Maker(s)
Artist: Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938)
Historical period(s)
ca. 1916
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
H x W: 63.8 x 48.2 cm (25 1/8 x 19 in)
Geography
United States
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1916.412a-b
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Painting
Type

Oil painting

Keywords
United States
Provenance

From 1916 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Thomas Wilmer Dewing in 1916 [1]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [2]

Notes:

[1] Purchased from T.W. Dewing in October 1916 (see Curatorial Remark 2, Linda Merrill, June 1993; see also, List, American Paintings other than by Whistler, A, pg. 20, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives).

[2] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Thomas Wilmer Dewing (C.L. Freer source) 1851-1938
Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919

Label

After the turn of the century, Dewing developed a theme he would render in endless variations: a woman alone in a quiet, uncluttered room. Like James McNeill Whistler, Dewing selected a color scheme for each painting and carefully arranged the elements of the composition to create a contemplative mood. To emphasize the formal qualities of the paintings, he gave them titles that refer to the aestheic props in the pictures--yellow tulips, a mirror, a carnation--as often as to the figures, who might otherwise be considered the subject. Dewing's women sometimes appear disengaged from their pursuits, apparently bored with their lives of leisure. The painting themselves became symbols of affluence in America's gilded age.

Published References
  • Susan Hobbs. Thomas Wilmer Dewing: Beauty into Art: A Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven, CT, November 13, 2018. pg 520, pl 265.
  • et al. Ten American Painters. Exh. cat. New York, May 8 - June 9, 1990. fig. 91.
Collection Area(s)
American Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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