Girl in Pink Dress
Laura Wheeler Waring American
Not on view
Laura Wheeler Waring’s portrayals of Black women across the social spectrum often transcended class norms and disrupted prevalent stereotypes. Here, her young sitter is presented as an icon of the Jazz Age, with the sleek, bobbed coiffure and elegant drop-waisted flapper dress that were emblematic of the period. The artist’s skillful portraits of Black figures drew praise from an initially skeptical Alain Locke, the philosophical leader of the Harlem Renaissance, who later acknowledged the modernity of her subjects. Portraits such as this one solidified her stature as the foremost Black female painter of the Harlem Renaissance.
