Female portraiture in America tells a revealing story. It is indicative of deep and difficult questions about equality and identity to which America has yet to find answers. This collection shows a selection of women's portraits listed chronologically. We can see that women were viewed differently (and often conflictingly) at different points in America's history.
Pocahontas, Unidentified Artist, after 1616, From the collection of: Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery
We can be fairly certain that Pocahontas did not have this fair a complexion. Obviously there was an ideal of womanhood that artist was portraying.
Anne Catharine Hoof Green, Charles Willson Peale, 1769, From the collection of: Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery
Here we see a "post-puritan" view of woman. Some frills but very conservative.
This portrayal of Phillis Wheatley displays her as capable and educated; a very interesting perspective for the time period.
Mrs. Richard Alsop, Ralph Earl, 1792, From the collection of: Smithsonian American Art Museum
This woman is portrayed without much personality. She is an object. Not a sexual object, but a household object.
Dolley Payne Madison (Mrs. James Madison), Gilbert Stuart, 1804, From the collection of: The White House
Here Mrs. Madison is shown as a real character: somewhat less conservative. Although she is delicate, she appears warm and kind.
Portrait of Rosalba Peale, Rembrandt Peale, ca. 1820, From the collection of: Smithsonian American Art Museum
This portrait of the artist's daughter shows her as intelligent and independent.
Lucretia Coffin Mott, Joseph Kyle, 1842, From the collection of: Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery
Mrs. Mott, a prominent abolitionist and social reformer, is depicted as cold and stern. Her conservative dress indicates her Quaker background and perhaps evokes a grandmotherly ethos.
Dolley Madison, William S. Elwell, 1848, From the collection of: Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery
Here we see Dolley Madison depicted 44 years older. She still carries the same charming smile and warmth. In this portrait, one can see that in her later life, she was revered and loved by the country, perhaps for different reasons than she may have been earlier.
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Alanson Fisher, 1853, From the collection of: Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery
Clad in black, the famous author looks simultaneously demure and sharply intelligent.
Dorothea Lynde Dix, Samuel Bell Waugh, 1868, From the collection of: Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery
Dorothea Dix, an audacious social reformer,is shown with an air of determination.
We Both Must Fade (Mrs. Fithian), Lilly Martin Spencer, 1869, From the collection of: Smithsonian American Art Museum
This specimen differs from most of the previous portraits. It is important to note that it was painted by a woman., Lily Martin Spencer. The title itself is, presumably, a reference to both the girl and the flower in her hand. The portrait depicts a "type" of women of the 1860's. The girl is flirtatious in her pose, facial expression, and dress. The artist seems to say, perhaps with relish, that this "belle of the ball" is an endangered species.
This powerful photo shows a profound and determined Sojourner truth.
Lucretia Coffin Mott, Frederick Gutekunst, c. 1865, From the collection of: Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery
Once again we see Mrs. Mott, this time 20 years older and looking even more stern and forbidding.
High Tide, published in Every Saturday, August 6, 1870, Winslow Homer, 1870, From the collection of: Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University
This painting is interesting as it is not a portrait of one but of three women. There are no men in the frame (and presumably at the beach). While the young women are pretty and well-dressed, they are shown as capable of taking a normal excursion without male company.
Mary Cassatt Self-Portrait, Mary Stevenson Cassatt, circa 1880, From the collection of: Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery
In this very impressionistic portrait, the artist portrays herself as beautiful but as having a definite and assertive identity of her own.
Juliette Gordon Low, Edward Hughes, 1887, From the collection of: Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery
It is not as important to know who Juliette was as it is to recognize that in this portait, she is an individual.
Portrait of Mrs. Edward L. Davis and Her Son, Livingston Davis, 1890, From the collection of: Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Mrs. Davis , although darkly dressed and strongly in her motherly duty, is a real personality.
This stunning photo shows a powerful beauty. Mrs. Wells was a renown and influential journalist
Woman with Red Hair, Albert Herter, 1894, From the collection of: Smithsonian American Art Museum
Again a very impressionistic celebration of woman's beauty. The artist seems to look admiringly on the woman who stands out so sharply from her surroundings.
An Interlude, William Sergeant Kendall, 1907, From the collection of: Smithsonian American Art Museum
Once again, we see a realistic portrayal of a woman in her role as a mother being capable and independent.
Helen Adams Keller, Charles Whitman, 1904, From the collection of: Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery
Helen Keller is an ideal for women's empowerment. Here she is shown enjoying the beauty of flowers in spite of her physical limitations. She looks serene and enlightened.
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