The Silver Hand Glass

About this artwork

In 1891 a group of women protested several of Kenyon Cox's nude studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts annual show. Cox advocated the nude as an artistic subject but was often criticized because his nudes looked too familiar. For example, in this image the woman gazes into a nineteenth-century silver mirror, wears a fashionable pompadour hairstyle, and sits in a turn-of-the-century domestic interior with contemporary wallpaper. Cox based his treatment of the subject on classical an...

Art Historical Context

Kenyon Cox's *The Silver Hand Glass* (1907) captures a nude woman gazing into a reflective mirror within a contemporary domestic setting. The figure's pompadour hairstyle and the room's patterned wallpaper ground the scene in turn-of-the-century America, even as Cox draws on classical and Renaissance traditions of the nude. This blend creates an intimate moment that feels both timeless and distinctly modern. Cox was a vocal advocate for the nude as a serious artistic subject, yet his works often sparked controversy. In 1891, women protested his paintings at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fin...

About the Artist

Kenyon Cox · 1856–1919

Kenyon Cox (1856–1919) was born on October 27 in Warren, Ohio, to General Jacob Dolson Cox, a prominent politician and Civil War veteran, and Helen Finney Cox. Despite fragile health, young Cox pursued art at the Art Academy of Cincinnati before advancing to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. In 1877, he traveled to Paris, studying first under Carolus-Duran, then at the Éco...