The Blue Dress

Thomas Wilmer Dewing's late painting technique is revealed with particular clarity in The Blue Dress. The composition is minimal: a single figure against a horizontally divided neutral background. Within these self-imposed limits, Dewing anchors his figure with a thinly painted but broadly brushed luxurious skirt, a treatment that contrasts with the careful modeling of the woman's head, shoulders, and arms. To paint her skin, Dewing used a tiny brush, making miniscule strokes and dots that suggest the quality of light flickering over the surface. The flickering light created by these tiny and precise brushstrokes is reinforced by the weave of the canvas--;in some places the paint is so thinly applied that the canvas shows through. The same ground that appears at the lower right corner of the canvas can also be seen at the right side of the figure's face.

In spite of severely restricting his compositional elements, Dewing achieves an animated, lively figure painting. The woman's extended arm echoes the sweep of her elegant skirt, and the loose brushwork provideds a visual metaphor for the rustling of heavy silk. A shaft of light catching her shoulder emphasizes her forward motion, and the model seems to be on the verge of stepping into the gallery through the 'doorway' of her frame.