Lillian Moller Gilbreth
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Object Details
- Date
- 1929-30
- Artist
- Frank Stanley Herring, 1894 - 12 Jun 1966
- Sitter
- Lillian Evelyn Moller Gilbreth, 24 May 1878 - 2 Jan 1972
- Exhibition Label
- Born Oakland, California
- Lillian Gilbreth was a pioneer of women in the field known today as science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). A lifelong innovator, Gilbreth defied social conventions, becoming a leading figure in industrial engineering. In 1915, she earned a doctorate from Brown University with a dissertation that applied psychology to workplace management.
- She partnered with her husband, management scientist Frank Gilbreth, in applying motion picture technology to study how workers moved while performing certain tasks. The data helped them design better equipment to improve worker productivity and satisfaction. Their twelve-child household was the laboratory where they tested their theories of efficiency. Following her husband’s death, Gilbreth reinvented herself. Bringing workplace efficiency to the home, she designed kitchens for women who had paraplegia or used wheelchairs or crutches.
- In this portrait, Gilbreth’s academic regalia alludes to one of the more than twenty honorary degrees she received during her lifetime.
- Nacida en Oakland, California
- Lillian Gilbreth fue una pionera en el campo que hoy se conoce como “ciencia, tecnología, ingeniería y matemática” (STEM, por sus siglas en inglés). De mente innovadora, desafió las convenciones sociales para destacarse en la ingeniería industrial. En 1915 se doctoró por la Universidad Brown con una tesis en que aplicaba la psicología a la gestión empresarial.
- Junto a su esposo Frank Gilbreth, experto en la organización científica del trabajo, utilizó cámaras de cine para filmar los movimientos de los empleados en sus tareas. Esos datos los ayudaron a diseñar equipo para mejorar la productividad y satisfacción de los empleados. El hogar donde criaron 12 hijos fue también el laboratorio donde probaron sus teorías de eficiencia. Al morir su esposo, Gilbreth se reinventó. Llevando a la casa la eficiencia del lugar de trabajo, diseñó cocinas para mujeres paraplégicas o que usaban muletas o sillas de ruedas.
- La toga académica de Gilbreth en este retrato alude a uno de los más de 20 títulos honorarios que recibió en su vida.
- Provenance
- The artist; purchased 1949 by Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, Paradise Valley, Ariz., and Reedley, Calif., daughter of sitter; gift to NPG 1997
- Place
- United States\New York\Kings\New York
- Topic
- Costume\Academic\Cap and gown
- Lillian Evelyn Moller Gilbreth: Female
- Lillian Evelyn Moller Gilbreth: Science and Technology\Inventor
- Lillian Evelyn Moller Gilbreth: Science and Technology\Engineer\Industrial engineer
- Lillian Evelyn Moller Gilbreth: Medicine and Health\Psychologist\Industrial psychologist
- Portrait
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Exhibition
- 20th Century Americans: 1900-1930 (re-installation 2012)
- On View
- NPG, South Gallery 322
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Ernestine Gilbreth Carey and Lillian Carey Barley
- Data Source
- National Portrait Gallery
- Object number
- NPG.97.59
- Type
- Painting
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Frame: 114.3 x 88.6 x 4.1cm (45 x 34 7/8 x 1 5/8")
- Metadata Usage
- Not determined
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.97.59