Unknown Woman

Influenced by the works of James McNeill Whistler, Thomas Wilmer Dewing gravitated to the pastel medium for its evocative qualities, which were well suited to the pale, introspective female subjects he favored. Dewing adopted Whistler’s preference for assertively dark papers, but he far exceeded Whistler in his exploitation of the medium’s veil-like effects to evoke a sense of vagueness and immateriality.