The Blue Veil
Edmund Charles Tarbell (1898)
What is the subject of this painting?
As the title makes clear, Tarbell’s painting is not about his sitter. Rather, it is a painting of her sheer veil, which has been caught by a breeze and flows around her face and shoulders in folds and waves. Throughout his life and career, Tarbell was both praised and criticized for his single-minded commitment to beauty. In response to his critics, he said, “Art should render the beauty of the thing seen.”
\ Artist
Edmund Charles Tarbell
American
Born:
1862
Died:
1938
Edmund Tarbell was one of the most acclaimed artists in Boston at the turn of the century. Raised in West Groton, Massachusetts, his artistic talent was recognized when he enrolled as an art student at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, where he was made the head of painting at just 27 years old. Tarbell adopted an impressionist style after completing his studies in Boston and Paris. By the 1890s, he became a founding member of the Ten, a group at the forefront of American Impressionism.
\ About
Medium
Oil on canvas
Credit
Gift of Henry K.S. Williams