Two Women on a Sofa, oil on canvas, c. 1875.  Albert Moore, 1841-1893, British.  A preparatory painting on the subject of sleeping women in pre-Raphaelite mode.  Delaware Art Museum, Art Museum

Suspicious the number of paintings the pre-Raphaelites dedicated to beautiful  women in less than fully active, autonomous mode.   But that is to take them outside the context of their history.  And their paintings are very skilled.

 

Woman with Yellow Hair, 1931, oil on canvas.  Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish.  Thannhauser Collection, Guggenheim, New York

 

More than suspicious this artist’s handling of the women of his life. But that is also a comment out of this artist’s historical context.  And very skilled and courageous he was in his work, as we know.

 

Day Dreams, 1903, copper.  Bessie Potter Vonnoh, 1872-1955, American.  Formerly at the Corcoran, Washington, DC

 

A drawing from a September 1912 Life cover called The Man Who Waits for Tomorrow, gouache on illustration board.  Angus MacDonnel, 1876-1927, American.  The classically draped woman is Opportunity, knocking. Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware

 

 Fidelma, the sister of the artist and the wife of Lincoln Kierstein,the founder of two companies of ballet in New York; 1937, tempera and oil on Masonite.  Paul Cadmus, 1904-1999, American.  Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware.

 

 A Maid Asleep, 1656-57, oil on canvas.  Johannes Vermeer, 1632-75, Dutch.  Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

 

 Beneficial Bath, 2002, six-colour etching on paper.  Sarah McEneaney, born 1955, American.  Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

 

Three Penguins, 1911-1912, white marble.  Constantin Brancusi, 1856-1957, French, born Romania.  Philadelphia Art Museum

 

The Sleeping Gypsy, 1897, oil on canvas.  Henri Rousseau, 1844-1910, French.  MOMA, NY

 

Manikins, 1951, egg tempera on paper.  Paul Cadmus, 1904-1999, American.  Private collection, on display at the Philadelphia Art Museum in 2015.

 

Copy in bronze made before 1888 of an Antony Canova lion.  The copy is outside The Corcoran, Washington, DC.  The  Canova is in St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome

 

The end of another year.