1917

Girl Writing

American, 1862 - 1938

Edmund Tarbell trained in Europe in the 1880s, later exchanging his academic style for a more Impressionistic mode. He is well known for his plein air (painted out in nature) landscapes and quiet interiors depicting ladies at leisure. The artist's compositions of the twentieth century reveal the strong influence of seventeenth-century Dutch masters like Jan Vermeer, whose interiors capture similar moments of calm domesticity. In this intimate scene, the artist's daughter glances up from her writing, her gaze engaging the viewer. This fashionable figure in modern attire is a striking contrast to the Colonial Revival furniture that surrounds her.