The White Shawl
Artist:
Mary Virginia Phillips
(American, 1848 - 1923)
Date: 1883
Medium: Oil on canvas laid down on board
Dimensions:
Canvas: 25 1/2 × 20 1/2 in. (64.8 × 52.1 cm)
Framed: 44 1/2 × 23 3/8 × 6 1/4 in. (113 × 59.4 × 15.9 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art
Object number: 2024.11
Signed: Center Right: M. V. Phillips 1883
Provenance: Cincinnati Art Galleries, Cincinnati, Ohio; Christie’s, Property from the Estate of Richard T. York, 26 September 2004, Lot 48; Private collection, Florida, acquired from the above [Stephanie Neville-Strass]
Label Text
Like many female artists working during the nineteenth century, Mary Virginia Phillips signed her work using only initials in an effort to avoid discrimination. As is too often the case with female artists working during this period, little is known about Phillips. Born in Ohio, she was active in Cincinnati from about 1880. Having studied at the McMicken School of Design, now the Art Academy of Cincinnati, she was likely influenced by the work of Cincinnati’s most celebrated artist, Frank Duveneck, who promoted the dark realism of Baroque Dutch and Spanish artists. Here, Phillips has placed a young woman against a shadowed background illuminated by a light source above that reflects off the white shawl she is wearing. The contrast between the shawl and the rest of the composition creates a dramatic effect that is amplified by Phillips’s use of bravura brushwork—an energetic handling of the paint that privileges overall expression over fine detail.
(Regina Palm, 2023)
(Regina Palm, 2023)
On view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
