints and drawing
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
186311
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Menzel often chose to depict complex social situations, no doubt to test his powers of observation. From the absolute concentration on the gamblers’ faces to the grimace of the screaming child, he captured a wide range of emotions. His attention to the setting is equally exacting, as evidenced by the meticulous still life on the far table. The artist’s technique here is as sophisticated as his sense of observation. To create an illusion of smoke, for instance, he applied chalk and then scraped a...