Brocart de Venise (Venetian Brocade)

Thomas Wilmer Dewing

c. 1904–5

Thomas Wilmer Dewing was associated with Tonalism, a practice of painting rooted in the idealism and spiritualism of late nineteenth-century America. Tonalist works are characterized by emotion, mood, and poetic impulse rather than an objective transcription of reality. Here Dewing depicts two upper-class women in a moment of domestic leisure. Confined to a rarefied interior realm that is notably sealed off from the contemporary mechanized, industrial world, the women appear detached and isolated, both physically and psychologically. The soft uniformity of Dewing’s paint application causes these genteel figures to blend into their surroundings, reducing their role to a largely decorative one and communicating an overall feeling of bourgeois ease or, conversely, malaise. The prominent placement of the woman in the foreground, who seems lost in reverie as she listens to the music of the harpsichord, may also suggest the salutary effect of music on the soul, reflecting the Tonalist understanding of composition and color tones as a counterpoint to the palliative experience of musical harmony. [Permanent collection label, 2016]

Artist Thomas Wilmer Dewing (American, 1851–1938)
Title Brocart de Venise (Venetian Brocade)
Date c. 1904–5
Medium Oil on panel
Dimensions unframed | 19 1/2 x 25 1/2 in.
framed | 35 1/2 x 41 1/2 x 3 in.
Credit line University purchase, Bixby Fund, 1906
Object number WU 2177

Technique oil painting
Work type painting
Theme House and Home
Emotions and Affect

Real / Radical / Psychological: The Collection on Display
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/09/2016 - 01/15/2017

Like Breath on Glass: Whistler, Inness and the Art of Painting Softly
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute (Williamstown, Massachussets), 06/15/2008 - 10/19/2008

Teaching Gallery exhibition
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/17/2003 - 03/27/2003

Beginnings: The Taste of the Founders
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/21/2000 - 03/19/2000

Beauty Reconfigured: The Art of Thomas Wilmer Dewing
Brooklyn Museum, 03/21/1996 - 06/09/1996
Detroit Institute of Arts, 11/09/1996 - 01/19/1997
Smithsonian American Art Museum, 07/19/1996 - 10/14/1996

Green Acres: Neocolonialism in the U.S.
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/11/1992 - 11/01/1992

The Art of Music: American Paintings & Musical Instruments
Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College, 04/07/1984 - 06/03/1984
Whitney Museum of American Art, 07/19/1984 - 09/19/1984

Nature and the Figure
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/09/1983 - 03/06/1983

Impressionism Reflected: American Art, 1890–1920
Saint Louis Art Museum, 05/06/1982 - 06/27/1982

The Centennial Exhibition
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/15/1981 - 10/11/1981

Salon de Resserre: Selections of European and American Art of the Nineteenth Century from the Washington University Collections
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 02/01/1970 - 03/06/1970

Opening Exhibition of Mark C. Steinberg Memorial Hall
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 04/29/1960

An Exhibition of Paintings by Thomas W. Dewing
Carnegie Museum of Art, 02/01/1924 - 03/01/1924

T. W. Dewing and D. W. Tryon
N.E. Montross Gallery (New York, New York), 03/14/1906 - 03/31/1906

Global Vistas: American Art and Internationalism in the Gilded Age [online only]
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis

Inaugural Exhibition
Buffalo AKG Art Museum

1906
N. E. Montross Galley, New York

Inscription [LL of panel, in black paint:] T.W. DEWING

This artwork record may be incomplete or need refinement. Our staff actively researches the collection and revises records when new information is available. If you have questions or comments about this record, please contact us.