Walter MacEwen's Mirror Images

"A Belle of 1910" by Walter MacEwen

"In 1900, Walter MacEwen began a series of paintings that launched the 'cosmopolitan' phase of his career. Each depicts a full-length socialite contemplating her own image in a mirror. These studies remained distinct, his brush tight and controlled, but he did lighten his palette to bright whites and pastels to create the beautiful fabrics he so skillfully imitated.

Ranging in size from 3 feet by 2 feet to as large as 7 feet by 3 feet, these pieces were probably commissioned and custom sized to fit the needs of his patrons. Most often one painting's subject would be identical to another with only slight changes to the facial features and the color of her Empire costume. MacEwen would also modify the furnishings around the subject.

For a few years, MacEwen's mirror pictures were his trademark, but they did not earn him any extraordinary prestige. It may, however, have proven to be a lucrative sales tactic at a time when he might have needed the work the most. In 1889, the year before he embarked on his cosmopolitan campaign, he had taken a wife, Mary Ella Ward."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Walter MacEwen: A Forgotten Episode in American Art" by Rhonda Kay Cross.)