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Mrs. Beckington by Alice Beckington

Alice Beckington · 1913-01-01

Alice Beckington's 1913 miniature 'Mrs. Beckington' is a self-portrait painted in watercolour on a thin wafer of ivory. It lives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, but for most of its history, an object like this would have lived in someone's hand. The heavy institutional frame around it today is a reminder of how intimate the actual painting is.

Beckington was a major figure in the American miniature revival. She studied in Paris at the Académie Julian, exhibited at the Paris Salon, and returned to the United States to become a founder and longtime president of the American Society of Miniature Painters. From 1905 to 1916, she taught miniature painting at the Art Students League of New York, training the next generation in the demanding medium.

The portrait shows her in three-quarter left profile, wearing a pale blue-grey dress with a high lace collar and a dark shawl wrapped across her shoulders. The expression is subtle and inward, characteristic of the miniature tradition, where the viewer is close enough to feel alone with the sitter. Watercolour on ivory allows an almost translucent warmth; the luminous dress occupies most of the picture plane, while the dark background pushes the face forward.

A self-portrait by the president of a medium's leading society, made in the technique she championed. What does it mean to paint your own face on a surface small enough to be concealed in a locket?

Details

She was President of the American Society of Miniature Painters.
She was President of the American Society of Miniature Painters.
She taught this rare art form in New York for over a decade.
She taught this rare art form in New York for over a decade.
The heavy institutional frame dwarfs the miniature inside, dramatising how intimate the actual object is , a reminder this is meant to be held, not hung.
The heavy institutional frame dwarfs the miniature inside, dramatising how intimate the actual object is , a reminder this is meant to be held, not hung.
The luminous blue-grey occupies most of the picture plane; on ivory support, watercolour achieves an almost translucent warmth impossible on paper.
The luminous blue-grey occupies most of the picture plane; on ivory support, watercolour achieves an almost translucent warmth impossible on paper.
Transcript

This is a portrait meant to be held, not hung. Alice Beckington painted it in 1913, using watercolour on ivory. She was President of the American Society of Miniature Painters. And the face she chose to paint was her own. A self-portrait, titled simply 'Mrs. Beckington'. The quiet, inward gaze is the artist studying herself. She taught this rare art form in New York for over a decade. Her signature sits quietly in the corner, as small as the work itself.