Emily Henderson Cowperthwaite

Label

Irving Ramsey Wiles painted this portrait in 1902 as a wedding present for Emily Henderson and Walter Cowperthwaite. The newlyweds became prominent figure in New York City society and on Eastern Long Island, where they also maintained a home. Wiles, working in a painterly style that John Singer Sargent made popular a decade earlier, depicted Emily Cowperthwaite outdoors, surrounded by greenery, in a gleaming white dress embellished with lace. He rendered her face, neck, and shoulders delicately, carefully blending his paint to suggest the smoothness of her skin. Within the dress, however, he used large, expressive brushstrokes that add a sense of immediacy to the composition.

Emily Henderson Cowperthwaite is remembered by her granddaughter as "gracious, ebullient," and "an avid reader." She was frequently mentioned in news accounts for hosting and attending elegant social events, some in support of community causes.

From the 2019 exhibition American Art, Colonial to Modern, curated by Barbara J. MacAdam, Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art

Exhibition History

A Space for Dialogue 36, The Eye of the Beheld, Caitlin Roberts, Class of 2008, Student Programming Intern, Main Lobby, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 30-March 18, 2007.

American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Jaffe Hall Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 9-December 9, 2007.

American Art, Colonial to Modern, Israel Sack Gallery and Rush Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 20 -September 12, 2021.

Celebrating Twenty Years: Gifts in Honor of the Hood Museum of Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 11-December 12, 2005.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 18, 2015.

Publication History

Katherine W. Hart et al., Celebrating Twenty Years: Gifts in Honor of the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2005, pp. 46, ill. p. 47, cat. no. 14.

Caitlin Roberts, A Space for Dialogue 36, The Eye of the Beheld, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Mueum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2007, ill.cover.

Barbara J. MacAdam, American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Muesum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2007, p. 69, no. 47.

Provenance

Emily Henderson Graves Jones, Cos Cob, Connecticut [granddaughter of sitter]; given to present collection, 2004.

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