Alice Pike Barney, born Cincinnati, OH - Young Woman in Green - n.d. - T-Shirt

This pastel drawing presents a young woman in classical profile, facing left, set within a soft oval of light.

Visual Elements & Composition

The figure fills the centre of the image. Her brown hair is dressed high at the back of the head and held by a thin gold band. Her face is lightly modelled in cream and rose, and her bare neck and shoulder catch a warm light against the cooler tones around them. A loose green gown is fastened at the shoulder with a small gold ornament. The background is a pale grey-blue ground, with an oval halo of white and pale green chalk enclosing the head and shoulders. The composition has no setting and no text, so the eye follows the outline of the profile and the contrast between cool and warm colour.

Meaning & Symbolism

The profile is a classical format, and the calm, forward-looking pose gives the figure a dignified and poised character. The draped green dress and gold accents recall the antique-inspired dress that was widely fashionable in early twentieth-century portraiture. The oval halo isolates the figure from any setting, which turns the portrait into a study of form and quiet colour. The work is by Alice Pike Barney (1857-1931), born in Cincinnati, an American painter and pastellist known for portraits and figure studies. She also ran a salon-style artistic circle in Washington, D.C. This undated pastel shows her command of the soft, blended surface and her interest in the decorative balance of profile, drapery and background.

Worn on the Body

On a tee, the portrait sits at the chest, so the profile reads when you look down and the oval halo frames the shape of the wearer's own shoulders. Because the image is printed at a single scale, its quiet contrast of green and grey stays clear at a distance and up close alike.