Edmund C. Tarbell's family were frequent subjects for his paintings. Here, he depicts his wife, Emeline, with their oldest child, fifteen-year-old Josephine. Stripped of excess, uncomplicated by detail or distracting elements, the painting is a mesmerizing representation of two closely observed loved ones. The intimate pose of mother and daughter, the exquisitely soft handling of paint, and the deep luminosity of the surface all combine to great effect in this highly personal work.
One of the most important portraitists in New England, Tarbell was also a member of the Ten American Painters, a group of American artists who broke away from New York's Society of American Artists in order to organize their own, non-juried exhibitions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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