![Dancing Girl (1871) “Oil on canvas, 99.1 x 49.2 cm” [Reynolda House, Museum of Art, Winston-Salem, NC, USA] -- Elihu Vedder (American; 1836 - 1923) | by La Música en La Pintura - Music in Painting.](http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52435483497_95cdf69dd1.jpg)
Dancing Girl (1871) “Oil on canvas, 99.1 x 49.2 cm” [Reynolda House, Museum of Art, Winston-Salem, NC, USA] -- Elihu Vedder (American; 1836 - 1923)
Elihu Vedder’s Dancing Girl from 1871 demonstrates the way the artist absorbed and synthesized various influences to create a harmonious whole. In the painting, a fair-haired model stands holding an elaborately decorated tambourine. She is placed before a luxurious tapestry depicting lush vegetation and exotic animals, including lions, camels, and deer. She is richly attired in a Renaissance-style gown, but she raises her skirts to reveal Turkish-style leggings and slippers, suggesting that the setting is a harem. Surrounding her are various elements for entertainment: a wheel for predicting fortunes for her audience, juggling balls, and sticks. Although the painting is called Dancing Girl, she is not depicted dancing, but rather posing serenely, lips parted, gazing to the side. She is less an actor and more an aesthetic object, like the tapestry and painted tambourine.
Elihu Vedder (1836–1923) lived an unconventional life and produced work that was highly individual and imaginative—sometimes even sublime, mysterious, and haunting. Called a visionary artist even during his lifetime, he created paintings and drawings that often invite comparisons with the British artist William Blake.
Source: Reynolda House
www.reynoldahouse.org/collect.../object/dancing-girl
Dancing Girl (1871) “Oil on canvas, 99.1 x 49.2 cm” [Reynolda House, Museum of Art, Winston-Salem, NC, USA] -- Elihu Vedder (American; 1836 - 1923)
Elihu Vedder’s Dancing Girl from 1871 demonstrates the way the artist absorbed and synthesized various influences to create a harmonious whole. In the painting, a fair-haired model stands holding an elaborately decorated tambourine. She is placed before a luxurious tapestry depicting lush vegetation and exotic animals, including lions, camels, and deer. She is richly attired in a Renaissance-style gown, but she raises her skirts to reveal Turkish-style leggings and slippers, suggesting that the setting is a harem. Surrounding her are various elements for entertainment: a wheel for predicting fortunes for her audience, juggling balls, and sticks. Although the painting is called Dancing Girl, she is not depicted dancing, but rather posing serenely, lips parted, gazing to the side. She is less an actor and more an aesthetic object, like the tapestry and painted tambourine.
Elihu Vedder (1836–1923) lived an unconventional life and produced work that was highly individual and imaginative—sometimes even sublime, mysterious, and haunting. Called a visionary artist even during his lifetime, he created paintings and drawings that often invite comparisons with the British artist William Blake.
Source: Reynolda House
www.reynoldahouse.org/collect.../object/dancing-girl