Gallery 28

O in Persian Costume

O in Persian Costume by Robert Henri
What is the impact of color here?

Here the artist’s wife wears a glimmering headdress and tunic laden with beadwork. The sharp color contrasts, variations in texture, and changeable brushwork create a dynamism that seems to describe the subject herself.

Easter Morning (Portrait at a New York Window)

Easter Morning (Portrait at a New York Window) by Childe Hassam

Are cities alienating or energizing?

In 1907 Hassam began his Window series, which render the atmospheric effects of the New York City skyline from within genteel domestic interiors. In each painting of the series, a young woman is shown in a highly decorated apartment filled with art, sculpture, and fine furnishings. The contrast between the small spaces of Hassam’s elegant interiors and the expansiveness of the city symphony outside convey the various (and sometimes opposing) sensations of modern urban life.

Easter Morning (Portrait at a New York Window)

Easter Morning (Portrait at a New York Window) by Childe Hassam

Are cities alienating or energizing?

In 1907 Hassam began his Window series, which render the atmospheric effects of the New York City skyline from within genteel domestic interiors. In each painting of the series, a young woman is shown in a highly decorated apartment filled with art, sculpture, and fine furnishings. The contrast between the small spaces of Hassam’s elegant interiors and the expansiveness of the city symphony outside convey the various (and sometimes opposing) sensations of modern urban life.

The Blue Veil

The Blue Veil by Edmund Charles Tarbell

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.”

The Blue Veil

The Blue Veil by Edmund Charles Tarbell

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.”

Snow Scene, Plymouth, Massachusetts

Snow Scene, Plymouth, Massachusetts by Edmund Charles Tarbell

How far can your eye travel in this painting?

Tarbell was deeply rooted in New England: his ancestors had lived in Massachusetts since 1638, and he spent his formative years in Boston. After two years as a student at the Académie Julian in Paris, Tarbell returned home, bringing with him an Impressionist perspective that he applied to American subjects. Here, Tarbell presents a snowy New England landscape influenced by the works of Edgar Degas and James Abbott McNeill Whistler, which he encountered during his years abroad.

Snow Scene, Plymouth, Massachusetts

Snow Scene, Plymouth, Massachusetts by Edmund Charles Tarbell

How far can your eye travel in this painting?

Tarbell was deeply rooted in New England: his ancestors had lived in Massachusetts since 1638, and he spent his formative years in Boston. After two years as a student at the Académie Julian in Paris, Tarbell returned home, bringing with him an Impressionist perspective that he applied to American subjects. Here, Tarbell presents a snowy New England landscape influenced by the works of Edgar Degas and James Abbott McNeill Whistler, which he encountered during his years abroad.

The Holiday

The Holiday by Maurice Brazil Prendergast

Can an artwork have rhythm?

Prendergast humbly entered the shimmering world of 19th-century Parisian art by working on a cattle boat for his passage to Europe in 1884. The young artist stayed for three years, absorbing the influence of Impressionism, which led him to use color to emphasize form and rhythm in an intensely personal mode of expression. In The Holiday, Prendergast painted a tapestrylike scene, outlining figures, trees, and water in lively, dancing brushstrokes.

The Holiday

The Holiday by Maurice Brazil Prendergast

Can an artwork have rhythm?

Prendergast humbly entered the shimmering world of 19th-century Parisian art by working on a cattle boat for his passage to Europe in 1884. The young artist stayed for three years, absorbing the influence of Impressionism, which led him to use color to emphasize form and rhythm in an intensely personal mode of expression. In The Holiday, Prendergast painted a tapestrylike scene, outlining figures, trees, and water in lively, dancing brushstrokes.

Lady in Black with Spanish Scarf (O in Black with a Scarf)

Lady in Black with Spanish Scarf (O in Black with a Scarf) by Robert Henri

Can a portrait capture someone’s mind?

When this portrait was painted, Marjorie Organ Henri had been married to the artist for less than two years. “O,” as Henri called her, was a successful cartoonist for the New York Journal, and her caricatures appeared regularly in print. This portrait challenged the conventions of society portraiture; posing her against a dark background, the artist’s psychological realism presents her as independent, confident, and self-possessed—the very model of the period’s “New Woman.”