Woman in Profile

Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
Minerva Chapman crafted this bravura portrait of an unidentified woman (possibly a self-portrait) with an intuitive understanding of the properties of the powdery charcoal medium applied to textured paper. She modeled forms tonally through sfumato, or smoky effects, reserving blank areas of paper for highlights. By turning the woman’s face away from the viewer, Chapman conveyed a sense of her privacy and inner life rather than revealing her personality, as in a conventional portrait.
Caption
Minerva Josephine Chapman (American, 1858–1947). Woman in Profile, n.d.. Charcoal on cream, medium-weight, moderately textured laid paper with two watermarks, Sheet: 22 1/8 x 16 3/4 in. (56.2 x 42.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Morse G. Dial, Jr., 77.272. © artist or artist's estate. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Title
Woman in Profile
Date
n.d.
Medium
Charcoal on cream, medium-weight, moderately textured laid paper with two watermarks
Classification
Dimensions
Sheet: 22 1/8 x 16 3/4 in. (56.2 x 42.5 cm)
Signatures
Unsigned
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Morse G. Dial, Jr.
Accession Number
77.272
Rights
© artist or artist's estate
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