Paint box with nude study

De Kay (later Gilder) is better known for her role as a progressive cultural tastemaker in late nineteenth-century New York than for her paintings. This paint box, a rare survivor of her artistic practice, reveals much about training for women at the time. The nude study dates the work to around 1871, the year when life classes were first open to women at the National Academy of Design. De Kay also studied privately with Winslow Homer and John La Farge, specializing in floral imagery. A magnetic personality, de Kay greatly enriched the progressive cultural landscape through many contributions, including establishing the famous Friday salons at the Gilders’ home near Union Square, organizing a Saturday-morning sketch club, and co-founding both the Art Students League and the Society of American Artists.