Walter Stuempfig (1914-1970)
Altercation, 1955
Walter Stuempfig, a prolific painter who produced more than 1500 works, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a wealthy family, and as a result did not have the usual financial worries that plagued so many artists. He began four years of study at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1931, where one of his teachers was Daniel Garber. He first showed at the Academy in 1932, but his success as an artist dates from 1942 when his work was included in the “Artists for Victory” exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He himself was on the Academy faculty beginning in 1948, and continuing until his death in 1970. Working in a neo-romantic and introspective realist style grounded in a long tradition of western figure painting, many of his works have an oddly surreal quality and yet are connected to nineteenth century academicism. He had a deep respect for the Old Masters, and his vision was distinctively expressive.
In Stuempfig’s Altercation, the odd dislocation of his moody imagery reminds viewers that his vision is grounded in twentieth century narratives. In this enigmatic canvas, a psychological narrative of alienation is conveyed. Three figures are seated in a non-descript room—two men and a woman (when it was shown at the Academy in 1956, it was titled The Sybil).
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