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Dan Witz, 2020-2025
Oil on Panel (Diptych)
60" x 96" (152.4 cm x 243.84 cm)
A monumental centerpiece of the History Paintings series, La Grande Machine resurrects the cinematic scale and technical rigor of 19th-century Salon painting to record the explosive reality of contemporary public conflict. Featuring roughly 75 battling figures, the diptych intentionally reclaims an Impressionist-era derision aimed at the grandiose, multi-figure academic paintings commissioned by the French Salon. Combining Old Master painting techniques with a massive, multi-figure scale, the work captures the raw energy of modern public unrest without falling into simple political commentary.
"During the pandemic, I painted a group of contemporary riot pictures. I call the series History Paintings. The biggest of the group, a diptych with about 75 battling figures, is titled “La Grande Machine.” This references a coded Impressionist dis of the overcooked academic potboilers of the French Salon era. Highest status among the official Salon genres in those days were the ‘Grandes Machines,’ the widescreen multi-figure history paintings."
-Dan Witz
Sales Tax will be collected at pick up, if artwork is not shipped.*
Dan Witz, 2020-2025
Oil on Panel (Diptych)
60" x 96" (152.4 cm x 243.84 cm)
A monumental centerpiece of the History Paintings series, La Grande Machine resurrects the cinematic scale and technical rigor of 19th-century Salon painting to record the explosive reality of contemporary public conflict. Featuring roughly 75 battling figures, the diptych intentionally reclaims an Impressionist-era derision aimed at the grandiose, multi-figure academic paintings commissioned by the French Salon. Combining Old Master painting techniques with a massive, multi-figure scale, the work captures the raw energy of modern public unrest without falling into simple political commentary.
"During the pandemic, I painted a group of contemporary riot pictures. I call the series History Paintings. The biggest of the group, a diptych with about 75 battling figures, is titled “La Grande Machine.” This references a coded Impressionist dis of the overcooked academic potboilers of the French Salon era. Highest status among the official Salon genres in those days were the ‘Grandes Machines,’ the widescreen multi-figure history paintings."
-Dan Witz
Sales Tax will be collected at pick up, if artwork is not shipped.*