by
Joan K. Yanni
 |
| Angels of the Festa |
Angels of the Festa by Jerome Myers is an enigmatic painting,
with its dark background, subdued colors and flattened perspective. Its
theme is a religious celebration, and its people are taking part with a sense
of subdued joy.
"Festa" is the
Italian word for feast, celebration, or saint's day. And among the
Italian Catholic immigrants who lived on New York City's lower East Side, their
saint's feast day was the time for celebration. Usually the saint had
been the patron saint of their province in Italy; and yearly, on a summer
Sunday, they held a street festival in his or her honor.
A procession after the
last Mass started the day. Men of the parish carried the statue of the
saint set upon a paten, along with smaller statues from the church and banks of
candles in wedding-cake arrangements. In the afternoon, the festivities began.
Always there was ethnic food and socializing. Often there was a band
concert. It was time for families to enjoy their religion, their friends
and each other.
In our painting,
darkness has come and the festa is about to end. The procession and musicians
have disbanded in front of a statue of the honored saint surrounded by candles,
banners, and the Italian flag. The saint is a bishop, as we can see by his
miter, or hat. Perhaps he is San Gennaro (St. Jerome), whose feast is
still celebrated in September on New York's Bleeker Street. But the name
of the church, which can be seen in the painting, is St. Ciro, a rather obscure
saint but important enough to Italian immigrants to have a church named after
him. The location of a statue is puzzling. It seems to be in a free-standing
shrine, since onlookers lean out of upstairs windows on either side.
Little girls in their best dresses—part of the "angels" title—hold
lighted candles as neighbors and families look on. And in the dark sky
above the festa, two blissful angels—this time the kind with wings—can be seen
throwing roses onto the crowd below.
He managed to get to New
York City when he was eighteen, and while he worked by day as a sign painter
and photo-engraver, he took evening art courses at Cooper Union and at the Art
Student's League. He studied under George de Forest Brush and learned
from the works of old masters, but his style and subject matter were his own.
He felt a kinship with the city's poor, and they became his theme—one frowned
upon by the academicians.
Myers had chosen
drawings, etchings, and pastels as his medium; but in 1902 he met the noted art
dealer William MacBeth, who liked his work, became his dealer, and encouraged
him to turn to painting. He had his first one-man exhibition in 1908,
began to exhibit widely, and joined John Sloan and his circle, also painters of
the city.
Myers, Henri and Sloan
were among the artists who showed in the 1910 exhibition of Independent
Artists, the first non-juried show ever held by and for American artists.
Myers also helped to organize the Armory Show of 1913. He had hoped that
the show would promote American artists; but Arthur B. Davies invited European
painters to participate, and the Europeans, the Cubists in particular, stole
the show.
Though Myers never was a
huge success in selling his paintings, he eventually received prizes from the
National Academy and the Carnegie Institute. His pictures of the slums
were idealized, sympathetic and dignified. His children, unlike Luks's
dirty urchins, were clean and happy and in their best clothes. His people
exude a spiritual happiness and a hope for the future.
Angels of the Festa can be compared to any of the Ashcan
paintings. Myers' loose brush stroke is similar to that of Sloan in Election
Night, and both are paintings of celebrations. The painting can also
be used with Lawrence's Summer Street Scene in Harlem,
or discussed in connection with ceremonies in the African gallery.
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