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Richard Vaughn Lewis by Alice Beckington

Alice Beckington · 1910-01-01

Alice Beckington's 1910 portrait of Richard Vaughn Lewis is easy to scroll past. It appears to be a simple, formal likeness of an older gentleman, now in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. But the small canvas, encased in a surprisingly large gilded frame, tells a far bigger story about the artist who made it and the art world she helped shape.

Look at the eyes and the white beard: Beckington trained at the Académie Julian in Paris under Jules Joseph Lefebvre and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, and you can see that academic rigor in her handling of the beard's texture against the softness of the face. The dark coat recedes, the white collar lifts your gaze back up, a classic device to keep the portrait lively and intimate.

After returning to the United States, Beckington did not simply paint. She became a founder and the first president of the American Society of Miniature Painters, and she taught miniature painting at the Art Students League of New York for over a decade. In an era when women fought for professional recognition, she built the institutions that would secure it.

This small portrait is an eyewitness not just to one man's likeness, but to a moment when American women artists were quietly remaking the rules of the profession, one small brushstroke at a time.

Details

The dark coat signals a man of standing, around 1910.
The dark coat signals a man of standing, around 1910.
But the painter who made this was building something new.
But the painter who made this was building something new.
Alice Beckington trained in Paris at the Académie Julian.
Alice Beckington trained in Paris at the Académie Julian.
Back in New York, she helped found a society for painters who worked small.
Back in New York, she helped found a society for painters who worked small.
The frame dwarfs the painting , a visual shock that reframes the portrait as an intimate keepsake rather than a public monument, and invites the question of why such a small canvas was given such an imposing surround
The frame dwarfs the painting , a visual shock that reframes the portrait as an intimate keepsake rather than a public monument, and invites the question of why such a small canvas was given such an imposing surround
Transcript

At first glance, it looks like a formal Gilded Age portrait. The dark coat signals a man of standing, around 1910. But the painter who made this was building something new. Alice Beckington trained in Paris at the Académie Julian. Back in New York, she helped found a society for painters who worked small. She became its president and taught miniature painting for over a decade. This tiny portrait, now at the Met, is a record of her skill and her fight for a place at the easel.