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Portfolios%3D%22575%22%20and%20Sort_Artist%3D%22Dewing,%20Thomas%20W.%22
Painting
Portrait in a Brown Dress
Lady in Yellow
Thomas W. Dewing, (Boston, MA, 1851 - 1938, New York, NY)
Dewing, Thomas W.
United States
1851 - 1938
Male
20 x 15 1/2 in. (50.8 x 39.4 cm)
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approximate installation dimensions
frame
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without frame
Oil
Oil
ca. 1908
1903
1913
1900-2000, 20th century, paintings, portraits, women
Painting
Around the same time that Thomas Dewing painted this portrait of a young woman reading a book, American art critic Charles Caffin wrote about Dewing's work:
"Generations of repressed emotion have made [Dewing's women] incapable of passion; strenuousness survives only in supersensitive nerves; their sole religion is the worship of self…They are motionless in an atmosphere from which all human warmth has been sucked, in a vacuum drained of intellectual and emotional nourishment. These bodily shapes are not of flesh and blood; they are the essence distilled from the withering of what is womanly, the mere fragrance of dead rose-leaves."
Thomas Dewing's depictions of genteel, ethereal young women engaged in contemplative and artistic pursuits stand in contrast to the bold and vigorous "New Woman," the feminist model of woman who emerged during this same period. The "New Woman" earned a living and wanted the vote and was not content to be marginalized in gauzy environments like the ones created by Dewing.
This painting is in its original frame, which is similar to those designed by Stanford White, who created opulent and decorative environments for many of Dewing's Gilded Age patrons.
(1). Charles H. Caffin, The Story of American Painting: The Evolution of American Painting from Colonial Times to the Present (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1907) , 189.
[Gallery label text]
lower leftverso, upper rightverso
1957.79
item
Memorial Art Gallery
9/8/1999
57.79TR1
Transparency
Memorial Art Gallery
4 x 5
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57.79SL1
slide
full
2 x 2
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glossy
full
8 x 10
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negative
full
4 x 5
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57.79DI1
digital image
Memorial Art Gallery
Imaging complete
7/10/2000
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/57.79_A1.jpg
M425_p159.tif
digital image
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/SeeingAmerica/M425_p159.tif
M425_p159(10).tif
digital image
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/SeeingAmerica/M425_p159(10).tif
Drawing
Head of a Young Woman
Thomas W. Dewing, 1851 - 1938
Dewing, Thomas W.
United States
1851 - 1938
Male
10 1/4 x 8 1/4 in. (26 x 21 cm)
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overall
frame
Silver point
Silver point
ca. 1895
1890
1900
1800-1900, 19th century, drawing, portraits, women
Drawing
Head of a Young Woman is the only silver point drawing in MAG’s collection. It is also the only American artwork that was given to the Gallery by Bertha Buswell, whose taste ran nearly exclusively to European fine and decorative arts. Unfortunately, we do not know anything about how or why she acquired such an anomaly, albeit a beautiful one, for her collection.
Silver point was a technique used extensively in the Renaissance and revived in the United States in the late 19th century. Every line was created by dragging a silver stylus across the surface of a specially-prepared paper. The stylus left a trail of silver on the paper, requiring perfect control by the artist, as this was not a forgiving medium where mistakes could be corrected with an eraser. With exposure to the air, the silver tarnished and created a warm brown tone. Because of the fragility of the silver and the paper, this lovely work is rarely exhibited.
[Label text from It Came From the Vault exhibition, 2013]
lower left
1955.79
item
Memorial Art Gallery
9/8/1999
55.79TR1
Transparency
Memorial Art Gallery
2 1/4 x 2 3/4
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
transparency
2.5 x 3
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
55.79SL1
slide
2 x 2
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
glossy
side
8x10
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
glossy
3x2
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
negative
4x5
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
negative
3x2
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
55.79DI1
digital image
Memorial Art Gallery
Imaging complete
8/4/2000
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/55.79_A1.jpg
38dewing2.tif
digital image
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/SeeingAmerica/38dewing2.tif