Figural
CECILIA BEAUX (1855–1942)
Mrs. John Frederick Lewis and Her Son, John Frederick Lewis, Jr., 1908
Oil on canvas, 83 3/4 x 48 3/4 in.
Signed (at lower left): Cecilia Beaux
RECORDED: Leila Mechlin, “The Art of Cecilia Beaux,” International Studio 41 (July 1910), p. viii illus. // Cecilia Beaux, Background with Figures (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1930, p. 226 // “The Fifth Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists,” Academy Notes 5 (July 1910), p. 8 // The Paintings and Drawings of Cecilia Beaux (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1955), p. 76 // Cecilia Beaux: Portrait of An Artist, exhib. cat. (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1974), pp. 30, 106
EXHIBITED: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, January 31–March 14, 1909, 104th Annual Exhibition, no. 470 (as “Mother and Son”) // The Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, Fifth Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists, May 11–September 1, 1910, pp. 1l illus., 12 no. 9 // Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 4–May 21, 2017, A More Perfect Union? Power, Sex, and Race in the Representation of Couples, pp. 18, 19 illus. in color, 50
EX COLL.: the artist, 1908; to Mr. and Mrs. John Frederick Lewis, Philadelphia, 1908; to John Frederick Lewis, Jr., [1937?], and by descent in the family; to private collection, Malvern, Pennsylvania
By about 1900, Beaux’s reputation had extended beyond the northeast, leading to such important commissions as Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt and Daughter Ethel (1902; private collection), which was painted in The White House. She continued to create portraits of distinguished Philadelphians too, among them likenesses of John Frederick Lewis (circa 1906; location unknown) and his wife, Anne (1906; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia). A high-ranking attorney, Lewis (1882–1932) was an avid bibliophile, numismatist, and print collector. He also enjoyed a lengthy affiliation with the Pennsylvania Academy, serving as its president from 1907 to 1932. He married Anne Henrietta Rush Fales Baker (1868–1937), a scion of the affluent Baker family of Philadelphia, in 1895.
In 1908––the year Beaux received an honorary degree from the University of Pennsylvania––Lewis and his spouse commissioned Beaux to paint a pair of full-length double portraits, one featuring Mr. Lewis with his son Alfred Baker Lewis (b. 1897) (1908–1910; Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia) and the present work, which shows Mrs. Lewis accompanied by her younger son, John Frederick Lewis, Jr. (1899–1965). The portrait was taken in the former studio of Beaux’s friend, the painter and critic John Lambert (1861–1907), at 324 South Seventh Street in Philadelphia.
Certainly, the figures exude that aura of privilege, casual elegance, and good breeding associated with grand-manner portraiture. Indeed, Mrs. Lewis wears a low-cut evening dress and is seated on an oak chair with a maroon seat, resting her head against one hand as she looks out at the viewer, her relaxed attitude suggesting that she was quite used to having her likeness painted. John Frederick Jr. stands at her side, leaning against her shoulder. A blue-eyed youngster dressed in sailor suit, his arms are folded across his chest as he, too, engages the spectator rather than his companion, his deadpan gaze and defensive body language suggesting that he would be more comfortable playing than posing. John Frederick Jr. may seem awkward and diffident here but he came into his own as an adult: following in his father’s footsteps, he, too, became a successful lawyer and arts patron, serving as president of the Pennsylvania Academy from 1948 to 1958 and president of the Philadelphia Art Alliance from 1935 to 1949. (Along with his brother, Alfred, John Frederick Jr. worked at his father’s law firm, Lewis, Adler & Laws, during the 1920s.) He was also affiliated with the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Zoological Society, and the Moore Institute of Art, Science and Industry, among other civic organizations. Described as “one of Philadelphia’s major cultural assets,” John Frederick Lewis Jr. owned a number of paintings by nineteenth-century artists and is said to have amassed an “unusual collection of animal sculpture” (“John Frederick Lewis Jr. Dies; Philadelphia Patron of the Arts,” New York Times, September 6, 1965).
As a family friend, Beaux was on intimate terms with both this stylish matron and her offspring; to be sure, she preferred, above all else, to paint people from her own privileged background that she knew personally. In keeping with her aesthetic approach, she focused on a high degree of accuracy, her fluent yet carefully applied brushstrokes effectively capturing Mrs. Lewis’s distinctive facial features, such as her high forehead and pointed chin, and her son’s deep-set eyes. Each figure is endowed with a strong sense of individuality, the mother coming across as slightly bored, the child, tentative yet willful. The placement of the figures against an unadorned background, flanked on either side by a drapery and a gilded cabinet, reflects Beaux’s penchant for balanced compositions. Her tasteful palette is compatible with her genteel subject matter, the lush reds, whites, and buff tones used to depict the figures acting as a foil to the muted tonalities appearing in the background.
Beaux was paid for her services on April 24, 1908, when Mrs. Lewis presented her with a check for $3,500.00. (Both the cancelled check and the original receipt of payment form part of the documentation of the painting.) The family subsequently loaned the portrait to the annual exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy in 1909, and in 1910 it was among Beaux’s contributions to the Fifth Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists, held at the Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo, at which time it was described by one commentator as “the most important work Cecilia Beaux has yet done” (“The Fifth Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists,” Academy Notes 5 [July 1910], p. 8). The significance of this impressive double portrait was also noted, many years later, by the curator Frank H. Goodyear, Jr., who designated it as one of a group of seven portraits, painted by Beaux between 1898 and 1908, that brought her critical acclaim and “firmly fixed her into the social, literary, artistic and political elite of the country, where her presence was in constant demand” (Frank, H. Goodyear, Jr., “Introduction,” in Cecilia Beaux: Portrait of An Artist, exhib. cat. [Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1974], p.30. The other portraits are: Mr. and Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes [1898; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York]; Mother and Daughter [1898; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts]; The Dancing Lesson [1899–1900; The Art Institute of Chicago]; Mrs. Alexander Sedgwick and Christina [1900–01; private collection]; Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt and Daughter Ethel; and John Frederick Lewis and Son, Alfred.)
