The Writer

c. 1912

Mary Bradish Titcomb

Associated Names
Mary Bradish Titcomb

Artist, American, 1858 - 1927

This painting shows a woman in profile, sitting at a wooden table strewn with papers, her body angled away from us. She has pale skin and rosy cheeks, and her light brown hair is tied up and adorned with a light blue headband. She wears a light-colored gown that appears mostly white, but also has streaks of light pink, yellow, pale green, and light blue. She is writing on one of the sheets of paper that is scattered on the table. Six potted plants with long green stems and white flowers line the edge of the table across from her. She sits in a room with a brownish-gray wooden floor and pale green walls. There is a bookshelf to the left of the woman, with a framed photograph, a small bowl, and three long white candlesticks of varying heights on top of it. Above the bookshelf is a tall window ledge which is also lined with leafy plants in pink, yellow, light blue, and white pots. White light shines in from between the plants, casting a bright glow on the back of the woman and faint shadows below the table and the chair she sits on. The brushstrokes of the painting, especially those in the background, are visible, giving the painting a slightly hazy quality.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery M70


Artwork overview

More About this Artwork

Article:  The Quiet Revolutions of Boston's Women Artists

The women who fought to become artists in the 19th century, only to have their contributions forgotten for nearly a century.


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist [1858-1927]; by descent to the children of the artist’s brother, Edward Titcomb [1863-1956], Nogales, Arizona; (c. 1998 with Covington Fine Arts Gallery, Tucson); (by January 1998 with Vose Gallery, Boston); acquired June 1998 by private collection, Durham, NH; (benefit auction, University of New Hampshire Museum of Art, Durham, NH, July 2010); private collection, Durham, NH; purchased 2023 by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1912

  • 25th Annual Exhibition of Oil Paintings and Sculpture by American Artists, Art Institute of Chicago, 1912, no. 266.

1914

  • 109th Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 2014, no. 213.

1915

  • Tenth Annual Art Exhibition of the Woman's Club of Brockton, Brockton Public Library, Brockton, MA, 1915, no. 29

1916

  • (Solo exhibition), Wheeler Memorial Library, Orange, MA, 1916.

1919

  • Exhibition of Paintings by Marion Powers Kirkpatrick and Mary B. Titcomb, Brockton Public Library, Brockton, MA 1919.

1998

  • Mary Bradish Titcomb and Her Contemporaries, Vose Galleries, Boston, 1998, no. 1, repro.

2013

  • Pictures by M. Bradish Titcomb, Copley Gallery, Boston, 1913, no. 6

Inscriptions

lower right: signed


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