Maudell Bass was a noted dancer and a favorite model of modernist artists. Her theatricality caught the eye of painter Diego Rivera— who was reportedly “enraptured by her beauty”— and photographers Edward Weston, Johan Hagemeyer, Carl Van Vechten, and Sonya Noskowiak. Unlike those of her contemporaries, Noskowiak’s portrait of Bass is bold and striking, yet quiet and contemplative. Devoid of the costumes, large gestures, or movement that other artists incorporated, Noskowiak’s portrait captured the emotional power that Bass conveyed with merely a raised chin and expressive eyes.