John White Alexander

The Blue Bowl was shown in Paris and Vienna before appearing at RISD’s Autumn Exhibition of 1904. Alexander’s sophisticated style was unique in America, presenting feminine subjects in flattened and asymmetric spaces.

More than the Delft bowl of the title, the true focus of the painting is the back of the model’s dress. Executed with thin washes of color on roughly textured canvas, its sinuous curves and floral-patterned folds illustrate the height of Art Nouveau costume and pictorial design. The painting’s decorative theme and compositional daring are further enhanced by the rhythmic floral reliefs on its custom frame.

John White Alexander launched his career as an illustrator for Harper’s Weekly, but like other young artists of his generation he advanced his training in Paris. By 1904, when this painting appeared at RISD’s annual Autumn Exhibition, his style combined fluid technique with a keen understanding of the asymmetric spatial principles of Japanese art. More than the Delft bowl of the title, the painting’s true subject is the back of the model’s gown, spread out as she bends to observe a fallen bloom. Its sinuous curves and subtle patterning represent the height of Art Nouveau costume, transformed by the artist into an example of daring pictorial design. The composition is further enhanced by the flattened, rhythmic decoration of the painting’s custom-designed frame.

Alexander’s The Blue Bowl was shown in Paris and Vienna before it appeared and was purchased by the Museum at RISD’s Autumn Exhibition of 1904. Alexander, who had begun his career as an illustrator and political cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly, had achieved international stature. His mysterious Isabella and the Pot of Basil had entered the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the French government had conferred a rare honor on an American by purchasing one of his works.

Like other young artists of his generation, Alexander was influenced by Whistler’s tonalism (see Whistler’s Harmony in Blue: The Duet, nearby) and by Japanese-influenced spatial organization. More than the Delft bowl of the title, it is the back of the alluring model’s dress, spread out as she bends to observe a fallen bloom, that forms the true subject of the painting. Defined with thin washes of color on a roughly textured canvas, its sinuous curves and floral-patterned surface represent the height of Art Nouveau costume, pictorial design, and compositional daring at the turn of the century. A custom-designed frame bears a floral motif transformed into flattened rhythmic decoration.