Self-Portrait

Painter Lilla Cabot Perry is a commanding figure as she stands before her easel in this self-portrait. Wearing a lavender painting smock and a large black bowtie over her high-necked white blouse, she holds her palette, just visible at the lower right corner, in her left hand and reaches with her right arm toward the canvas on which she works. She turns from the canvas as if toward a mirror she might study in the act of painting herself, and her gaze is indirect. Light penetrates from the right, highlighting one side of her face while the other remains in shadow. Beyond Perry at the upper left, a white-hatted figure, apparently waving or gesturing to the viewer, stands in a landscape. Whether this image is seen through a window or in a painting hanging on the studio wall is deliberately ambiguous, suggesting simultaneously an affirmation of the self-portrait’s illusion of recession into three-dimensional space or a reiteration of the flat two-dimensional physical reality of the painting. In the image, the canvas edge at the left, with its tacks securing the material to a wood stretcher, is equally contradictory, for it can be read either as a sliver of the painting on which Perry works or as the edge of the self-portrait itself—a painting-within-the-painting that emphasizes the flatness of the painted surface.

This self-portrait probably dates to the 1890s, the central decade in Perry’s career. Happily married with three daughters, she was an established artist and published poet.  Beginning in 1889, Perry and her family spent significant periods of time in the rural village of Giverny, France, an important international artists' colony, where she most likely painted this work. In Giverny, she was deeply influenced by French painter Claude Monet (1840–1926) to adopt the open brushwork, rapid and direct painting techniques, and bright color of impressionism, reflected here particularly in the loose strokes of contrasting color that make up her brightly tinted smock. The background figure in the landscape recalls the impressionist practice of painting outdoor subjects on site. Although one of Monet’s most devoted American disciples, Perry never completely abandoned her traditional training, however. Here, the powerful modeling of her facial features and clear articulation of her figure against a somber background, as well as her use of darker tones to render shadows, are the conventional foundations on which she layers brushwork and color inspired by impressionism. A formal statement of Perry’s abilities as a portrait painter, this work asserts her status as a successful professional. Perry made at least two other self-portraits, however, this self-image is the only one in which she shows herself in the character of a working artist.

Lilla Cabot Perry: A Retrospective,  Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., New York, New York (organizer). Venues: The Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire, September 6–October 5, 1969; Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., New York, New York, October 10–25, 1969; New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey, November 29, 1969–January 11, 1970. [exh. cat.]

An International Episode: Millet, Monet and their North American Counterparts, The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee (organizer). Venues: The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee, November 21–December 23, 1982; Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, January 8–February 13, 1983; Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, March 3–April 30, 1983. [exh. cat.]

Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. (organizer). Venues: The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., September 28, 1990–January 6, 1991. [exh. cat.]

Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915 (Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, June 1–November 1, 1992; April 1–October 31, 1993; April 1–October 30, 1994; April 1–October 31, 1995. [exh. cat.]

American Artists and the French Experience, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 12–August 27, 1997.

American Artists and the Paris Experience, 1880–1910, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 22, 1997–March 8, 1998.

Giverny: intérieurs, extérieurs (Giverny: Inside and Out), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2000.

On Process: Studio Themes, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, January 13–March 4, 2001.

(Re)Presenting Women, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, October 16, 2001–January 13, 2002.

The French Experience: American Artists at Giverny, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, July 27–October 20, 2002.

A Place on the Avenue: Terra Museum of American Art Celebrates 15 Years in Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 16, 2002–February 16, 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). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2004. [exh. cat.]

Twarze Ameryki: Portrety z kolekcji Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940 (Faces of America: Portraits from the collection of the Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France and Miedzynarodowe Centrum Kultury (International Cultural Center), Crakow, Poland (organizers). Venues: International Cultural Center, Crakow, Poland, February 15–May 7, 2006. [exh. cat.]

Impressionist Giverny: A Colony of Artists, 1885-1915, Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–July 1, 2007; San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA, July 21–October 14, 2007. [exh. cat.]

Impressionist Giverny: The Americans, 1885–1915, Selections from the Terra Foundation for American Art, Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Florence Griswold Museum of Art, Old Lyme, Connecticut, May 3–July 27, 2008; Albany Institute of History & Art, Albany, New York, August 23, 2008–January 4, 2009.

Monet and the Artists of Giverny: The Beginning of American Impressionism, The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan with the Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venues:  Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Kitakyushu, Japan,  October 9–November 28, 2010; The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan, December 7, 2010–February 17, 2011; The Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art, Okayama, Japan,  February 25–April 10, 2011. [exh. cat.]

Pathways to Modernism: American Art, 1865–1945.  Art Institute of Chicago and Terra Foundation for American Art (organizers). Venue:  Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China, September 28, 2018–January 6, 2019.   [exh. cat.]

Whistler to Cassatt: American Painters in France, Denver Museum of Fine Arts, Denver (organizer); Venues: Denver Art Museum, November 14, 2021 - March 13, 2022; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, April 16 - July 31, 2022. [exh. cat.]

    Terra Collection-in-Residence, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany, May 26, 2023–July 31, 2025.

  

Feld, Stuart. Introduction to Lilla Cabot Perry: A Retrospective Exhibition. (exh. cat., Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc.). New York: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., 1969. Ill. no. 13.

Meixner, Laura L. An International Episode: Millet, Monet and their North American Counterparts. Memphis, Tennessee: The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, 1982. Text p. 132; ill. p. 197, fig. 61 (black & white).

Martindale, Meredith. Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist. (exh. cat., The National Museum of Women in the Arts). Washington, D.C.: The National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1990. Text p. 30, p. 144, no. 13; ill. p. 33, pl. 9 (color).

Simpson, Pamela H., “Reviewed Works: Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist by Meredith Martindale, Pamela Moffat and Nancy Mowll Matthews.” Woman’s Art Journal 12, no. 1 (Spring–Summer 1991). Text p. 58; ill. p. 58, fig. 1 (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 p. 178; ill. p. 179, pl. 29 (color).

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 p. 178; ill. p. 179, pl. 29 (color).

Elliott, Susan. “Images of Gentility: Lilla Cabot Perry’s Portraits of Women.” Master’s Thesis, The University of Alabama, Birmingham, 1993. Text pp. 32, 36–37, 39; ill. fig. 1.

Owen, Deborah L. "Lilla Cabot Perry and the Workspace of Female Artistry." ATQ [The American Transcendental Quarterly] 7, no. 4 (December 1993): 357–73. Text pp. 357, 367–69; ill. p. 372, fig. 1 (black & white).

Gomes, Rosalie. Impressions of Giverny: A Painter's Paradise 1883–1914. San Francisco, California: Pomegranate Artbooks, 1995. Text pp. 74, 114; ill. p. 72, pl. 47 (color).

Eiland, William U., ed. Crosscurrents in American Impressionism at the Turn of the Century. Athens, Georgia: Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, 1996. Text p. 33, ill. p. 33, fig. 5 (black &white).

Regard sur cinq années d'expositions (Five years of Exhibitions at a Glance). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1997. Text p. 52 (checklist).

Ringelberg, Kirstin. "No Room of One's Own: Mary Fairchilds MacMonnies Low, Berthe Morisot and 'The Awakening'." in Prospects: An Annual of American Cultural Studies. Vol. 28. Edited by Jack Salzman. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Text p. 136; ill. p. 137, fig. 3 (black & white).

Kennedy, Elizabeth and Sophie Lévy. Faces of America: Portraits of the Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, 1770–1940. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2004. Text pp. 15, 22, 33 (checklist); ill. p. 20 (color).

 Kennedy, Elizabeth and Sophie Lévy. Visages de l'Amérique: le portrait dans la collection de la Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1770–1940. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2004. Text pp. 15, 22, 33 (checklist); ill. p. 20 (color).

Lévy, Sophie, et al. Twarze Ameryki: Portrety z kolekcji Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940/Faces of America: Portraits from the collection of the Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940.  (exh. cat. International Cultural Center). Cracow, Poland: International Cultural Center, 2006. Ill. p. 81 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. et al. Impressionist Giverny: A Colony of Artists, 1885–1915. (exh. cat. Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2007. Ill. pp. 130 (color, detail), 147 (color).

"Lasting Impressions." The Irish Times (April 14, 2007). Accessed December 15, 2016. Text.

Bourguignon, Katherine M. "Impressionist Giverny: American Painters in France" American Art Review 20, no. 3 (June 2008): 100-113.  Ill. p.104 (color).

Muto, Shuji American Literature and Culture at the Turn of the Century. Tokyo, Japan: Chuo University Press, 2008. Text p. 64–66 (in Japanese), Ill. p. 65 (black & white).

Westheider, Ortrud and Philipp, Michael eds. High Society. American Portraits of the Gilded Age. (exh. cat. Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg, Germany) Hamburg, Germany: Bucerius Kunst Forum Publications, 2008. Text p. 42; ill. p. 44 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M., Shunsuke Kijima and Sanjiro Minamikawa. Monet and the Artists of Giverny: The Beginning of American Impressionism. (exh. cat. Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, and The Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art). Fukuoka, Japan: The Nishinippon Shimbun, 2010. Text cat. no. 70, pp. 126 (in Japanese), 189 (in English); ill. p. 126 (color).

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. 88; ill. p. 89 (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. 158, 159; ill. p. 159, detail pp. 160–161 (color).

Standring, Timothy J., ed. Whistler to Cassatt: American Painters in France. (exh. cat., Denver Art Museum). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2021. Text p. 154; ill. p. 155 (color).