Miner Kilbourne Kellogg, born Manlius - Figure Study (Exiting Bath) - n.d. - T-Shirt

A pencil study of a standing woman in a bonnet and shawl, drawn as she leaves the bath and annotated with its colour plan in the margin.

Visual Elements & Composition

The figure fills the centre of a cream sheet, set on a thin ground line with her feet showing below a long, ruffled skirt. A small ribbon bow sits on the bonnet, and a shawl drapes over the shoulders. The face is left blank, so the eye goes to the costume and its outline. Below the figure, handwritten pencil notes read going out of bath, followed by colour directions: the head white with a gold border, the shoulders in coloured silk, the body left plain. The grey graphite lines are light and the page carries the stains and torn upper-left corner of a working sheet.

Meaning & Symbolism

The bonnet and shawl mark a moment of departure, not arrival, which pairs this sheet with a companion study labelled entering bath. Together the two drawings track a scene from arrival to leaving. The colour notes show that Kellogg was settling dress and palette as well as line, so the sheet records a decision made before the finished work. Miner Kilbourne Kellogg was an American painter born in Manlius, New York, who worked in both landscape and the figure. A sheet like this, with its annotations, is a planning document, and its marginal notes give it a record-keeping character a finished drawing would not carry.

Crafted for the Wearer

This artwork is a sketch built from a few confident lines and handwritten notes, so it reads best up close, the way the original was made to be read. Printed across the chest, the figure keeps her quiet, composed stance, and the annotation becomes a small detail for the wearer to notice. Every line of the study points toward the finished costume, and the shirt carries that same focus on dress and the moment of stepping out.