Alma

Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Alma, ca. 1895-1900, oil on wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly, 1929.6.35
Copied Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Alma, ca. 1895-1900, oil on wood, 2015 58 in. (50.739.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly, 1929.6.35
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Artwork Details

Title
Alma
Date
ca. 1895-1900
Dimensions
2015 58 in. (50.739.6 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of John Gellatly
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on wood
Classifications
Keywords
  • Portrait female — Allen, Alma — waist length
Object Number
1929.6.35

Artwork Description

Thomas Wilmer Dewing fancied intellectual, witty women and once wrote that all he ever required of his models was that they have “brains”; his wife, Maria, believed his favorite types of women possessed a “delicacy of form” that amplified their spirituality and intellect. Alma Allen was one such model, and in this portrait Dewing emphasized these traits by focusing on her long neck and pensive expression, rather than the curves of her body or the texture of her dress. (Pyne, Art and the Higher Life: Painting and Evolutionary Thought in Nineteenth-century America, 1996)