Artist
Unknown American
CultureAmerican
Titles
- Silhouette Drawing of a Young Woman
Datec. 1830–1835
PlacePhiladelphia (probably), Pennsylvania, United States
MediumBlack ink with chalk delineation on wove wood pulp paper
DimensionsImage: 3 × 1 3/8 in. (7.6 × 3.6 cm)
Sheet: 4 3/8 × 3 1/4 in. (11.1 × 8.3 cm)
Sheet: 4 3/8 × 3 1/4 in. (11.1 × 8.3 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Mrs. David Bland in memory of Frankie Maud Murphy Aves
Object numberB.77.19
Not on view
Explore Further
Department
Bayou BendObject Type
This silhouette drawing is unusual in that the subject is an African American. A fragment from a Philadelphia newspaper within the frame suggests that the work was produced there. The Spanish-style comb in her hair and large sleeves of her dress lend a note of fashionable elegance.
Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.
ProvenanceMrs. David Bland, Houston; given to MFAH, 1976.
Exhibition History"Exhibited As We Are”: Fighting Racism with Art in the Age of Slavery,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Bayou Bend Collection, April 29–August 16, 2015.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
[no marks]
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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