Woman with a Feathered Hat

Artist Charles Courtney Curran (American, 1861 - 1942)

Date1890

MediumOil on wood panel

Dimensions12 × 8 7/8 × 1/4 in. (30.5 × 22.5 × 0.6 cm)
Frame Dimension: 17 1/4 × 14 1/4 × 1 5/8 in. (43.8 × 36.2 × 4.1 cm)

ClassificationsOil Painting

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Althea Dalehefte

Terms

Object number1979.3

DescriptionThis portrait, executed in Paris in 1890, is one of several early canvases portraying Curran's wife, Grace Wickham Curran. Curran seemed to prefer her as a model during those early Paris years, from 1888 through 1891, whether out of economic necessity or because they were newlyweds and very much in love. Grace and Charles had been childhood sweethearts and married at her family's home in Norwalk, Ohio, on July 12, 1888. A graduate of the Lake Erie Seminary in Painesville (now Lake Erie College), Grace was an extraordinary woman of great charm and intelligence though rather plain-looking.
Whenever Curran used Grace as a model, she is usually posed in profile or looking down at something; she rarely looks directly at the viewer. In the few paintings in which she is posed frontally, her face is partially obscured by a child, a book, or the shadow cast by the brim of a hat or by an umbrella.
Curran had been exposed to the aesthetics of Japanese art long before he arrived in Paris. Early photographs show his New York studio in the Sherwood Building decorated with treasured Oriental objects. "Woman with a Feathered Hat" demonstrates a Japanese influence in its choice of subject matter, a woman and flowers. The subtle light coming from an unseen source against a dark background gives the painting a brilliant coloristic effect and clearly defines the figure, her clothes, and the flowers. The softly curling feathers on the hat, the lush curling petals of the chrysanthemums, and the long luxuriant fur of the fox collar create an image that flows gently onto the canvas, creating a balanced symmetrical composition. The sense of the woman becoming a flowerlike blooming form is enhanced by the bow tied under her chin, which separates her face from the fur collar. The setting is tranquil and the focus is such that it shows Curran in absolute control of his imagery of a woman as a beautiful budding flower.

KB

Bibliography:
Clarence Cook, "A Representative American Artist," "Monthly Illustrator and Home and Country" 11 (November 1895): 289-92; Theodore Dreiser, "Charles Courtney Curran," "Critic" 18 (January 1899): 227-31; Augustus Saint-Gaudens, "Charles Courtney Curran," "Critic" 48 (January 1906): 38-39; William H. Gerdts, "American Impressionism" (New York: Abbeville Press, 1984).

On View

On view