James Edward Kelly, born New York City - Mathew B. Brady - 1891 - T-Shirt

A charcoal and white chalk profile of photographer Mathew B. Brady, drawn in 1891 by James Edward Kelly on warm tan paper.

Visual Elements & Composition

The sitter faces left in strict profile, his wavy hair falling full over the crown and behind the ear. Pince-nez spectacles sit on a thin bridge above a short beard, and a dark civilian coat meets a white collar and shirt front. Soft charcoal hatching models the curls, while white chalk lifts the nose, beard and collar against a tan ground that makes up most of the sheet. The artist's inscription, "Kelly, June 19, 91," sits at the right, and the sitter's signature, "M.B. Brady," runs across the lower part of the composition.

Meaning & Symbolism

The signature identifies the sitter as Mathew B. Brady (c. 1822-1896), the photographer known for his documentary portraits of Abraham Lincoln and for his battlefield and camp views of the American Civil War. His studios in New York and Washington helped make the photographic portrait a national form. Drawing him from life and signing the sheet places a maker of pictures at the centre of the image, and the signature becomes part of the composition itself. Kelly (1855-1933), an American illustrator, painter and sculptor from New York, treated the portrait as a record of a sitter's manner and character, and this sheet is one of his warmest.

Made for the Wearer

A profile portrait suits the front of a tee, where the head and shoulders read clearly from across a room. The tan ground and the dark coat keep the drawing's quiet, contemplative mood intact on the shirt, and the inscribed date and signature stay legible as part of the layout. Worn as a piece of everyday clothing, the shirt carries a 19th-century portrait of one of the era's most important image makers.