Gentleman in Profile

Joseph H. Davis’s portrait presents an unidentified but undeniably dapper young man profiled against a plain white background. Posed as if striding casually off to the right, he wears what must have been his Sunday best, a black cutaway coat and black trousers; in his left hand he holds a black top hat as he grasps a pair of gray gloves in his right. His hands and feet are fashionably diminutive, and his delicately drawn face, under a neat cap of brown hair, is composed in a genteely attentive expression. The figure’s precise bearing and sober clothing are offset, however, by the lively, gaily colored paisley pattern decorating the floor over which he walks.

In a brief six-year period, Davis toured southern Maine and northern New Hampshire making such profile watercolor portraits for New England villagers. Many show pairs of figures, especially couples, but Davis also made full-length likenesses of individuals, invariably shown looking to the right. The Terra Foundation’s portrait is one of several such images of young men that closely follow a formula: the figure holds a top hat forward in his left hand, his right elbow bent behind him as he grasps gloves or a walking stick, and his left foot forward in a walking posture designed to maximize display of his finery. Details of dress, hair arrangement, and floor pattern distinguish these works. Little is known even of the identified subjects of these portraits, but they were almost certainly unmarried young men. Gentleman in Profile evinces something of the self-conscious vanity of a dandy readied for courtship.

Two Centuries of American Folk Painting, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, February 10–April 21, 1985.

Collection Cameo companion piece, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, January 2000.

Figures and Forms: Selections from the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 9–July 9, 2000.

A Rich Simplicity: Folk Art from the Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, June 7–September 21, 2003.

Visages de l'Amérique: de George Washington à Marilyn Monroe (Faces of America: From George Washington to Marilyn Monroe), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2004 (on exhibition partial run: April 1–July 5, 2004). [exh. cat.]