by I’m not sure what to make of our tour of the Truman Courthouse run by the Jackson County Historical Society (in Independence, Missouri), but part of it involved getting to see a gallery behind locked doors which revealed a few rooms of George Caleb Bingham paintings. Bingham was at one time a famous artist, and even today he has works at major institutions, so it was a little sad that these seemed hidden away. Even the tour description made no mention of Bingham, just that we’d see the Jackson County Art Museum.
Bingham produced 500 works during his lifetime, nearly all of which were portraits. I personally thought the portraits ranged from “okay” to “pretty good”, but nothing that would knock your socks off (and since my background is all accounting, I’m fully qualified to make this assessment). However, we did notice that some of the details, like lace, looked like a child had drawn them on after the fact. But his paintings are in museums across the country, and represent a particular period in American history and portraiture.
Our visit here prompted us to visit the Bingham-Waggoner Estate, where you can read a little bit more about Bingham, if you so desire.
