The Lute (Primary Title)
Thomas Wilmer Dewing, American, 1851 - 1938 (Artist)
The Boston-born Dewing is best known for his ethereal scenes of women rendered in a tonalist style. Drawing on the influence of James McNeill Whistler and other sources, Dewing presented his audiences with an intellectual ideal of beauty signified metaphorically as the female figure in a poetic, super-worldly space. In The Lute , a bare and austere interior provides the setting for a woman dressed in golden tones. Caught in a moment of reflection, unaware of the viewer’s presence, she leans slightly toward the lute, her form melding with the instrument in mutual affiliation. The inclusion of a musical device—what Whistler likewise interpreted as a medium of poetry—reinforces the aura of heightened sensibility.
signed lower left, "T W Dewing"
James W. and Frances Gibson McGlothlin Collection
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