Gertrude Käsebier
American, 1852 – 1934
Portrait of Eulabee Dix, 1910
Vintage toned platinum print
7-15/16 x 5-15/16 in.
Gift of Frederick P. Currier
1986.14.24

In 1895 Eulabee Dix rejoined her family in Grand Rapids, Michigan, following her art studies at the St. Louis School of Fine Art. She began to teach art classes and to paint portrait miniatures, the genre for which she became nationally known. Moving to New York at the turn of the century to become a professional artist, Dix achieved a reputation as an accomplished society portrait painter, dividing her time between New York and London. Dix's sitters included Ethel Barrymore, Mark Twain, and Gertrude Käsebier. Dix herself was the subject of two portraits by the American artist Robert Henri. Käsebier, a close friend, photographed her on at least four occasions.

As a portrait photographer, Käsebier sought the character and beauty of her sitters. This is reflected in her photograph of Dix in which she wears a voluminous dress and flowered bonnet suggestive of early Victorian fashion. Dix is reported to have had a love for self-dramatization in hand gesture and clothing; it was her idea to dress up when she posed for Käsebier. Subtle lighting stresses the long folds of the dress and the downward spill of a shawl that Dix has nonchalantly dropped to the floor. As a contrived image of timeless elegance, the photograph accentuates Dix's slender beauty with the extended and elegant line of her right arm resting on a framed portrait painting of Käsebier.