Lady Artist
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
Object Details
- Date
- 1925
- Artist
- Peggy Bacon, born Ridgefield, CT 1895-died Kennebunk, ME 1987
- Sitter
- Peggy Bacon
- Peggy Bacon
- Exhibition Label
- To the chagrin of her struggling artist parents, Peggy Bacon moved to New York City in 1914 to pursue an artistic career. She studied painting at the Art Students League, but her primary interest was printmaking. The League offered no printmaking courses, so Bacon taught herself and became an expert in drypoint. A self-portrait, Lady Artist shows Bacon at work in a cramped apartment/studio. Immersed in her sketching (likely of the cat at her feet), she is unaware of the mouse behind her, the spider inching toward her head, and the neighbors watching from the windows of an adjacent building. Through this comical scene, Bacon pokes fun at artists, including herself, and their intense dedication to their work.
- Topic
- Animal\cat
- Occupation\art\artist
- Portrait female\self-portrait
- Portrait female\full length
- Object\art object\drawing
- Architecture Interior\detail\window
- Architecture Interior\studio
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Graphic Arts
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Baum in memory of Edith Gregor Halpert
- Data Source
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Object number
- 1971.313
- Type
- Graphic Arts-Print
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Medium
- drypoint on paper
- Dimensions
- plate: 6 x 4 in. (15.3 x 10.3 cm)
- Metadata Usage
- Not determined
- Record ID
- saam_1971.313