Object Details
- 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 aesthetic props in the pictures--like the tiny floral wreath the model holds here--as often as to the figures, who might otherwise be considered the subject. The model depicted here is Gertrude McNeill, who gave up modeling in 1917 for a career in Hollywood as a silent film star.
- 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 July 1916 (see Curatorial Remark 3, Linda Merrill, March 29, 1993, in the object record.)
- [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.
- Collection
- Freer Gallery of Art Collection
- Exhibition History
- Dewing’s Poetic World (November 27, 2019 to May 29, 2022)
- A Perfect Harmony (October 14, 2017 to October 8, 2023)
- Surface Beauty: American Art and Freer's Aesthetic Vision (February 23, 2008 to August 1, 2010)
- Pretty Women: Freer and the Ideal of Feminine Beauty (August 13, 2005 to September 17, 2006)
- American Art - Thomas Wilmer Dewing (May 9, 1993 to February 20, 1996)
- American Paintings (March 20, 1981 to September 24, 1981)
- American Paintings: Thomas Wilmer Dewing (December 11, 1976 to April 16, 1977)
- American Paintings (April 15, 1975 to December 5, 1975)
- American Paintings (September 8, 1961 to May 2, 1973)
- Untitled Exhibition, American Oil Paintings, 1958 (June 29, 1958 to October 27, 1959)
- Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 8 and 9 (February 25, 1956 to April 28, 1958)
- Special Dewing Centennial Exhibition (May 17, 1951 to July 1, 1951)
- Untitled Exhibition, American Oil Paintings, 1944 (March 23, 1944 to November 15, 1944)
- Untitled Exhibition, American Oil Paintings (May 1, 1933 to February 6, 1944)
- American Paintings by Dewing, Sargeant, Homer, Tryon, Brush, Melchers and Whistler (March 23, 1925 to May 5, 1933)
- American Paintings, T.W. Dewing (May 2, 1923 to March 23, 1925)
- Previous custodian or owner
- Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938) (C.L. Freer source)
- Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
- Data Source
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
- Artist
- Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938)
- Date
- ca. 1916
- Credit Line
- Gift of Charles Lang Freer
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- H x W: 63.7 x 48.4 cm (25 1/16 x 19 1/16 in)
- Type
- Painting
