© National Academy Museum, New York
Cecilia Beaux (American, 1855-1942). Self-Portrait No. 3, 1894. Oil on canvas. 25 x 20 inches (63.5 x 50.8 cm).
Unless you've looked at earlier examples of her work, it isn't immediately evident from Cecilia Beaux's Self-Portrait No. 3 that her style underwent a recent transformation. It truly had, though.
After years of planning and hoping, the then-33 year old Beaux was finally able to travel to France in January of 1888. She studied at the Académie Julian in Paris, and spent the summer of that same year at an American artists' colony in Concarneau, Brittany. From October to mid-November, she and an artist cousin made (artistic) pilgrimages to Italy and the south of France. After returning to Paris, Beaux continued studying at the Académie Julian, took additional lessons at the Académie Colorossi, kept up with commissions, exhibited, and visited England and Scotland before sailing home in August of 1889.
What was the transformation, then? Well, Beaux would never not paint in the Academic style, that is true, just as she never found too many redeeming qualities in Modernist art movements. However, the Impressionism she surely saw in Paris clearly penetrated her consciousness. Look at her blouse, here. Do you see how loose her brushwork has become? Her face, too, is less meticulously rendered than in portraits past. She's found a little freedom, it seems. Perhaps her time in Paris cemented her growing confidence as an artist, and Cecilia Beaux learned how to relax a bit with future portraiture.
One final note: unlike many other artists (who shall remain nameless), Beaux has not made her self-portrait more attractive than real life warranted. She honestly was a beautiful woman with excellent bone structure. We know this through both photographic evidence and also, irritatingly enough, because many a contemporary arts critic felt compelled to comment on her personal appearance in conjunction with her work.
About the Show:
With nearly 100 oil paintings, works on paper and decorative objects drawn from a variety of public and private collections, Cecilia Beaux, American Figure Painter seeks to place noted Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumna, professor, and Philadelphia native Cecilia Beaux (1855-1942) in a new position in American art history.
Scheduled Venues:
High Museum of Art, Atlanta: May 12-September 9, 2007
Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington: September 29, 2007-January 6, 2008
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia: February 2-April 13, 2008