Description:

Harriet Fitzgerald
New York
Bride, 1955-56
oil on canvas
Harriet Fitzgerald learned the painter's craft in Virginia, New York and Europe before returning home to paint during the time of the Great Depression. As a 20th c. female humanist painter, she focused on people in a direct, straight-forward and truth-seeking fashion. Her work is mostly about individuals, often women and children; and she saw art as a manifestation of their daily lives and of their feelings and expressions. As a female she had access to all kinds of models including nannies, brides, working women, housewives, and children. A well-known university scholarship has been set up in Fitzgerald's name, awarded annually to a female art student at a women's college.

This painting focuses on a modest and elegant 1950s bride with an hourglass figure (thanks to having consistently worn corsets), exaggerated with layers of crinoline under her skirt. She was probably around age 20 (the average age for a bride in 1950s America), and possibly marrying a 23 year-old man (the average age for an American groom) who, if pictured next to her, would have probably been sporting a black tuxedo and bowtie. Her choice of a shiny satin dress was likely inspired by some of the fashions worn by the famous brides of her day (e.g. Jackie Kennedy, Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe). She does not gaze at the viewer but modestly looks slightly down and to the side with a serious expression on her face, carefully documented by Fitzgerald, who captured a young woman on the brink of entering into an entirely new phase of life. After the time of this painting, the bride likely became a homemaker, cooking and cleaning, and dedicating her life to caring for her home, her children and her husband--just like thousands of American women did in her time.

signed and dated lower right, framed.

Provenance:
Jack Blanton Fine Arts
Estate of Raymond Keith Kissee

  • Dimensions: 50 x 32 inches
  • Medium: oil on canvas

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September 16, 2023 10:00 AM CDT
St. Louis, MO, US

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