The Men of the Dance

Chester Charles (b. 1855, d. 1949) The Men of the Dance, 1939 Oil painting on canvas. “The Men of the Dance” was found at an estate sale in suburban Ohio. It was part of a cache of over 50 paintings by Chester Charles, a previously undiscovered artist born in 1855. In “The Men of the Dance,” Charles paints an unknown dance company. In his later years, dancers were a theme he’d return to often. Contemporary scholars believe his late-in-life lover to have been a dancer, though they are unsure who./n/nInscription (found on reverse): The feeling. What awe. What dastardly awe. How might they climb. How might they soar. Perhaps there isn’t anything left. Anything left for them to climb. For they have reached heights unstoppable.