Mother and Mary

1922

Edmund Charles Tarbell

Associated Names
Edmund Charles Tarbell

Artist, American, 1862 - 1938

This painting shows two women in a room. At the center of the painting, a young woman is seated at a desk, her hand resting on the back of the chair, opening a small drawer. Her back is to us, but her head is turned to the right, allowing us to see her in profile. She has pale skin and brown hair in an updo behind her head, and she wears a light pink dress with white details around the waist and neck. On the right, an older woman is seated on a bench, engaged in an activity with her hands, perhaps knitting or sewing with strands of pink fabric or yarn. She has pale skin and gray hair pulled back from her face, and she wears a dark blue dress. The room around the women is elegantly furnished, with a wooden table on the left, more wooden chairs, large windows with curtains on either side of the desk, and paintings along the top edge of the yellow wall. The floor is brown and polished, reflecting white and yellow light from the large windows. The brushstrokes in the painting are soft and visible.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Purchased 1923 by Elva A. Belcher [Mrs. George E. Belcher], Stoughton, Massachusetts; her daughter, Gertrude H. Belcher [1872-1966], Brockton, Massachusetts; her estate; by bequest 1967 to Miss Beatrice Monk and John Hill, Boston; gift 1967 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1923

  • Exhibition of Paintings by Edmund C. Tarbell, Guild of Boston Artists, Boston, February 1923, cat. no. not known.

  • The Art Club of Philadelphia, January 1923, probably no cat.

  • Thirty-sixth Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture, Art Institute of Chicago, November-December 1923, no. 218.

  • Twenty-second Annual International Exhibition of Paintings, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, April-June 1923, no. 50.

1971

  • French Impressionists Influence American Artists, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, 1971, no. 170.

1989

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, Minneapolis Institute of Art, 1989-1990.

2001

  • Impressionism Transformed: The Paintings of Edmund C. Tarbell, The Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester; Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington; Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, 2001-2002, pl. 40.

2007

  • Loan to display with permanent collection, Academy Art Museum, Easton, Maryland, 2007-2008.

Bibliography

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 114, repro.

1978

  • Reitz, Susie. Journal of the American Medical Association 240 (1 December 1978): 2516, 2538, color repro. cover.

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 247, repro.

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 130, repro.

  • Pierce, Patricia Jobe. Edmund C. Tarbell and the Boston School of Painting 1889-1980. Pierce Galleries, Inc., Hingham, Massachusetts, 1980: 92, 106, 207, repro. 128.

1981

  • Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: detail 189, 194, repro. 195.

1988

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 152, repro.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 366, repro.

1998

  • Torchia, Robert Wilson, with Deborah Chotner and Ellen G. Miles. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1998: 200-202, color repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: Tarbell.22.

Wikidata ID

Q20192417

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