Rip Van Winkle Returned

John Rogers

1871; cast 1871 or after · Painted plaster · The American Wing

Rogers secured national patronage through large sales and small profits, producing tinted plaster statuettes that were ubiquitous in late nineteenth-century middle-class homes. Popular mainly due to their storytelling qualities, some eighty thousand "Rogers Groups" were mass-produced and marketed through the sculptor’s New York studio showroom and mail-order catalogues. Rogers often drew on popular literature. In this work based on a short story by Washington Irving published in 1819, the Dutch American protagonist returns as an elderly man after a twenty-year sleep in the Catskill Mountains. Realistic anecdotal details include his tattered clothing, flowing beard, confused expression, and aged dog.

Artist

John Rogers

Date

1871; cast 1871 or after

Medium

Painted plaster

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Purchase, The Edgar J. Kaufmann Foundation Gift, 1968