Study for a woman holding a child, âVintage Festival,â Mendelssohn Glee Club, New York, NY
1895â1898
Medium
figures
Classification
figures
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Henrietta Haller
Accession Number
1904-16-6-c
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Robert Frederick Blum (1857–1903), a prominent American artist of the Gilded Age, created this preparatory study between 1895 and 1898. Known for his elegant figure paintings and illustrations influenced by his travels to Japan and Venice, Blum blended impressionistic techniques with a refined sense of light and form. This intimate sketch of a woman holding a child his skill in rendering human emotion and posture, likely as a study for a larger composition tied to the Mendelssohn Glee Club "Vintage Festival" in New York—a celebrated cultural event for the historic men's chorus founded in 1836....