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Madelaine

Thomas Wilmer Dewing

Date: c. 1890

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection

Object number: 1999.45

Text Entries: Exceptional in Thomas Wilmer Dewing's oeuvre in that its title identifies the hired model, the painting of Madelaine is a perfect example of late-nineteenth-century work whose female subject appealed to many artists and art collectors. Typical of the style for which Dewing is lauded, the painting's meaning is rooted in its female subject; it is a meditation on beauty associated exclusively with the feminine sphere. The figure inhabits a private world far from the hustle and bustle of the era's burgeoning urban areas. Dewing eschews an academic or scientific approach, and the canvas, with its softened forms and hazy colors, becomes a study of mood, evocative of otherworldly delights and fancies. In contrast, John Graham uses the subject of woman as a springboard for formalist concerns such as color and composition. Graham began painting at the late age of thirty-six and his abstracted forms reflect his belief that "Art is always a discovery, revelation, penetrating emotional precisions, space and color organizations." Similar to Madelaine, Graham's female subject offers her profile for contemplation; yet angular and stylized, it reflects Graham's interest not in European classicism but rather in African art-a source of inspiration for many artists of the era. Depicted in a sardonic pose of modesty and coyness, the nude female figure becomes the modernist's coquette. An additional touch of irony appears in the work's title-The Green Chair-which attempts to draw the viewer's attention away from the nude female, undermining her importance as a subject.

Portrait of a Lady Holding a Rose

Thomas Wilmer Dewing

Date: 1912

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection

Object number: 1999.46

Text Entries: "Americans at Montross.”American Art News 10 (April 13, 1912): 2. Text p. 2. Special Exhibition of Recent Pictures. (exh. cat., Montross Gallery), New York, New York: Montross Gallery, 1912. Text no. 4, checklist (as Lady Holding a Rose). Paintings in Hartford Collections. (exh. cat. Wadsworth Atheneum), Hartford, Connecticut: Wadsworth Athenaeum, 1936. Text p. 19, cat. no. 41 (checklist, as Woman in Green). "Americana." Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, New York (December 6, 1956): lot 172 (as Lady in Green). A Loan Exhibition: Thomas W. Dewing, 1851–1938. (exh. cat., Durlacher Brothers), New York, New York: Durlacher Brothers, 1963. Text cat. no. 18 (checklist) (as Lady in Green). American Art from Alumni Collections. (exh. cat., Yale University Art Gallery). New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Art Gallery, 1968. Ill. no. 130 (as Lady in Green). From Realism to Symbolism: Whistler and His World. (exh. cat., Wildenstein and Co., New York and the Philadelphia Museum of Art). New York: Trustees of Columbia University, 1971. Text pp. 71–72, no. 65; pl. 58 (black & white, as Lady in Green). The Arts of the American Renaissance. (exh. cat., Hirschl & Adler Galleries). New York: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, 1985. Text p. 32; ill. p. 33 (color, as Lady in Green). Atkinson, D. Scott et al. A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art. Edited by Terry A. Neff. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1987. Ill. p. 184, pl. T-75 (color, as Portrait of a Lady in Green). Portrait of a Lady Holding a Rose, Thomas Wilmer Dewing. Collection Cameo sheet, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, October 1990. Ill. (black & white). Gerdts, William H. et al. Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text pp. 39–40; ill. fig. 29 (black & white). Gerdts, William H. et al. Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text pp. 39–40; ill. fig. 29 (black & white). Hobbs, Susan A. The Art of Thomas Wilmer Dewing: Beauty Reconfigured. (exh. cat., The Brooklyn Museum). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996. Text p. 183–84; ill. p. 183, cat. no. 47 (color). Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. An American Point of View: The Daniel J. Terra Collection. Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text pp. 132, 194; ill. pp. 12 (color), 132 (color), 133 (color), 194 (black & white). Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. Un regard transatlantique. La collection d'art américain de Daniel J. Terra. Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text pp. 132, 194; ill. pp. 12 (color), 132 (color), 133 (color), 194 (black & white). Merrill, Linda, ed. After Whistler: The Artist and His Influence on American Painting. (exh. cat., High Museum of Art). New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2003. Text p. 176; ill. p. 177, no. 34 (color). Davidson, Susan, ed. Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation. (exh. cat., National Museum of China, Beijing; Shanghai Museum). New York, NY: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; Chicago, IL: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2007. (Chinese and English version; citing English version). Text p. 156; ill. p. 159, fig. 73 (color). Davidson, Susan, ed. Art in the USA: 300 años de innovación. (exh. cat., Guggenheim Museum Bilbao). New York, NY: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; Chicago, IL: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2007. Ill. p. 131 (color). Lecomte, Vanessa, editor. Portrait of a Lady: peinture et photographies américains (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny and Musée des beaux-arts de Bordeaux). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2008. Text p. 94; ill. p. 38 (color). Weisberg, Gabriel P. et al. The Orient Expressed: Japan's Influence on Western Art, 1854–1918. (exh. cat., Mississippi Museum of Art). Jackson, Mississippi: Mississippi Museum of Art, 2011. Ill. p. 175, cat. no. 73. Pathways to Modernism: American Art, 1865-1945. (exh. cat. Shanghai Museum with Art Institute of Chicago and Terra Foundation for American Art). Shanghai: Shanghai Museum, 2018. Text p. 50; ill. p. 51 (color). Bourguignon, Katherine M., and Peter John Brownlee, eds. Conversations with the Collection: A Terra Foundation Collection Handbook. Chicago: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2018. Text pp. 170, 171; ill. p. 171, detail pp. 172–173 (color). Mey-Yen Moriuchi. The Drop Sinister: Harry Watrous' Visualization of the One-Drop Rule. Art Inquiries, Vol. XVIII, No. 1, 2020. Text, p. 27; ill. p. 27, fig. 6 (black & white).