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brooklynmuseum · 1 year
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Around the year 1900, this elk hide was painted by Cotsiogo (Cadzi Cody) of the Eastern Shoshone people. It harks back to pre-reservation times with scenes of the Wolf and Sun Dances, a buffalo hunt, women butchering buffalo, and warriors on horseback returning to camp.
Prior to the 1860s, when Native people were forced onto reservations by the U.S. government so white settlers could occupy tribal lands, the vast Shoshone territory encompassed what is now southeastern California, central and eastern Nevada, northwestern Utah, southern Idaho, and western Wyoming.
See this hide on the 5th floor as you enter the American Art galleries just beyond the ongoing land acknowledgement statement, which recognizes that the Museum is part of the unceded, ancestral homeland of the Lenape (Delaware) people.
📷 Cotsiogo (Cadzi Cody) (Shoshone, 1866-1912). Painted Elk Hide, ca. 1900. Elk hide, pigment, 81 x 78 in. (205.7 x 198.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 64.13. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
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wallgreen-rite-aid · 3 years
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George Wesley Bellows (American, 1882-1925). Pennsylvania Station Excavation, ca. 1907-1908. Oil on canvas. Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 67.205.1 #BKMAmericanart
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brooklynmuseum · 1 year
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If your table setting stays ready, you don’t have to get ready. 🍽️🍷
The Dinner Party was created by Judy Chicago between 1974 and 1979. Each wing of the triangular table is 48 feet long. Arranged chronologically along the wings are thirteen place settings; including a unique runner and plate, as well as a chalice, napkin, and utensils. 
Wing One of the table begins in prehistory with the Primordial Goddess setting and continues chronologically with the development of Judaism, to early Greek societies, to the Roman Empire, marking the decline in women’s power, signified by the Hypatia plate. Wing Two represents early Christianity through the Reformation, depicting women who signify early articulations of the fight for equal rights, from Marcella to Anna van Schurman. Wing Three begins with Anne Hutchinson and addresses the American Revolution, Suffragism, and the movement toward women’s increased individual creative expression, symbolized at last by the Georgia O’Keeffe place setting.
You can see The Dinner Party and all of its discoverable details on display on the 4th floor of the Museum.
📷 Judy Chicago (American, born 1939). The Dinner Party, 1974-1979. Ceramic, porcelain, textile; triangular table. Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. Gift of The Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation, 2002.10. Installation view, Brooklyn Museum.
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brooklynmuseum · 1 year
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In 2022, our collection grew with 200 acquisitions including a rare example of nineteenth-century Lenape (Delaware) beadwork as well as works created by American artists to better reflect the diversity of the United States and to create space for underrepresented American voices such as Black, Asian American, Native American, and women artists. These new additions will ultimately be presented in our reinstalled American Art wing to be fully unveiled in late 2024.  
We look forward to sharing this new set of historical and contemporary works representing multiple generations of emerging and established artists and a wide range of disciplines.
📷 Delaware. Bandolier Bag, 1850s. Cotton, wool, silk, glass beads. Arts of the Americas. Frank L. Babbott Fund, 2021.41. → Jarvis Boyland (American, born 1995). Fool's Errand #3, 2021. Oil on canvas. Contemporary Art. Gift of The Dean Collection, 2021.56. © Jarvis Boyland (Photo: Kohn Gallery) → Loïs Mailou Jones (American, 1905-1998). The Bridge, 1938. Watercolor and graphite on paper. American Art. Robert A. Levinson Fund, purchased in honor of Saundra Williams-Cornwell and W. Don Cornwell for their two decades of stalwart generosity and dedication to the Brooklyn Museum, 2022.8. © Estate of Lois Mailou Jones (Photo: Brooklyn Museum) → Prentice H. Polk (American, 1898 - 1984). Catherine Moton Patterson, 1936; printed c. 1936. Gelatin silver print. Photography. Robert A. Levinson Fund, purchased in honor of Saundra Williams-Cornwell and W. Don Cornwell for their two decades of stalwart generosity and dedication to the Brooklyn Museum, 2022.19.2. © Estate of Prentice H. Polk (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
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brooklynmuseum · 1 year
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#NowOnView… Eldzier Cortor’s scene of a devastating flood caused by the construction of a hydroelectric dam in Kentucky is part of our newest collection highlight in the American Art galleries, entitled Changing Landscapes.
Together with 15 additional artworks from our American and Contemporary collection, including Alexis Rockman’s “Mazaruni River” which has never-before been on display, this series takes an ecocritical look at our relationship with the natural world that spans depictions of labor, leisure, industrialization, and more. 
Visit Changing Landscapes on the fifth floor beginning today. 
🎨 Eldzier Cortor (American, 1916-2015). Southern Landscape (Southern Flood), ca. 1944-1945. Tempera and gesso on board, 20 x 34 in. (50.8 x 86.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Adler and bequest of Laura L. Barnes, by exchange, 2006.2. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
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brooklynmuseum · 2 years
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What do each of these artworks have in common? They really grow on you. 🧔⁠ ⁠ We can't let #WorldBeardDay pass without sharing some of the glorious, global, and even ancient beards from our collection.
🖼️ Mountain Spirit (Sanshin), 19th century. Ink and color on silk, Image. Brooklyn Museum, Designated Purchase Fund, 84.145 → Daniel Huntington (American, 1816-1906). William Cullen Bryant, 1866. Oil on canvas. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of A. Augustus Healy, Carll H. de Silver, Eugene G. Blackford, Clarence W. Seamans, Horace J. Morse, Robert B. Woodward, James R. Howe, William B. Davenport, Frank S. Jones, Abraham Abraham, and Charles A. Schieren, 01.1507 → Roman. Head of Serapis, 75-150 C.E. Marble. Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1522E. Creative Commons-BY → Ramses II, ca. 1279-1213 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment. Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 11.670. Creative Commons-BY → Makonde artist. Mask (lipiko), 19th century. Wood, human hair, fiber, pigment. Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1922, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 22.1588. Creative Commons-BY → Indian. Zumurrud Shah Takes Refuge in the Mountains, ca. 1570. Opaque watercolor and gold on cotton cloth, sheet. Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 24.48
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brooklynmuseum · 2 years
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Keep scrolling, there’s n̶o̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ✨plenty✨ to see here! ⁠ ⁠ Our visitors are enjoying every corner of the Museum from Monet to Morisot to our Arts of the Americas and the galleries in between! #MyBkM
🔗 https://bit.ly/34QgwKI
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brooklynmuseum · 2 years
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♨️ HeAt WaVe ♨️
With 90-degree temperatures forecasted through Monday, there are really only two options:
1. Either become one of the subjects wilting in the summer sun in Florine Stettheimer’s “Heat” or 
2. Come inside the air-conditioned Museum and *view* Stettheimer’s “Heat” amongst other incredible artwork currently on display
As a reminder, general admission prices are a suggested contribution—pay what you wish. #VirgilAblohBkM requires a separate ticket at a set price. See what’s on view in the A/C: https://bit.ly/34QgwKI
🎨 Florine Stettheimer (American, 1871-1944). Heat, 1919. Oil on canvas. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Estate of Ettie Stettheimer, 57.125
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brooklynmuseum · 3 years
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During the nineteenth century, Indigenous people and Euro-American colonists had differing views about land—which influenced the way the environment was represented by the artists of the time. Painters such as the Scottish American William Keith depicted the land in romantic ways, focusing on its majestic and pristine qualities, even though Native people had inhabited and maintained those lands for millennia. Keith's perspective as a settler is contrasted in the gallery with a hide painted by the Shoshone artist Cotsiogo. 
Indigenous understandings of the natural world shaped their language, daily life, ceremonies, clothing, and design sensibilities. Their worldview that human beings and the land are interconnected was the opposite of that held by U.S. governmental authorities, who regarded the land as something to be dominated, and removed Indigenous people from ancestral homelands to clear them for white settlers. The legacy of this colonial history continues today.
Installation view of American Galleries, featuring Cotsiogo (Cadzi Cody) (Shoshone, 1866-1912). Painted Elk Hide, ca.1900. Elk hide, pigment. Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 64.13. Creative Commons-BY [left] and William Keith (American, 1838-1911). Mount Hood, Oregon, ca. 1881-1883. Oil on canvas. Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Mrs. Charles S. Cooke [right].
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brooklynmuseum · 3 years
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Take a close look at this painting. How would you describe the person depicted? What might she be thinking? 
There is a crystal bowl on the table that is filled with molasses —or, for short, ‘lasses–and she has some of it on her spoon. She looks in our direction with a playful smile, perhaps at us or at someone else who stands looking at her. Whoever it is has perhaps implied they’re about to kiss her; perhaps her response is the same as the title of the painting: Kiss me and you’ll kiss the ‘lasses.  What might she mean by this phrase? 
Notice the way the woman is dressed, her surroundings, and what she is doing. Where does this scene take place? What was the woman doing before we interrupted her? What time of year might this be? The arched top of the painting suggests we are standing in a doorway, and interior furniture and decor suggests the scene takes place in the  nineteenth century;, in fact, this painting dates from 1856. On the table near the woman, there are various pieces of kitchen equipment. The cherries,  raspberries, grapes, pineapples, and pears—not to mention the woman’s own short-sleeved dress—suggest that this moment is taking place in the summer. Notice that in the woman’s right hand there are peelings from a piece of fruit she has been slicing—it is likely that she is making fruit preserves for the winter months ahead. Her clothes and jewelry suggest that this woman is the “lady of the house”—the wife of the head of the household. 
Notice the open door leading to a darkened room on the upper left. There is a small table with a tablecloth, some comfortable chairs, and  an oval portrait on the wall. Perhaps the portrait is of the woman standing before us. If you look closely, you can see that the woman in the portrait has a similar hairdo. 
This is a genre painting, or a painting of everyday activities that shows a “slice of life.”. Genre paintings were quite popular in the mid-nineteenth century. Women in genre paintings were often depicted doing “woman’s work,” and the creator of this painting, Lily Martin Spencer, has injected this subject of this work with the agency to look back at us, tease us, perhaps even threaten us with the molasses on her spoon. Middle and upper-class women were the primary purchasers of paintings as part of their responsibility for decorating the home in this time period. Many enjoyed Spencer’s work because it reflected their own world, but with a bit of fun and humor. Spencer herself was a professional painter, mother of eight and a wife, and the sole breadwinner for her family. Her husband helped by stretching canvases, making frames, and taking care of the household. They were a very atypical mid-nineteenth century family.
Think about your daily activities. What might a genre painter depict you doing? What would you want to tell the viewer? Share your reflections on what such a genre painting in 2021 might depict in the replies.
Lilly Martin Spencer (American, born England, 1822-1902). Kiss Me and You'll Kiss the 'Lasses, 1856. Oil on canvas. Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 70.26
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brooklynmuseum · 3 years
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Galvanized by recent calls for racial justice, Museum curators have recently reinstalled parts of our American Art galleries to address the differing visions of land, abolition, labor, and identity in the United States. The first phase of a multiyear project, the reinstallation focuses on three galleries, with works that span from 4000 B.C.E. to the present, and challenges us to look closely and acknowledge this country’s history. In dialogue with one another, these artworks highlight the creative ways Indigenous peoples, European settlers, and African Americans have expressed themselves, and show how diverse cultural voices adapt, evolve, and survive.
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brooklynmuseum · 3 years
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Sargent Claude Johnson was a ceramicist, painter, and lithographer based out of North Beach, San Francisco in the 1930s. Johnson, who was of Black and Cherokee heritage, is remembered for his soul-stirring sculptures and his commitment to creating self-affirming images of Black people. This graceful terracotta figure shows the influence of the Harlem Renaissance and the call for the celebration and integration of African ancestral traditions as expressed by Alain Locke. Johnson said he was “aiming to show the natural beauty and dignity” of African Americans, not to a white audience, but to themselves."
From 1937 to 1939 Johnson worked for the WPA/FAP (The Works Progress Administration/ Federal Art Project) which created work relief for artists during the Great Depression. He created large-scale artworks for the WPA such as the decorated interior of the San Francisco Maritime Museum, among others, some of which can still be seen today.
Like many artists in the Bay Area art scene, Johnson and his contemporaries drew inspiration from non-European art such Indigenous arts of the Americas and the Pacific, in addition to African art. They also looked to artists such as  Diego Rivera, whose figurative techniques and illustration of social issues spoke to new ways of expressing the Black experience.
Are you familiar with any artworks created by other Black artists for the WPA? Let us know in the replies!
In honor of Black History Month, and in conjunction with the exhibition John Edmonds: A Sidelong Glance, we are highlighting contemporary artists in our collection whose work speaks to the complexity and beauty of Black American heritage.
Sargent Claude Johnson (American, 1888-1967). Untitled (Standing Woman), ca. 1933-1935. Terracotta, paint, surface coating. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Estate of Emil Fuchs and Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Steinhauer, by exchange, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, and Mary Smith Dorward Fund, 2010.2
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brooklynmuseum · 3 years
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This painting’s title, Not At Home, may seem strange, since there is clearly someone on the stairs. In the past, however, this phrase indicated that the occupants of the house were not available to receive visitors. The painting held a particularly personal meaning for the artist, Eastman Johnson: the woman on the stairs is his wife, Elizabeth, on her way to the more private areas of their residence on Manhattan’s West Fifty-fifth Street. While the holidays can bring a schedule full of friends and family, it’s also important to appreciate—especially this year—the intimate spaces where we can rest, relax, and be “not at home.”
In the final weeks of 2020, we're taking time to find comfort, hope, and healing with artworks in the Museum's collection. 
Posted by Forrest Pelsue Eastman Johnson (American, 1824-1906). Not at Home, ca. 1873. Oil on laminated paperboard. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Gwendolyn O. L. Conkling, 40.60
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brooklynmuseum · 3 years
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Dear Friends, So much has happened in our world, our city, and our beloved Museum over the past year. While 2020 brought tremendous challenges, it was the events of January 6—when we witnessed our nation’s seat of democracy desecrated by a violent mob committed to upholding the lie of white supremacy—that underscored the enormous work ahead. Many searing images of rioters streaming through the historic halls of the Capitol building were captured against the backdrop of large-scale American history paintings depicting scenes of our nation’s founding, some telling glorified stories of our often-violent past. One painting seen in the background was Robert Walter Weir’s Embarkation of the Pilgrims, which portrays pilgrims setting sail from Europe for North America. (A smaller version of this painting is in the Museum’s collection.) In the upper-left corner is a rainbow, a symbol of beauty and hope—the hope for a new life of freedom and opportunity. While Weir’s painting tells the story of the victors and not the oppressed, the official albeit false story, we hold strongly to that idea of hope. It is resoundingly clear that we must reckon with the great divisions that exist in our country, and we must work hard for change and justice. To move forward with hope in this new year, we look for inspiration to our mission to contribute to a more connected and empathetic world. In 2020, we learned much that will help us on our path forward. We learned what it means to come together as a team to support one another. We learned new ways to fulfill our mission by being of service to our neighbors and community. And we learned how to reach out virtually to youth and our public schools to ignite the imagination and spirit. We were again reminded of the importance of art to bring people of diverse backgrounds together for shared learning and conversation, as well as how art can be an essential tool for rewriting dominant narratives. That's why I'm excited for this year’s exhibitions, including Lorraine O'Grady's long overdue retrospective, our vibrant KAWS survey, and particularly our collection offerings, such as the first phase of a reinstallation of our American art galleries that turns traditional historical narratives on their head. Inspired that the Museum’s plaza served as the setting for important marches and rallies that called for greater accountability to social justice, and knowing that we desperately need more shared civic spaces in which to respectfully gather, create, share, and celebrate, we will continue to use our open spaces in the coming year. We are particularly pleased that Nick Cave’s TRUTH BE TOLD public art installation is coming to the Brooklyn Museum this spring. It’s a powerful message at any time, but especially in these times. As we think about what 2021 holds, I’m encouraged by the knowledge that our Museum will speak truths and work for change. And I’m grateful you are there to participate in our journey. As ever,
Anne Pasternak,  Shelby White and Leon Levy Director Brooklyn Museum
Robert Walter Weir (American, 1803–1889). Embarkation of the Pilgrims (detail), 1857. Oil on canvas. Brooklyn Museum; A. Augustus Healy Fund and Healy Purchase Fund B, 75.188. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
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brooklynmuseum · 3 years
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In yesterday’s Inauguration ceremonies, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden selected Robert S. Duncanson’s Landscape with Rainbow (1859), on loan from @americanartmuseum , as the Inaugural Gift displayed in the U.S. Capitol. Among the first African American artists to achieve national and international acclaim, Duncanson was hailed in the nineteenth century as the “best landscape painter in the West.” 
A similar work by Duncanson was recently acquired for the Brooklyn Museum collection through a generous gift by Charlynn and Warren Goins in honor of the Council for African American Art. Painted in the tumultuous years preceding the Civil War, this classically-inspired pastoral scene presents an Arcadian vision of the American landscape. A deliberate and symbolic choice on the part of the new administration, Duncanson’s imagery provides a resounding message of renewal, unity, and hope. 
Posted by Margarita Karasoulas Robert Seldon Duncanson (American, 1821-1872). Copy after Thomas Cole's "Dream of Arcadia", 1852. Oil on canvas. Gift of Charlynn and Warren Goins, 2020.13.1. 
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brooklynmuseum · 3 years
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In this painting, we are looking down into a hole in the ground. What do you suppose is going on? Where might this scene be taking place? 
The place is New York City in 1907-1908. We are looking at the excavation for the building of Pennsylvania Station. Before Penn Station was built, the last stop of the Pennsylvania Railroad was Jersey City. Those traveling to Manhattan had to take a ferry across the Hudson River. The owner of the railroad, Charles Cassatt (who was the brother of Mary Cassatt, the famous American Impressionist painter), wanted to bring the railroad to New York. A tunnel wasn’t possible until trains switched from steam engines to electric locomotives at the turn of the 20th century. 
How do we know that this is a demolition? What clues does the artist give us? 
If you look at the lower left of the painting, you can see a crane extending into the pit diagonally. Beneath the crane is a steam shovel. Around the pit, we see debris—evidence of demolition. Near the right edge of the painting are broken steel girders. There appear to be partial buildings as well, although they are hard to decipher because they are so dark. And, of course, there is the hole itself. 
What indications do you see of how the neighborhood may have looked before? If you look behind the pit on the upper left of the painting, you see apartment buildings. Pennsylvania Station would take up two city blocks, 31st to 33rd street, Seventh to Eighth Avenue. This was not unoccupied space. It was in the middle of a neighborhood called the Tenderloin, now Chelsea. Part of the neighborhood was known for a red light district, saloons, and gambling. Other parts, however, contained apartment buildings, much like the one on the upper left of this painting, that were home to thousands of African Americans, many of whom were artists and writers, which earned the area the name “Black Bohemia.” These middle-class, African American renters lost their homes and were displaced  due to the construction for this project. 
What season is depicted in this painting? What time of day is it? 
It is winter. There is snow in the pit that has turned gray from the soot. It is a gray time of day, a dark winter afternoon. The whole painting is gray, and has a dirty, gritty look to it. The sun has set, as it does early on a winter day, and the sunset is reflected in the orange gold of the clouds. The bright color is picked up in the bonfires down in the pit that the workmen have made to warm themselves. These are the only touches of color in the grayness and blackness. Billowing plumes of gray smoke rise from the bonfires and from the apartment building. Why do you suppose Bellows chose to depict the scene at this gray time of day rather than in the bright sunlight earlier in the day? 
George Bellows was a white American, Methodist artist whose work can be called Urban Realism. He was part of a group of artists who would be dubbed the Ashcan School. They liked to show the underbelly of the city, the grittiness of it. Here he shows us the difficult conditions under which these men worked. They are down in a pit, working in the cold and darkness. We are looking down into the pit from its edge. We know that is is a very deep pit because the men working in it appear very small. In fact, they are rendered by Bellows with just a few brush strokes. Compare them to the four men nearer to us on the wall of the pit, who are rendered in detail. 
Pennsylvania Station was completed in 1910. It was a stunning classical Beaux Arts structure and was considered one of the most important buildings in New York City. It was designed by McKim, Mead and White, the most prestigious architectural firm of its day. In fact, this is the same firm that designed the Brooklyn Museum. The original Pennsylvania Station was demolished in 1963, to make way for Madison Square Garden and a much humbler Penn Station. The outrage over the destruction of this building helped inspire additional support for formation of the Landmark Preservation Commission, which was established in 1965.
New York is a palimpsest of new and old buildings and landmarks. What changes have occurred in your own neighborhood? What do you hope will be preserved for future generations? Share your memories and hopes in the comments, and explore more works in the collection related to Penn Station.
Posted by Ellen Sussman, A.R.T. Guide  George Wesley Bellows (American, 1882-1925). Pennsylvania Station Excavation, ca. 1907-1908. Oil on canvas. Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 67.205.1 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
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