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| John White Alexander 1908 photograph by Elizabeth Beuhrmann New York Public Library Digital Collections |
John White Alexander, a native of Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, worked as an illustrator in Harper and Brothers in his youth, just as Winslow Homer had done a decade before. In 1877, White joined the ‘Duveneck boys’ in Munich, where training, much influenced by Hals, Velázquez and Courbet, was freer and looser than that of Paris or Dusseldorf. The work of the Munich artists was often richly brushed in a predominantly dark palette, and although the vogue was brief and was supplanted by the Barbizon and Paris schools, it produced a number of talented Americans, notably Frank Duveneck, William Merritt Chase, John White Alexander, and, John Twachtman.
In 1891, Alexander moved to Paris and over the next ten years gained prominence as an exponent of the current Art Noveau trend. However this was only one of several influences that converged on him and other artists during these years. In the 1890s proponents of the so-called Aesthetic Movement decried the Ruskinian conviction that art must perform a moral and didactic function and instead asserted that art was autonomous and self-referential. Free of literary, narrative conventions, artists could favour mood over story and assert the formal, evocative properties of color and line for their own sake.
This new freedom encouraged a shift in subject matter toward the representation of objects and figures that were simply beautiful in themselves. The culture of the 1890s, gritty and ugly as it appeared, produced such subject matter in abundance. The century’s end had witnessed the explosive growth of commerce, industry, and urban concentration, contributing to the creation of great fortunes in few hands; it also contributed to a radical adjustment in the social roles of women of the upper and middle classes. Deprived of the centrally productive role they had previously performed in a rural society, women were now relegated to a decorative role, serving as beautiful symbols of male wealth and status. As such they were bountifully represented by artists, and their images were eagerly acquired by patrons. It is noteworthy that in the current exhibition of fifty-two paintings there are twenty-four representations of women, almost exclusively upper class, and only one male self-portrait.
Alexander’s many depictions of beautiful women were also colored by his susceptibility to the prevailing Art Nouveau, an elaborately decorative style that emphasises the use of sinuous and sensuous contours. This movement was popularised by the drawings of Aubrey Beardsley, the dramatic posters of Alphonse Mucha, and the stained glass of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Alexander’s work was also touched by the prevailing vogue for symbolism, the visual evocation of an idea, of an emotion through the association of analogous qualities.
This is part 2 of a 3-part series on the works of John White Alexander. For earlier works see part 1 also.
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| 1895 Repose oil on canvas 132.7 x 161.6 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| before 1896 Murals in the Library of Congress |
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| 1896 Henry G. Marquand oil on canvas 198 x 107 cm Princeton University Art Museum. Princeton University, NJ |
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| 1896 Magasin de Modes (Fashion House) watercolour on paper 20.5 x 15.5 cm |
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| 1896 Manuscript Book mural Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, DC |
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| c1896 Green Girl, Juliette Very oil on canvas 127.6 x 76.2 cm |
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| c1896 The Green Dress oil on canvas 99.1 x 53.3 cm |
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| 1897 Isabella and the pot of basil oil on canvas 192 x 91.7 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1898 A ray of sunlight (The cellist) oil on canvas 121.9 x 88.4 cm |
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| 1898 A Toiler oil on canvas 101.8 x 56.3 cm Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC |
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| 1900 A woman in rose oil on canvas 101.6 x 57.1 cm Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA |
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| 1900 La mere oil on canvas 161.2 x 133.9 cm Dallas Museum of Art, Texas |
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| 1901 The quiet hour oil on canvas 122.8 x 90.4 cm Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, PA |
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| 1901-02 Francis Landey Patton (1843–1932), President (1888–1902) oil on canvas 150.5 x 99.7 cm Princeton University, PA, commissioned by the Trustees |
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| 1901-02 Miss Dorothy Quincy Roosevelt oil on canvas 152.4 x 101.6 cm Dallas Museum of Art, Texas |
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| 1902 Portrait of Mrs. John White Alexander oil on canvas 158.2 x 132.4 cm Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA |
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| 1902-03 Girl with dog oil on canvas 203.2 x 127 cm |
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| c1902-05 City, Evolution of the State: The industrial development of Pennsylvania graphite and watercolour on paper 25.2 x 35.4 cm Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA |
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| c1902-05 Landscape, Evolution of the State: The industrial development of Pennsylvania graphite and watercolour on paper 25.2 x 35.4 cm Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA |
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| c1902-05 Landscape, Evolution of the State: The industrial development of Pennsylvania graphite and watercolour on paper 25.2 x 35.4 cm Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA |
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| 1902-05c River-coal, Evolution of the State: The industrial development of Pennsylvania graphite and watercolour on paper 25.2 x 35.4 cm Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA |
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| c1902-05 Untitled (Steel?), Evolution of the State: The industrial development of Pennsylvania graphite and watercolour on paper 25.2 x 35.4 cm Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA |
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| 1903 Harper's Monthly "The quiet hour" wood engraving on paper, after Wolf 17.9 x 12.5 cm Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC |
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| 1903 Memories oil on canvas 157.7 x 132.3 cm Brooklyn Museum, New York |
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| 1904 Aurora Leigh oil on canvas 193.9 x 133 cm Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA |
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| 1905 Harper's Monthly "A Flower" wood engraving on paper after Wolf 17.6 x 12.5 cm Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC |
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| before 1906 Study in black and green oil on canvas 127 x 101.9 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1908-09 Isabella Guthrie McCosh (1817-1909) oil on canvas 125 x 100 cm Princeton University, PA, gift of John White Alexander |
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