1882
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Portrait of Dora Wheeler is a 1882 unspecified by William Merritt Chase, a American Impressionism work, depicting Sitting, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This painting shows a woman in a black dress with a bright blue sash sitting sideways in a wooden chair. The background is a rich, embroidered silk tapestry with gold and red patterns. Her pose is relaxed but confident, and her eyes meet ours. What’s interesting is that the woman, Dora Wheeler, was Chase’s first student when he started teaching in New York. At the time, most artists didn’t accept women as private pupils. Later, she helped run one of the first all-women decorating firms in the country. The tapestry behind her hints at her future work designing textiles. Want to see another side of American art? Check out The Cleveland Museum of Art.
Dora Wheeler became Chase's first student when he returned from overseas study in Munich and set up a teaching studio in New York. At the time, few American artists accepted women as private pupils. After her course of study, Wheeler joined her mother in launching a successful decorating firm, one of the first businesses in the country to be operated entirely by women. For the firm, she designed luxurious textiles, and the embroidered silk tapestry that fills the background in her portrait references her occupational interest. Chase's portrait was awarded a gold medal at an international…
Chase and Wheeler worked together to raise money for constructing the Statue of Liberty's pedestal.
Read the full account in the museum source.
William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849 – October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher.
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