Portrait of a Young Lady

1894

Herbert Adams American, 1858-1945

On View

American, Level 2, West Wing

Image Only Image + Details All Images High Resolution TIFF Metadata

About the Artwork

Please note: This section is empty
Markings

Please note: This section is empty

This section contains information about signatures, inscriptions and/or markings an object may have.
Provenance

Please note: This section is empty

Provenance is a record of an object's ownership. We are continually researching and updating this information to show a more accurate record and to ensure that this object was ethically and legally obtained.

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Published References

Please note: This section is empty

We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Catalogue Raisonné

Please note: This section is empty

A catalogue raisonné is an annotated listing of artworks created by an artist across different media.
Credit Line for Reproduction

Please note: This section is empty

The credit line includes information about the object, such as the artist, title, date, and medium. Also listed is its ownership, the manner in which it was acquired, and its accession number. This information must be cited alongside the object whenever it is shown or reproduced.

About the Artwork

While a student in Paris in the late 1880s, Adams began a series of portrait busts of American women that would soon earn him wide critical acclaim. In a marked departure from the bland neoclassical style, his delicate modeling and sensitive use of ornament and costume gave an effect of softness and spontaneity and created a new ideal of feminine charm and beauty. In these busts, Adams experienced with polychromy, tinting plaster in soft tones, and using wood, marble, ivory, and metals in simple combinations.

Title Portrait of a Young Lady

Artwork Date 1894

Artist Herbert Adams

Life Dates 1858-1945

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Polychromed marble with bronze mounts

Dimensions Including base: 28 1/4 × 16 1/2 × 9 3/4 inches (71.8 × 41.9 × 24.8 cm) Overall (object): 18 1/4 × 16 1/2 × 9 3/4 inches (46.4 × 41.9 × 24.8 cm) Overall (pedestal): 54 3/4 × 29 × 18 1/4 inches (139.1 × 73.7 × 46.4 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department American Art before 1950

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Beatrice W. Rogers Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 1987.77

Markings

Signed Signed, on bronze mount: Work of Herbert Adams MDCCCXCIIII

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

1988-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts from the Beatrice W. Rogers Fund in 1987 (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

Suggest Feedback

Published References

Seventy-First Annual Exhibition. Exh. cat., Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Philadelphia, 1901, p. 72, no. 100 (ill.).

Caffin, Charles. American Masters of Sculpture. Garden City, NY, 1913, p. 105 (ill.).

Taft, Loredo. The History of American Sculpture. New York, 1924, p. 391.

Bulletin of the DIA 64, 2-3 (1988): p. 6 (fig. 4).

Tolles, Thayer. “’In a Class by Themselves’: Polychrome Portraits by Herbert Adams.” Perspectives on American Sculpture Before 1925. New York, 2001, pp. 64-81 (fig. 50).

Kindly share your feedback or any additional information, as this record is still a work in progress and may need further refinement.

Suggest Feedback

Catalogue Raisoneé

Please note: This section is empty

Credit Line for Reproduction

Herbert Adams, Portrait of a Young Lady, 1894, polychromed marble with bronze mounts. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Beatrice W. Rogers Fund, 1987.77.