Artwork
Woman Reading
Woman Reading is an oil painting by the American Impressionist artist Susan Macdowell Eakins. It dates from 1891 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The painting depicts Elizabeth Macdowell Kenton, the sister of the artist Susan Macdowell Eakins, seated in an interior setting while reading a book.
The painting depicts Elizabeth Macdowell Kenton, the sister of the artist Susan Macdowell Eakins, seated in an interior setting while reading a book. As a portrait genre work, the subject is shown holding a book and a hand fan, elements that define the scene's domestic and intellectual atmosphere. The composition places the main subject, Elizabeth, in a moment of quiet concentration, characteristic of Eakins' numerous portraits of family members within home environments.
The work serves as a representation of domestic life and the quiet engagement of a woman with literature, capturing a specific familial relationship through the lens of a 19th-century portrait.
Technique & Style
Susan Macdowell Eakins executed Woman Reading in 1881 using oil paint applied to a canvas support. The work measures 96.5 cm in height and 71.1 cm in width, functioning as a formal portrait within an interior setting. Stylistically, the piece adheres to 19th-century portrait conventions, depicting the subject, identified as Elizabeth Macdowell Kenton, engaged in the act of reading.
The composition incorporates specific domestic objects, including a book and a hand fan, alongside a chair, to contextualize the sitter. As one of Eakins' numerous family portraits, the painting demonstrates the artist's handling of oil medium to capture intimate domestic scenes, maintaining the physical integrity of the canvas while rendering the textures of the depicted items and the sitter's pose.
History & Provenance
Woman Reading was painted in 1881 by Susan Macdowell Eakins in oil on canvas, portraying her sister Elizabeth Macdowell Kenton. The work is one of Eakins’ many interior portraits of family members, suggesting it was a personal rather than commissioned piece. After its creation the painting remained in private hands; it entered the collection of Julius Rauzin, a acquaintance of the artist and her sister, who donated it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1995. The Metropolitan Museum of Art now holds the painting as part of its permanent collection.
The painting Woman Reading (1881) by Susan Macdowell Eakins is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Its precise accession number is not recorded in the consulted documentation. The work entered the museum’s collection in 1995 when Julius Rauzin donated it, a donation noted in the museum’s provenance records.
Prior to donation, the canvas remained in Rauzin’s personal collection, which he had assembled over several decades. The painting has been exhibited in the Met’s European paintings galleries since its accession, allowing public view of Eakins’s portrait of his sister Elizabeth Macdowell Kenton.
Context
Woman Reading (1881) is an oil on canvas portrait by Susan Macdowell Eakins that depicts her sister Elizabeth Macdowell Kenton engaged in reading within an interior setting. The work belongs to a series of family portraits Eakins produced in the late nineteenth century, reflecting his interest in domestic scenes and personal relationships. It entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art after being donated by Julius Rauzin in 1995, a collector who had maintained correspondence with the artist and her sister.
As a 19th‑century American portrait, the painting exemplifies realist strategies of naturalistic detail and psychological presence, positioning it within the broader trajectory of Eakins’s portraiture and American art history.
Legacy
The 1881 portrait Woman Reading exemplifies Susan Macdowell Eakins' intimate family subjects and her skill in rendering interior detail. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art records, the work portrays her sister Elizabeth Macdowell Kenton amid books and a hand fan, a composition that influenced later scholarship on Eakins' domestic portraiture. Its inclusion in the museum's collection and the 1995 donation by collector Julius Rauzin, who maintained correspondence with the artist, helped cement the painting's provenance and visibility.
Consequently, Woman Reading is frequently cited in studies of 19th‑century American portraiture, contributing to Eakins' reputation as a chronicler of familial and domestic life.
Overview
Susan Macdowell Eakins's 19th-century oil painting, Woman Reading, is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This intimate portrait likely depicts the artist's sister, Elizabeth Macdowell Kenton, engaged in a quiet moment of study. It exemplifies Eakins's frequent portrayal of her family within their domestic environment, capturing a sense of personal connection and everyday life.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Susan Macdowell Eakins was an American painter and photographer, born in Philadelphia in 1851 and died there in 1938.
