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Frank Weston Benson

Lady Trying on a Hat (The Black Hat)

Maker

Frank Weston Benson (American, 1862-1951)

Title

Lady Trying on a Hat (The Black Hat)

Year

1904

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

oil paint

Supports

Dimensions

102.2 x 81.6 cm (40 1/4 x 32 1/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signature: Signed LL:F.W. Benson 1904

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Walter Callender, Henry D. Sharpe, Howard L. Clark, William Gammell and Isaac C. Bates

Object Number

06.002

Type

Publications

Articles

Style and Sincerity

Exhibition History

Making It In America
Oct 11, 2013 – Feb 09, 2014

Label copy

Benson chose the private act of dressing as a premise for this study. His setting, an “artistic interior,” incorporates decorative objects, including a Japanese chest, a blue and white porcelain vase, and small silver items arrayed on a table. A favorite model, Mary Sullivan, appears to admire herself in an unseen mirror as she lifts her arms to adjust the elaborate black hat. Its wide brim obscures her face, deflecting attention to her active pose and to the dazzling surface effects of her gauzy white dress and satin waistband.

American Art from the Permanent Collection
May 01, 2010 – Aug 31, 2014
American Paintings from the Museum's Collection
Feb 10, 1999 – Apr 01, 1999
Joseph Lindon Smith and His Circle in Dublin, New Hampshire
Oct 14, 1998 – Mar 03, 1999

Label copy

Lady Trying on a Hat was not intended to be a portrait, but rather a genre painting showing the furnishings of a lady's boudoir. The room contains an eclectic mix of decorative art objects, typical of Dublin and Boston interiors of that era. The chest behind the figure and the two vases are Asian export ware, and the furniture is colonial American. While the composition of this painting is quite balanced and careful, Benson's expressive brushwork is dynamic. The artist's bold use of color --characteristic of his later paintings -- may be seen in the vivid orange reflections on the vase and the table and the bright pink shawl behind the figure.

Romanticism and Revival
Nineteenth-Century American Art from the Permanent Collection
Dec 04, 1992 – Jun 26, 1993

Image use

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Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Frank Weston Benson (American, 1862-1951)
Lady Trying on a Hat (The Black Hat), 1904
Oil on canvas
102.2 x 81.6 cm (40 1/4 x 32 1/8 inches)
Gift of Walter Callender, Henry D. Sharpe, Howard L. Clark, William Gammell and Isaac C. Bates 06.002

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