Skip to main content
The Bad Shoe (The Frozen Foot)
The Bad Shoe (The Frozen Foot)
The Bad Shoe (The Frozen Foot)

The Bad Shoe (The Frozen Foot)

Artist (American, 1808 - 1884)
Date1846
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall: 26 1/2 x 21 1/2in. (67.3 x 54.6cm)
ClassificationsPAINTINGS
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. John F. McGuigan Jr.
Object number2008.27
On View
Not on view
CopyrightNo known copyright restrictions.
Label TextPainted during a yearlong visit to New York, this poignant image of a vital boy amid a harsh winter landscape likely harkens back to Freeman's own youth spent upstate. The words "The Bohoys" appear as red graffiti on the fence just to the left of the offending boot, making this one of the earliest known depictions of a bohoy (also known as a b'hoy or Bowery boy), a uniquely American street urchin. Originally an immigrant Irish child who lived in New York City's Bowery district, the bohoy was a complex cultural phenomenon. At once vulnerable and naïve, he was also feisty, resourceful, and street-smart. By the early 1850s, the term denoted a man, but he nevertheless remained a paradox. A fractious, frequently violent member of a gang and a nativist, he displayed an incongruous penchant for finery, the theater, and chivalry. It is in this latter incarnation that the bohoy became widely celebrated and mythologized as an American icon in popular prints and literature, most notably in the poetry of Walt Whitman. While the painting possesses a strong narrative quality, no literary precedent has surfaced. One commentator noted its affinity with Charles Dickens's novels, in which emotionally charged scenes of pathos helped raise awareness of important contemporary social issues.
Street in Bruges
Jane Freeman
n.d.a.
Mexican News
James Goodwyn Clonney
1847
Unemployed
James Penney
1933-1934
Two Cats Fighting
John James Audubon
1826
B-1954
James Brooks
1954
Winter Landscape
Edward P. Cowley
1954
Albany Landscape
Edward P. Cowley
1958
Shipwreck
Edward Moran
1862
The Camel's Hump
Edward Hopper
1931
Dawnlit
Edward A. Kramer
1913