TitleSelf-Portrait
Artist
Marion Greenwood
(American, 1909 - 1970)
Date1954
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 20 × 16 1/4 in.
Framed: 27 1/4 × 23 1/4 × 3 3/8 in.
SignedSigned at lower right: "Marion Greenwood".
SubmissionANA diploma presentation, October 6, 1958
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number1585-P
Label TextIn the 1930s Marion Greenwood was active in the mural movements - both in the United States and Mexico - working on commissions from the Mexican Government, and through the Federal Art Project. In her Self-Portrait of 1954, Greenwood holds a cigarette, not a paintbrush, front and center in the composition. For young women of Greenwood’s generation, smoking, especially in public, was still a defiant act and portraying herself smoking in her Academy portrait tells us much about her independence and humor. Her painting exhibits the influence of Hollywood photography on portraiture. Greenwood, a beautiful woman, looks into the viewer’s eyes with the flirtation and allure of a movie star’s close-up.Collections
- Artist Portrait Highlights from the Collection
