From the onset of puberty to the threshold of adulthood.

 

I remember this decade.  We were all waiting impatiently to be free.  Adult-free.

 

Apprehensive, often depressed, nervous, guileful, contradictory, petulant, perplexed and histrionic as we often were,

‘en fleur’ was our overriding, most beguiling characteristic.  Unstoppable over the decade. Our saving grace.  Our trump card…

 

 …even if the Puritanical Anglo-Americans refuse to give us the satisfaction of an adequate translation for this loveliest of Proustian phrases…

 

 

 

 

Puberty, 1894, oil on unprimed canvas.

Edvard Munch, 1863-1944, Norwegian.  Loaned by the Munch Museum, Oslo to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2018.  One of three such paintings.

 

 

 

Puellae (Girls), 1992, bronze. 

Magdalena Abakanowicz, 1932-2017, Polish.  National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

 

 

 

In some cultures, Prince Charming sets off this decade with a kiss

 

 

 

Sleeping Beauty, 1989 after an original of 1765

based on the mistress of Louis XV of France; gold leaf, wood, velvet upholstery, beeswax, human hair, fiberglass, alloy and steel servo, slush wax, silk and lace.

The model is automated so that her breast rises and falls subtly.  An ‘entertainment’ of 18th century fairgrounds  and called ‘Sleeping Beauties’. 

On loan by Madam Tussaud’s, London to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prince Charming and Sleeping Beauty from the series, A Mythic History, 1977, lead alloy. 

Walter Ellerbacher, 1933-1991, American, born Germany in the 2017 Woodmere Museum of Art juried exhibition, Philadelphia

 

 

 

 

Portrait of a Young Girl, 1899, oil on canvas. 

Mary Cassatt, 1844-1926, American.  Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

 

 

Miss Beatrice Townsend, oil on canvas 1882.

  John Singer Sargent, 1856-1925, American.  National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

 

 

 

 

Bernice, 1981, painted plaster.

  John Ahearn, American born 1981.  Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. 

A portrait of a real person made by the artist in his South Bronx neighbourhood in a process in which the subject would participate with the artist in the matter of pose and dress.

 

 

 

 

 

The Dance Lesson, oil on canvas, c. 1879. 

Edgar Degas, 1834-1917, French. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

 

 

 

 

Faith and Fate, December 2016, glass smalti, tempered glass with paper underlay with handcrafted Milagros grouted to a two-sided metal base. 

Barbara Bix, American born 1960. Woodmere Museum of Art Juried Show, 2017, Philadelphia

 

 

 

Two Girls, c. 1892, oil on canvas. 

Pierre Auguste Renoir, 1841-1919, French. Philadelphia Art Museum

 

 

 

 

Nono Lebasque, 1908, oil on canvas. 

Henri Matisse, 1869-1954, French.  Philadelphia Museum of Art

 

 

 

 

Perfect Little Girls (Les Petites Filles Modeles), 1913, oil on panel. 

Marie Laurencin, 1883-1956, French.  Philadelphia Art Museum

 

 

 

 

Springtime, 1872, oil on canvas. 

Claude Monet, 1840-1926, French.  The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

 

 

 

 

Graduating Girl (Version 2) #1, 2000, silk screen ink and oil crayon on canvas. MOMA, NY. 

Glen Ligon, American born

  The artist based these on colouring books coloured by children.   

 

 

 

 

Girl Coming Down Garden Steps, not dated, oil on canvas later mounted on hardboard. 

John Kane, American, 1860-1934. Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia

 

 

 

 

Young Girl in Pink, 1906-07, oil on canvas. 

Henri Rousseau, 1844-1910, French. I don’t recall where this is

 

 

 

 

Untitled (Girl with a gray dress with collaged printed paper bicycle wheel head), date unknown. 

James Castle, 1899-1977, American.  Philadelphia Museum of Art

 

 

 

 

Head of Dahlov, c. 1920-23, white marble. 

William Zorach, 1899-1966, American.  Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington

 

 

 

 

Girl and Cat, c. 1917, oil on canvas. 

Marguerite Thompson Zorach, 1887-1968, American.  Philadelphia Art Museum

 

 

 

 

Therese Dreaming, 1938, oil on canvas. 

Balthus, 1908-2001, French of Polish descent.

Petitioned to remove this painting in this extended #MeToo moment, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY declined

 

 

 

 

Sick-a-Bed, 1916, oil on canvas.

Elizabeth Okie Paxton, 1877-1971, American.  Pennsylvania of Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia

 

 

 

 

View of the Village (Castelnau-le-Lez) and detail, 1868 oil on canvas. Accepted for exhibition in the Salon of 1870, the year of the artist’s death.  Frédéric Bazille, 1841-1870, French.

Loaned to the National Gallery, Washington, DC by the Musée Fabre, Montpellier in 2017

 

 

 

 

School Time, oil on canvas, 1874. 

Winslow Homer, 1836-1910, American.  National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

 

 

 

 

 

 

My daughter, oil on canvas, 1912. 

Frank Weston Benson, 1862-1951, American.  Corcoran Collection at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

 

 

 

 

A Mirror of a Mirror, 2019, ?medium 

      Kenturah Davis, born 1984, works in Los Angeles and Accra, Ghana.  From the artist’s website.

 

 

 

 

Mada Primavesi (1903-2000), oil on canvas, c. 1912. 

Gustav Klimt, 1862-1917, Austrian.  Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

 

 

 

Indigo Blue, 2020, oil on linen. 

Abigail Dudley, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. No other information

 

 

 

 

 

Girl with a Polka-Dot Blouse (Jeune fille au corsage à pois), 1919, oil on canvas. 

Amedeo Modigliani, 1884-1920.  Italian.  Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia

 

 

 

 

 

Black Jumper, 1944, oil on canvas (light interference)

Milton Avery, 1885-1965, American.  Philadelphia Museum of Art

 

 

 

 

Girl Writing, 1941, oil on canvas. 

Milton Avery, 1885-1965, American.  ?National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

 

 

 

 

 

Girl in White, oil on canvas, 1890.

Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890, Dutch.  National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC 

The museum offered no guidance on this painting. 

 The figure’s top and bottom half are not in proportion.  The face is large; tiny waist ; very large hands.  The woman’s gaze is mournful and inward. Wedding white.

This was painted in the last year of the artist’s life.  And may be the artist in mournful memory or in longing.

 

 

 

 

Head of a Girl, oil on panel, c. 1645. 

Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch, 1606-1669, Dutch.  The Leiden Collection, NY on exhibition at the National Gallery, Washington, DC

 

 

 

 

 

Vision, 1892, oil on canvas.

  Alphonse Osbert, 1857-1939, French.  Loaned by the Musee d’Orsay, Paris to the Metropolitan Museum, NY in 2017 for an exhibition about Rosicrucian art

 

 

 

 

Girl with Yellow Hat, 1936, oil on canvas. 

Norman Lewis, 1909-1979, American.  Estate of the artist

 

 

 

 

 

Black Girl’s Window, 1969, wooden window frame with painted papers, lenticular print, framed photograph and plastic figurine. 

Bettye Saar, American born 1926. MOMA, NY

 

 

 

 

 

A young woman awaiting her turn into an Alexander McQueen exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum, NY in I don’t remember which year

 

 

 

 

Alicia, Ukraine, from the series Strangely Familiar, 2005; chromogenic print mounted on board. 

Michal Chelbin, Israeli born 1974. 

 

 

 

 

Two Girls Under an Umbrella, 1910, oil on canvas. 

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1880-1938, German.  Philadelphia Art Museum

 

 

 

 

Untitled (Girl), 1996, black and white linoleum print on paper. 

Judith Schaechter, American born 1961.  Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia

 

 

 

 

Devil’s Pool Bathers, (Wissahickon, Philadelphia) 2016/2018, archival pigment print. 

Sarah Kaufman, American born 1981.  On exhibit at the Woodmere Museum of Art, 77th Juried Show, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

Maman Calcul, 2013, mural on pieces of wood. 

Aime Mpane, born Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Philips Collection, Washington, DC

 

 

 

 

Girl with Cherries, c.1491-1495, oil on wood. 

Attributed to Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis, Milanese, active by 1472-1508.  Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

 

 

 

 

Portrait of a Young Girl, oil on canvas, 1881-82. 

John Singer Sargent, 1856-1925, American.  Baltimore Art Museum

 

 

 

 

 

Self Portrait with Backyard Bonfire, 2020, oil on aluminum.

Kelly Mica, Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia.  No other information

 

 

 

 

Miss T, 1969, oil and acrylic on canvas. 

Barkley L. Hendricks, 1945-2017, American.  Philadelphia Museum of Art

 

 

 

 

I Lock My Door upon Myself, 1891, oil on canvas. 

Ferdinand Knopff, 1858-1921, Belgian. 

Loaned by Bavarian State Painting Collections, Neue Pinakothek, Munich, Germany to the Metropolitan Museum of Art , NY in 2017.

She is under the eye of Hypnos, the god of sleep and dreams, his red poppy symbol placed beside his bust.

Wilted irises are set on the table in front of her.  Iris, a fleet-footed goddess, associated with the rainbow, is gifted with great magical skills which she can activate without aid. 

 

 

 

South Room-Green Street, 1920, oil on canvas. Daniel Garber, 1880-1958, American.  National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

The artist’s wife and daughter at their home, Green Street, Philadelphia

 

 

 

Josephine and Mercie, 1908, oil on canvas. 

Edmund Charles Tarbell, 1862-1938, American.  Corcoran Collection at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

 

 

 

Aluminum Girl, 2003, painted aluminum. 

Charles Ray, American born 1953.  Private collection on loan to  the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2018

 

 

 

Girl with Plant, 1960, oil on canvas. 

Richard Diebenkorn, 1922-1993, Baltimore Museum of Art

 

 

 

 

Three Girls, oil and pencil on wood panel, 1941. 

William H. Johnson, 1901-1970, American.  MOMA, NY

 

 

 

Portrait of Elizabeth Moore Hallowell, date unknown, crayon on paper. 

Violet Oakley, 1871-1964, American. Private loan to Woodmere Museum of Art in 2017

 

 

 

Girl Sweeping, 1912, oil on canvas.

  William McGregor Paxton, 1896-1941.  Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. 2016

 

 

 

 

 Laurie Hernandez I, 2018, oil and glitter on canvas

 

Simone Biles in 2017, oil on canvas

 

 

Aly Raisman II, 2018, oil and glitter on canvas

 

 

 

Simone Biles III, 2019, oil and glitter on canvas

 

Born Athlete, 2017- 2019. 

Jeanette Mundt, American born 1982.  Loaned by various private parties to the Whitney Biennial, 2019

 

 #MeToo has revealed in the last two years that more than 140 young women and girls were sexually assaulted by the USA Gymnastics team doctor, Larry Nassar.  This included Simone Biles.

Other gymnastic professionals with control or authority over these gymnasts-in-training have also been indicted for physical and verbal abuse. Two have taken their lives rather than face the law.

 

 

 

 

The Study of a Student, c. 1940, oil on canvas. 

Laura Wheeler Waring, 1887-1948, American.  Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia

 

 

 

 

Bethany (Mary and Martha), oil on linen.  Frank Galuszka, American born 1947.  The Woodmere Museum, Philadelphia.

 

From the Biblical story:  Martha was frustrated with her sister, Mary who never helped in the house and was a flirt (possibly a prostitute). 

Jesus, who had raised their brother, Lazarus, from the dead, nevertheless excused Mary because she was open to his teachings.

 

 

 

The Passage from Virgin to Bride, 1912.

  Marcel Duchamp, 1887-1968, American born France.  MOMA, New York