Hunter Museum of American Art

We’ve written many blogs sharing various staff members’ views on the Hunter, our collection and our programs. Now we’d like to share some responses from our visitors. In our contemporary gallery, Bo Bartlett’s The Babysitter is a source for lively discussions among our visitors.

To capture some of these thoughts, we placed a journal next to the piece for several months which included these simple instructions:

Bo Bartlett creates paintings that embody a powerful story, although he often leaves a sense of mystery about the tale he tells. What story do you see in this painting?

And here are some of the thought-provoking responses left by our visitors:

• The Babysitter is frightened and hesitant. It isn’t just in her facial expression, it is her body language that reveals her inexperience and lack of desire to succumb to what is probably the father of the child.
• In The Babysitter there is an amazing juxtaposition between the innocence and the uniform and the set aside little girl shoes, and the sideways, knowing look in the face. Her face seems to be saying, “I know something, I know something now that I didn’t know before. I’m proud and sad and scared of who I am now and wondering if I can live without the girl I was.”
• In The Babysitter I see a young girl who is unsure of who she is or who she wants to become.
• In The Babysitter she’s removing her clothing for something and someone she has contempt for, but is resolved to do as told and is bound to silence for fear of retribution.
• The Babysitter is in a pose of either dressing or undressing and looking away from who is watching her; an object of desire, she is going to or has been with someone.
• Is the babysitter’s boyfriend slipping out the back door as the front door knob turns and the children’s parents return home? Whose shoes are they; the babysitter’s, or did her boyfriend forget them as he left in a hurry?
• She doesn’t look ashamed or embarrassed. Rather, she looks grimly determined, almost devious. It appears as if something is about to happen; and she’s keeping an eye on her surroundings. Or is she watching someone?
• I believe she finds herself in a lonely place. And although she’s making money, she finds herself wondering if it is worth the time.
• She smiles knowingly-like she has just learned something not pleasant. Her eyes are directed outside the painting. She seems very wary and yet her arms and legs seem very relaxed.
• The Babysitter – She looks rather shady. The children are not to be seen. There’s a huge red color theme everywhere. Hmm, looks like she’s unbuttoning her shirt. Call me insane, but it’s all rather suggestive. However, the homespun, rustic quilt kind of throws off that tone a bit
• The Babysitter – The kids’ parents didn’t arrive back home until 10 o’clock the next day, even though they told the babysitter they would be home by 8 p.m. After sleeping fitfully all night, she is trying to straighten her clothes and look refreshed. It hasn’t hit her yet that her own parents have been worried all night about her and she might be in trouble and never get to babysit again. She looks pensive as she ponders how much the people owe her.
• I think it expresses the pressure young people face to grow up and leave their childhood. The girl is looking at her innocence in the corner of the room slip away.
• She has a proud face, like she is coming to terms with what has happened, but she won’t show any regret or guilt.
• Every man thinks one thing about this painting; every woman something else.

Please share your thoughts on this work in the comments section below.

Adera Causey, Curator of Education