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Temperamental!: Prints in the Collection of Bryn Mawr College

Introduction - Gallery Entry

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Alex Katz (American, b. 1927), Jessica (1994). Three-color woodcut on Hosho paper, edition 79/200, signed in pencil, Gift of Jacqueline Koldin Levine (Class of 1946) and Howard H. Levine, 2012.27.508.
Osk
Roselle Hellenberg Osk (American, 1884-1954), The Sisters (1938). Etching, 7/100, Gift of Jacqueline Koldin Levine (Class of 1946) and Howard H. Levine, 2012.27.228.
Joseph W. Reed (American, 1948-2002), Automatic John Wayne (1975). Lithograph, edition 10/10, signed in pencil, Gift of Jacqueline Koldin Levine (Class of 1946) and Howard H. Levine, 2012.27.175.
Katherine Bradford (American, b. 1942), Color X (1993). Eight-color collagraph, A.P. 7/7, signed in pencil, Gift of the artist, The William and Uytendale Scott Memorial Study Collection of Works by Women Artists, 2006.1.301.
Charles Wheeler Locke (American, 1899-1983), Three Men Seated in Overstuffed Chairs (20th Century). Lithograph; signed in pencil below image; Gift of Mary Patterson McPherson, President of Bryn Mawr College, 1978-1997; 2018.35.22.
John Singer Sargent (American, 1856-1925), Miss M. Carey Thomas (July, 1899). Oil on canvas; Gift of the Portrait Committee of Alumnae and Students, Bryn Mawr College; X.205. Whereas John Singer Sargent’s other portraits of women are set in domestic spaces and softened by swathes of shimmering fabric, mild colors, and reserved gazes, M. Carey Thomas dominates this painting. Her face and hands are the picture’s clearest elements, emerging luminously from the dense black and blue passage of her academic robes. The dark composition and Thomas’s sober expression likely informed Mamie Gwinn’s assessment of the painting as “very melancholy.” Yet rather than expressing the introversion of the melancholic temperament, her depiction is quite confrontational. Sargent’s contrast between the dark background and Thomas’s white flesh foregrounds her physical presence, while her direct gaze outward is severe and authoritative. Tensely posed, Thomas’s hands twist in her lap or commandingly clutch the throne-like chair in which she sits. The painting’s monumental size reinforces the impression of domination. Certainly, its subject was well-known for her choleric and domineering nature, constantly clashing with faculty, friends, and fellow administrators during her career at the College. As Bryn Mawr’s second president, Thomas strove for a women’s education that would rival in quality the best male universities, and she enacted her vision in uncompromising terms—that is, for white, economically-privileged women. Thomas’s deeply racist and anti-Semitic beliefs informed her actions at the College. These convictions constituted her vision of Bryn Mawr and remain formative of the College’s identity.
Bradford
Katz
Locke
Reed
Sargent