Portrait of a Lady

Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Portrait of a Lady, ca. 1895, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly, 1929.6.34
Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Portrait of a Lady, ca. 1895, oil on canvas, 24 x 20 in. (60.9 x 50.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly, 1929.6.34
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Artwork Details

Title
Portrait of a Lady
Artist
Date
ca. 1895
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
24 x 20 in. (60.9 x 50.8 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of John Gellatly
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Portrait female — unidentified — bust
Object Number
1929.6.34
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1929.6.34

Artwork Description

Mollie Chatfield came to be known as a classic “Dewing girl,” a type described in a Boston paper as “intellectual enough to be worthy of Boston, aristocratic enough to be worthy of Philadelphia, well dressed enough to be a New Yorker but seldom pretty enough to evoke the thought of Baltimore.” Thomas Wilmer Dewing showed her with a flirtatious sideward glance, lips slightly parted, and one hand resting self-consciously over her breast. This provocative pose hints at the romantic relationship between artist and model. Dewing’s patron Charles Lang Freer helped the artist keep his affair with Chatfield hidden from his wife, Maria Oakey Dewing. (Hobbs, Beauty Reconfigured: The Art of Thomas Wilmer Dewing, 1996)

Works by this artist (6 items)

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Edward Ruscha, Canada, U.S.A., Mexico, 1980, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Edith S. and Arthur J. Levin, 2005.5.65
Canada, U.S.A., Mexico
Artist
Date1980
oil on canvas
Not on view
Edward Ruscha, Western Horizontal, 1986, color lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Tom and Judy Brody, 1991.43.1, © 1986, Castelli Graphics and Cirrus Editions
Western Horizontal
Artist
Date1986
color lithograph on paper
Not on view
Edward Ruscha, Sin, 1970, screenprint on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1974.52.2
Sin
Artist
Date1970
screenprint on paper
Not on view
Edward Ruscha, Western Vertical, 1986, color lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Tom and Judy Brody, 1991.43.2, © 1986, Castelli Graphics/Cirrus Editions
Western Vertical
Artist
Date1986
color lithograph on paper
Not on view

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Claire Falkenstein, City is Man, 1941-1952, linocut, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Falkenstein Foundation, 2019.27.14, ©1997, The Falkenstein Foundation
City is Man
Artist
Date1941-1952
linocut
Not on view
Claire Falkenstein, Untitled, 1976, embossed paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Falkenstein Foundation, 2019.27.18, ©1997, The Falkenstein Foundation
Untitled
Artist
Date1976
embossed paper
Not on view
Claire Falkenstein, Mandala, 1977, lithograph, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Falkenstein Foundation, 2019.27.19, ©1997, The Falkenstein Foundation
Mandala
Artist
Date1977
lithograph
Not on view
Image Not Available
Les Quais de la Seine a Paris
Artist
Date1917
hand-colored etching on postcard
Not on view