Samuel Johnson Woolf, 12 Feb 1880 - 3 - Evangeline Cory Booth - 1930 - T-Shirt

A seated woman turns toward the viewer in a dark hat and cape, drawn in charcoal with a calm, faintly smiling expression.

Visual Elements & Composition

Dark charcoal anchors the design. The brimmed hat and the cape tied at the throat form the strongest masses, and the face is left open, so the eye settles there. Behind her, a framed portrait of an older bearded man hangs in pale, loosely hatched tone, and diagonal strokes suggest the room around them. Quick, open contour lines carry the lap and lower figure. A handwritten inscription runs along the lower left edge of the sheet, a small detail that marks the drawing as a made object rather than a printed image.

Meaning & Symbolism

The sitter is Evangeline Cory Booth, the American-born leader of the Salvation Army, who directed its work in the United States and was known for her public preaching and social welfare programmes. The framed figure behind her places her within a setting of institutional authority and faith rather than a private one. The pose is upright and self-possessed, which reads as dignity without ceremony. The drawing comes from Samuel Johnson Woolf, an American portraitist known for charcoal and crayon likenesses of politicians, religious and civic leaders, and other public figures, many reproduced in newspapers and magazines in the 1920s and 1930s. Its looser manner, with hatching and open lines doing the work of modelling, belongs to that period of fast, expressive portraiture.

On the Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee

A portrait on a tee is seen at close range and from the front, which suits this drawing. Booth's gaze meets whoever is looking at the wearer, and the open treatment of the face means the expression holds its character at conversation distance. The toned parchment ground and charcoal linework read as one composed image across the chest, so the drawing's quiet, measured mood carries onto the shirt itself.