“Claire Dewey”

Features

Signed, Framed

Size

Medium (up to 36in.)

Color

Black

- Provenance: original artwork signed “Sylvia Shugrue” upper left, c. 1950 - Media: oil on proprietary canvas panel - Artwork Dimensions: 16”h x 20"v - Frame Dimensions: 25 5/16"h x 29 5/16"v - Condition: like new, frame has some minor chips Signed in upper left “Sylvia Shugrue”: Sylvia Kaplan Shugrue (1913 Atlanta, Georgia - 2012 Washington, D.C.) received a Bachelor of Science degree from Wilson Teacher’s College in 1943, and a master’s degree in fine art from Denver University in 1952, and taught elementary school in Washington, D.C. and was active in teaching science, specifically astronomy and earth sciences, and was active as a national leader in the field of science education. She was an accomplished pianist, and active in art philanthropy especially music and the performing arts. This painting has such a late Victorian feel to it, although it was painted in the mid-twentieth century. The image is impactfully graphic in its play of chiaroscuro; slight variations in skin tone enrich the viewer’s sense of dimension, her cloak blending with the flat enigmatic background to reveal her soft shape in an almost abstract light. The subject matter speaks more to the allegories of feminine elegance than to specific identity, since the face is turned from view revealing merely the shoulder and the soft curls at the nape of the neck. We are led by her gaze as if having taken a seat in the audience behind her at some unspecified performance, and we are merely glancing at her subtle beauty as the result of a moment’s distraction.

Style

Realism

Medium

Oil