Summary Of Dance Marathon By Philip Everwood

Dance Marathon; A Formal Investigative Approach

Found nestled in the Blanton Art Museum resides the painting Dance Marathon. This work of art was painted by artist Philip Everwood in the year 1934. Everwood’s paintings were created with the intent of social and political activism within the community. Seen as a form of social protest at the time, Dance Marathon captures a modern/contemporary style during the Great Depression time period, a time with horrific scenes of poverty and distress flooding the streets, and this piece of Everwood’s work reflects just that. Numerous human-depicted figures are shown in a ballroom dramatically grabbing and hugging one another while figures watching the dancefloor are laying on the ground or sitting with their heads tilted down.

In regards to size, Everwood painted the work to be average to above average length and width to that of comparable artwork. Sitting at sixty inches in height and forty inches in width the work’s size contributes to the overall effect. For instance, if the painting was shown to smaller scale, the work would seem too centered around the figures in the foreground, and vice versa if the work was depicted at a larger scale, the background would be too overpowering and too absolute to capture the

Everwood applied this medium through the use of very thick brushstrokes, commonly referred to as impasto. This is known due to the presence of visible brushstrokes within the paint, as well as the sort of popping out effect which is achieved through impasto. In addition, the use of color, shadowing, and gradations adds effect to the overall piece. For example, Everwood uses the three primary colors: blue, red, and yellow in the presence of shades of white and black to provide shadowing and to provide a place of focus in the piece. Everwood does so by hatching and crosshatching black lines on the borders of the