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Suicide in Costume

1931-1934
Franklin Chenault Watkins (American, 1894–1972)
In 1931, at the age of thirty-seven, Franklin Watkins was suddenly catapulted into the national spotlight when his painting Suicide in Costume won first prize at the prestigious Carnegie International Exhibition. Conservative critics attacked its morbid subject matter, but for Philadelphia modernists such as the artist's former teachers, Arthur B. Carles and Henry McCarter, the success of this painting vindicated their progressive approach to art making.

Object Details

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