Portrait of a Woman (Miss Gertrude Bloede)
Object Details
- Luce Center Label
- Gertrude Bloede was the sister of Abbott Thayer’s first wife, Kate. The Bloedes were German immigrants who lived in Brooklyn and regularly entertained a circle of intellectuals. Both daughters were highly creative and independent: Kate was an artist, and Gertrude was a noted writer who published her romantic poetry under the pseudonym Stuart Sterne. In this portrait sketch, Thayer gave his sister-in-law a faraway look, as though she were lost in thought, perhaps composing a poem.
- Luce Object Quote
- “About her head or floating feet/No halo’s starry gleam/Still dark and swift uprising, like/A bubble in a stream.” Stuart Sterne, “My Father’s Child,” reprinted in Stedman, ed., An American Anthology, 1787–1900, 1900
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly
- Data Source
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Date
- ca. 1881
- Object number
- 1929.6.125
- Artist
- Abbott Handerson Thayer, born Boston, MA 1849-died Dublin, NH 1921
- Sitter
- Miss Gertrude Bloede
- Restrictions & Rights
- CC0
- Type
- Painting
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 16 5/8 x 14 in. (42.2 x 35.7 cm)
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- On View
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor, 8B
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor
- Topic
- Portrait female\bust
- Record ID
- saam_1929.6.125
