Nothing Doing
Jules Bastien-Lepage captures the ultimate 'I quit' attitude in this portrait of a scruffy boy from his hometown of Damvilliers, France. Clutching a long fishing rod and a metal pot, the child stares back with a weary defiance that perfectly matches the title 'Pas Mèche'—roughly translating to 'Nothing Doing' or 'No Luck.' As a leader of the Naturalist movement, Bastien-Lepage wanted to show real life, dirt and all, rather than fancy, idealized heroes. The boy's patched jacket and heavy boots tell a story of hard rural living. You can even spot the artist's signature and the date, 1881, scrawled right into the painted dirt at the boy's feet, grounding him in his humble environment.
- Technique
- Oil on canvas
- Material
- Canvas
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