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Catalog Data

Artist:
Laura Wheeler Waring, 1887 - 1948  Search this
Sitter:
Alice Dunbar-Nelson  Search this
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
Stretcher: 62.4 × 51.4cm (24 9/16 × 20 1/4")
Frame: 73.5 × 63.3 × 6.7cm (28 15/16 × 24 15/16 × 2 5/8")
Type:
Painting
Place:
United States\Pennsylvania\Philadelphia
Date:
1927
Exhibition Label:
Born New Orleans, Louisiana
This portrait represents the network of friendships established among prominent African American women in the wake of the black women’s club movement, which grew in visibility with the founding of the National Association of Colored Women in 1896. Women, including Laura Wheeler Waring and Alice Dunbar-Nelson, came together from a variety of backgrounds to combat negative stereotypes and fight for basic rights. Waring, an established artist who had studied in France between the two world wars, painted Dunbar-Nelson’s portrait in Philadelphia the year she married Walter E. Waring, a Lincoln University professor. By 1927 Dunbar-Nelson was a prominent political activist and journalist and was in demand as a public speaker. The portrait exudes the confidence and self-possession of two accomplished, intellectual women whose friendship helped advance the rights of both women and African Americans.
Nacida en New Orleans, Louisiana
Este retrato evidencia la red de amistades que surgió entre prominentes mujeres de raza negra a raíz de la movilización de los clubes de mujeres afroamericanas, que consolidarían su visibilidad con la fundación de la Asociación Nacional de Mujeres de Color en 1896. Estas damas de trasfondos diversos, entre ellas Laura Wheeler Waring y Alice Dunbar-Nelson, se unieron para combatir los estereotipos negativos y luchar por derechos fundamentales. Waring, artista establecida que entre las dos guerras mundiales había estudiado en Francia, pintó el retrato de Dunbar-Nelson en Philadelphia el año en que contrajo matrimonio con Walter E. Waring, un profesor de la Universidad Lincoln. Hacia 1927, Dunbar-Nelson era una reconocida activista política y periodista, muy cotizada como conferenciante. El retrato irradia la confianza y asertividad de dos intelectuales de grandes méritos cuya amistad contribuyó a adelantar la causa de los derechos de las mujeres y los afroamericanos.
[DD1]We will not get a final accession number until FY17.
Provenance:
The artist; by descent to Pauline A. Young; Madeline Murphy Rabb (the artist’s great niece); purchased 2016 NPG
Topic:
Interior  Search this
Home Furnishings\Furniture\Seating\Chair  Search this
Costume\Headgear\Hat  Search this
Costume\Dress Accessory\Glove\Gloves  Search this
Alice Dunbar-Nelson: Female  Search this
Alice Dunbar-Nelson: Literature\Writer\Poet  Search this
Alice Dunbar-Nelson: Journalism and Media\Journalist  Search this
Alice Dunbar-Nelson: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist  Search this
Portrait  Search this
Credit Line:
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Object number:
NPG.2016.125
Restrictions & Rights:
CC0
See more items in:
National Portrait Gallery Collection
Exhibition:
20th Century Americans: 1900-1930 (re-installation 2012)
On View:
NPG, South Gallery 322
Data Source:
National Portrait Gallery
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm497653123-238b-4be2-9a08-9f28ec881347
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:npg_NPG.2016.125