The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 18, 2025
Lady Artist
1925
(American, 1895–1987)
Platemark: 15.2 x 10.1 cm (6 x 4 in.); Sheet: 29.7 x 23.4 cm (11 11/16 x 9 3/16 in.)
Catalogue raisonné: Flint 58
Location: Not on view
Did You Know?
The artist in this print is using an etching needle to draw a composition onto a copperplate.Description
Having studied with both George Bellows and John Sloan, Peggy Bacon was one of a growing number of women who sought independence and professional success in America’s cities. In this self-portrait, she portrayed herself with her etching needle poised on a copperplate. The crowded domestic setting invites her audience to see what it means to be an artist and a woman, with curious neighbors peering in and an inquisitive spider, like an omnipresent observer, above. While the easel and floor display drawings of a nude and a portrait—traditional art subjects—the copperplate reveals a more ordinary subject: the bare outline of a cat.- Maze, Ramey. "Peggy Bacon." In 150 Stories: Lives of the Artists at the League, edited by Stephanie Cassidy, 114-117. New York, NY: The Art Students League of New York, 2025. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 116-117
- Ashcan School Prints and the American City, 1900–1940. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 18-December 26, 2021).Humor in Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 13-October 28, 1934).
- {{cite web|title=Lady Artist|url=false|author=Peggy Bacon|year=1925|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1930.537