#WomenInPortraiture
LightNews LightNews
mdstamper.bsky.social
"Under a Palm Tree" by Winslow Homer (American) - Watercolor on wove paper / 1886 - National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC) #WomenInArt #WinslowHomer #Homer #NationalGalleryofArt #Watercolor #AmericanArt #AmericanArtist #bahamianArt #WomenInPortraiture #art #artText #BlueskyArt #PortraitofaWoman
A woman stands at ease beside the trunk of a slender palm, her body mostly front-facing while her head turns to the left, away from us. She has a light brown skin tone, deep-set eyes, and long dark hair partly covered by a patterned, plaid patchwork shawl that wraps around her shoulders and head. One arm folds across her chest as the other hangs softly down. Her clothing is practical and layered including a red-and-white blouse, a brown apron over a long white skirt, and gray shoes with small red accents. The setting is lush and humid with dense green leaves and shrubs punctuated by a few red blossoms. The ground is sandy and light while the sky behind the foliage is washed to an off-white glow. The watercolor handling keeps edges airy and breathable, with the woman’s calm presence held against the living, textured greens. Painted in Key West in January 1886, this work has also circulated under titles that frame the sitter as “A Key West Native” and “Florida Landscape and Figure.” That naming matters because it points to how often women are made “types” rather than fully named individuals. Yet American artist Winslow Homer’s composure here resists spectacle. The woman’s turned gaze suggests she is not posed for our permission as she appears mid-thought, self-contained, and unhurried. The palm becomes both shelter and vertical boundary like an everyday landmark that quietly centers her, giving the scene a sense of heat, shade, and stillness. By early 1886, Homer was deep into his mature period. He was based in Prouts Neck, Maine, but traveled south in winter to work in watercolor and recharge his palette with subtropical light. Florida/Caribbean excursions in the mid-1880s helped push his watercolors beyond “sketch” status into major finished works that are bold, economical, and structurally confident while also broadening his subject matter to include Black and Caribbean life, even as viewers then and now debate the social and colonial implications of that gaze.
February 19, 2026 at 12:37 AM
mdstamper.bsky.social
“仕女与鸟笼 (Maiden with a Birdcage)” by 陈逸飞 / Chen Yifei (Chinese) - Oil on canvas / 1992 - Museum of Art Pudong (Shanghai, China) #WomenInArt #ChenYifei #陈逸飞 #Chen #MuseumOfArtPudong #浦东美术馆 #art #BlueskyArt #artText #ChineseArtist #ChineseArt #PortraitofaLady #arte #WomenInPortraiture #PortraitofaWoman
Painted in 1992, this canvas belongs to Chinese artist Chen Yifei’s (陈逸飞) “Old Dreams of Shanghai” series, where realism becomes film-like nostalgia. After years working in the United States, he returned to Shanghai, China and began reimagining the city’s past. The sitter is not named in the exhibition materials, so she is likely an imagined “Shanghai beauty.” The young East Asian woman sits in a dim, studio interior, centered against a smoky brown-black background that softens the edges of the scene like an old film still. Her dark hair is parted in the middle and gathered into low side coils, accented with small red flowers. Her gaze turns slightly away from us, lips closed, expression calm and self-contained. She wears a richly patterned, traditional qipao dress with an embroidered high collar and a long robe in deep charcoal-blue with ornate cuffs over a lighter, floral panel that runs down the front. Across her lap, a patchwork of brocade fabrics falls in heavy folds of indigo, rust red, and muted gold stitched into bands and squares that catch the light. Her arms extend outward along a wooden chair’s arms in a wide, relaxed span as one hand loosely holds a round silk fan painted with pale blossoms and leaves. To her right (our left), on a small table, a wooden birdcage stands upright with small birds perched inside, their pale bodies barely lit. The fan, cage, and carved furniture frame her as the quiet anchor of the composition, while the softened light emphasizes texture of the satin sheen, stitched seams, lacquered wood, and the delicate ribs of the cage. The birdcage strikes a double note of ornament and care, but also display and constraint. Her wide, resting arms answer with quiet agency as she takes up space without performing for us. The floral fan repeats the language of refinement and what is shown or what is kept. Through shadow and texture, Chen turns portraiture into nostalgia’s frame for his vision of femininity.
January 12, 2026 at 5:34 PM