This oil on canvas painting from America’s Gilded Age, depicts a 26-year-old Dora Wheeler Keith (née Lucy Dora Wheeler) seated in profile on an ornate wooden chair looking at us. She is dressed in a long, flowing teal gown with black fur trim. To her right, on a small table, is a large decorated vase of yellow flowers. Her features are delicate, with short dark hair and eyes. Wheeler appears relaxed, with her right hand resting on the arm of the chair and the other gently touching her cheek in a thoughtful pose. There is a sense of grace and poise in her posture. Her mother Candace Wheeler was an author, artist/designer, entrepreneur, and a nationally known expert on decorative textiles and interiors, celebrated for championing women as artists and designers. Her father Thomas Mason Wheeler was a businessman involved with shipping in New York harbor, a "clever progressive man" supportive of his wife and daughter in their artistic aspirations. Dora became American artist William Merritt Chase's first student when he returned from overseas study in Munich, Germany and set up a teaching studio in New York. At the time, few male American artists accepted women as private pupils so this was a milestone moment for both student and teacher. After her course of study, Wheeler joined her mother in launching a successful decorating firm, the Associated Artists, one of the first businesses in the country to be operated entirely by women. For the company, she designed luxurious textiles, and Chase used the embroidered silk tapestry that fills the background in her portrait to reference her occupational interest. Chase's portrait was awarded a gold medal at an international exhibition of contemporary art in Munich in 1883, and later that year was also shown in Paris, France. Eventually, the painting was acquired by Wheeler, who subsequently donated it to the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Portrait of Dora Wheeler by William Merritt Chase (American) - Oil on canvas / 1882–1883 - Cleveland Museum of Art (Ohio) #womeninart #art #oilpainting #WilliamMerrittChase #chase #artwork #portraitofawoman #womensart #herstory #ClevelandMuseumofArt #1880s #AmericanGildedAge #AmericanArtist #bskyart
