In the Studio (Primary Title)
William Merritt Chase, American, 1849 - 1916 (Artist)
This presentation of the decorative female subject is in keeping with the veneration of domesticity that defined bourgeois life in the late 19th century. Seated among fabrics, scattered folios, and a jumble of bric-a-brac, the figure is fashionably attired in ruffles of iridescent white gossamer. Leaning forward, her head turned away, she is the passive recipient of our assessing gaze. Were it not for her right hand, which grasps the front post of the chair, she could be confused for a studio mannequin—literally “propped up” on a plump cushion. Instead, cast amid clutter, her identity is subverted; a subject-object, her feminine beauty and refinement are her prized “collectibles.”
at right: artist's mark and "W.M. Chase"
James W. and Frances Gibson McGlothlin Collection
"American Art from the McGlothlin Collection" Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (1 May - 18 July 2010).
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