Portrait of an old woman 1897

Full-length portrait of an old woman in a seated position in profile view. The sitter is seated on a wooden box, her head slightly inclined, her hands crossed on her lap. Clothing: a dark brown dress, a wine-red shirt underneath, a pale blue apron over it, a pale blue scarf around her neck and a white hood on her head. In the left foreground a pair of wooden clogs. Background: a sparse room interior with a wooden floor and a gray-brown wall.

JQAW# G_1897_010
Oil on canvas 60 x 50 cm
Signature: John Quincy Πdams 97
Private collection Hungary
Image: Private photograph of the owner

This early work by the artist was created in 1897 at a time when Adams was studying at the Munich Academy. On the back of the picture there is a handwritten note by the artist, probably added somewhat later (around 1900): “...Ɑdams (with his typical ‘open A’) 97 Munich”. The portrait is likely an academic study, but the Dutch-inspired subject could also indicate that it was created in the artists' colony of Volendam north of Amsterdam, where Adams spent several summers (see cross-references). However, Adams' visits to Volendam are only documented as of 1898 during his time as a student in Paris and the earliest documented work from Adams' Volendam period thus far dates from 1901.

What is remarkable about the painting is that it is one of the few early works by the artist that has remained continuously in the same family after its purchase (probably directly from the artist around 1900), even though the owner's family was racially persecuted and the likely first owner became a victim of the Shoa in 1944.

Cross-references

Exhibited

Literature

Provenance

Ca.1900-1945, Ernö Harstein (1876-1944 Shoa), Nyíregyháza, Hungary (likely purchased directly from the artist).
After 1945 his son Pál Harstein/(1947 magyarized to) Haraszti (1910-1977), and
his family descendants (son and granddaughter),
private collection, Hungary.