Head

Object Details

• Artist

  Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849-1921)

• Description

  Head and shoulders of a young woman in classical-looking dress.

• Signatures

  Signed A. H. Thayer, in upper right corner.

• Label

  The handsome Clara Adelaide May (1872-1946) posed for this canvas that Thayer simply called "Head." With that title, he sought to endow his female figure with a monumentality that one contemporary called "the heroic dignity of the Roman matron of legend." Despite Thayer's allusion to classical sources, viewers at the time saw this canvas as a portrait that revealed the young woman's dignified personality. In fact, she was a neighbor girl whom the artist saw often at the summer art colony in Dublin, New Hampshire.

  (Quotation from Royal Cortissoz, "Personal Memories," The Arts, [a memorial issue on the artist's death], (June-July 1921))

• Provenance

  To 1890

  N.E. Montross (1849-1932), New York to 1890 [1]

  From 1890 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from N.E. Montross in February, 1890 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Voucher of February 1, 1890, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Pretty Women: Freer and the Ideal of Feminine Beauty (August 13, 2005 to September 17, 2006)

  American Art - Abbott Handerson Thayer (May 9, 1996 to June 30, 1997)

  American Painting: To Dream of Fair Women (September 24, 1982 to February 29, 1984)

  American Paintings: Abbott Handerson Thayer 1849-1921 (December 11, 1976 to April 18, 1977)

  American Paintings (July 1, 1974 to December 5, 1975)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 8 and 9 (February 25, 1956 to April 28, 1958)

  Special Centennial Exhibition of Thayer Paintings (August 12, 1949 to January 3, 1950)

  Untitled Exhibition, American Oil Paintings, Gallery 3, 1947 (September 25, 1947 to April 12, 1955)

  Untitled Exhibition, American Oil Paintings, Gallery 4, 1947 (September 25, 1947 to February 25, 1956)

  American Painting, Abbott H. Thayer (May 2, 1923 to March 23, 1925)

  Exhibition of Paintings by Abbott H. Thayer (April 24 to May 28, 1919)

  Exhibition of Paintings by T.W. Dewing, A.H. Thayer, D.W. Tryon, J.A.McNeill Whistler (February 10 to 26, 1910)

  101st Annual Exhibition (January 22, 1906 - March 03, 1906)

  Comparative Exhibition of Native and Foreign Art at the Galleries of the American Fine Arts Society (November 15 to December 11, 1904)

  Pan-American Exposition, Exhibition of Fine Arts (May 1 to November 2, 1901)

  18th Annual Chicago Interstate Industrial Exposition (1890)

  Twelfth Exhibition of the Society of American Artists (April 28 to May 24, 1890)

• Previous custodian or owner

  N.E. Montross (1849-1932) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  United States

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1880s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Montross, N. E.

• Place

  United States

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, American Art, Portraits, Woman

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Paintings