Artwork Page for The Blue Feather

Details / Information for The Blue Feather

The Blue Feather

1917

William J. Edmondson

(American, 1868–1966)
Culture
America, Ohio, Cleveland
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
Framed: 107.3 x 112.4 x 5.8 cm (42 1/4 x 44 1/4 x 2 5/16 in.); Unframed: 70.5 x 75.6 cm (27 3/4 x 29 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Morris Glauber 1917.400
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

Throughout his long career, Edmondson stubbornly resisted modernist styles and proudly proclaimed himself a traditionalist. He felt that artists should paint what they see, and once declared, "When painting a portrait, I do not indulge in this ‘painting of the soul’ stuff. When some artists fail to get a likeness of a person they say they have not tried to paint him, but have painted his soul." The sitter in The Blue Feather was Edmondson's student, Caroline Mytinger, who often modeled for him. Later a portraitist in her own right, she traveled to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands to record its indigenous people.
An oil painting depicts a seated woman with light skin tone from the waist up, in profile facing our left. Her eyes are directed downward as she arranges a yellow hat with a blue feather. Dressed in a patterned blue robe, her reddish-orange hair is lit from our left. She sits at a table against a wall featuring muted swirled designs, with a chair back visible at the right edge.

The Blue Feather

1917

William J. Edmondson

(American, 1868–1966)
America, Ohio, Cleveland

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