The Letter

1882

Gari Melchers

Painter, American, 1860 - 1932

One of two pale-skinned women standing by a window reads a letter and smiles in this vertical painting. Both women wear white caps. The woman reading the letter is the younger of the pair, and she stands to our left. She holds the paper to catch the light coming from the window, which is mostly covered with a white and pink-checked curtain. Her body faces us, but she turns her smooth-cheeked face to the letter in her hands. Her eyebrows are lifted, and her closed lips curve in a faint smile. She wears a wide-sleeved, black shirt over a white garment and a long brown skirt. The other, older woman to our right stand with her body angled to our left. She holds another piece of paper in one hand and clasps that wrist with her other hand. Her head tips away from us and she gazes down, facing our left in profile. Lines on her cheeks suggest her age. She wears a brown and black apron over a butter yellow, long-sleeved shirt that buttons at the wrists. Her hands are clasped in front of a marine-blue skirt. A table between us and the second woman holds two bowls, one with a wooden utensil, and a skein of red yarn with a half-knitted sock or stocking. The drawer facing us is open. The window is set deep into the thick wall, and a picture of a bearded man with long hair glowing with a gold halo hangs on the inside surface of the window frame between the women. The wall is mottled peanut brown.

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Edward C. [d. 1915] and Mary Emma Griffin [1855-1937] Walker, Willistead Manor, Walkerville, Ontario, and Washington, by 1905;[1] bequest 4 May 1937 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2016 by the National Gallery of Art.
[1] The painting was lent by the Walkers to the Exhibition of Paintings, Lent from the Private Collection of E. Chandler Walker, Esq., Detroit Museum of Art, April 1905.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1882

  • Salon de la Société des Artistes Français, Paris, 1882, no. 1830.

  • Salon Triennal d'Anvers, Antwerp, 13 August - early October 1882.

1883

  • 58th Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York, 2 April - 12 May 1882.

  • Detroit Art Loan Exhibition, September 1883.

1905

  • Exhibition of Paintings, Lent from the Private Collection of E. Chandler Walker, Esq., Detroit Museum of Art, April 1905, no. 9.

1918

  • Paintings by Gari Melchers, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2 February - 3 March 1918, no. 2.

1919

  • Paintings by Gari Melcher, Art Institute of Chicago, 4 April - 1 May 1919.

1923

  • Paintings by Gari Melchers, Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 April - 5 May 1923, no. 7.

1930

  • Paintings by Gari Melchers, N. A., Thomas J. Mitchell, and Thirty Cleveland Artists, Memorial Art Gallery of Rochester, University of Rochester, March-April 1930, no. 15, repro.

  • Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings Representative of the Life Work of Gari Melchers, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 2 February - 2 March 1930, no. 31, repro.

  • Exhibition of Paintings by Gari Melchers, Dayton Art Institute, 15 April - 15 May 1930.

1933

  • Memorial Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Etchings by Gari Melchers, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 21 October - 3 December 1933, no. 27.

1938

  • Gari Melchers: A Memorial Exhibition of his Work, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 17 January - 28 February 1938, no. 50, repro.

1976

  • American Expatriate Painters of the Late-Nineteenth Century, Dayton Art Institute; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 4 December 1976 - 29 May 1977.

1982

  • The Hague School and Its American Legacy, Federal Reserve Board, Washington; Norton Gallery and School of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, 19 April - August 1982.

1990

  • Gari Melchers: A Retrospective Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida; Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, Inc., Savannah; National Academy of Design, New York; Detroit Institute of Arts; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 11 March 1990 - 2 June 1991, no. 6, pl. 1 (shown only in Richmond).

Bibliography

1973

  • Phillips, Dorothy W. A Catalogue of the Collection of American Paintings in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Vol. 2: Painters born from 1850 to 1910. Washington, 1973: 41.

2011

  • Cash, Sarah, ed. Corcoran Gallery of Art: American Paintings to 1945. Washington, 2011: 308, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: GARI J. MELCHERS. / PARIS. 1882

Wikidata ID

Q46631018

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