Portrait of a Young Girl

Object Details

• Artist

  Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938)

• Label

  Dewing painted this picture to look like a modern masterpiece, for when Freer bought it at auction in early 1893 the painter exulted, "I am sure you have a 'Corot.'" Serious and aristocratic, the sitter could, indeed, be a fine lady, but the aura of refinement is assumed, for the "lady" was a skilled impersonator-an actress and model adept at looking "more like the real thing than the real thing itself."

  An effervescent personality, "Dudie," as friends called her, was out on her own at an early age. Her father, an immigrant from Glasgow with seven children to support, often struggled to make ends meet. Even so, the family disowned their daughter when she became a showgirl. She traveled with a touring theatrical company, and as a model she merited front-page coverage in the New York Herald Tribune. Dudie survived by her wits–unmarried, a free spirit, and a prankster who never ceased to amuse the artists for whom she posed. Freer delighted in hearing about her exploits from Dewing.

  (Quotations from Thomas Wilmer Dewing to Charles Lang Freer, December 23, 1892, Charles Lang Freer Papers, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, and an interview with Julia Baird in The Real Diana of the Garden, New York Herald Tribune, December 5, 1897)

• Provenance

  Caroline J. Hecker, New York [1]

  To 1893

  Reichard and Company, New York [2]

  From 1893 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Reichard and Company, New York on January 3, 1893 [3]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]

  Notes:

  [1] Provenance field.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See note 1.

  [4] 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)

  Choice Spirits: Works by Thomas Dewing and Dwight Tryon (March 9, 1996 to July 7, 1997)

  Thomas Wilmer Dewing (January 3, 1985 to May 7, 1985)

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

  Thomas Wilmer Dewing (June 19, 1980 to March 18, 1981)

  American Paintings (May 31, 1979 to June 17, 1980)

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

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

• Previous custodian or owner

  Caroline J. Hecker

  Reichard and Company (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, Reichard, Gustav, Hecker, Caroline J.

• Place

  United States

• Topic

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

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Paintings