Aimé Dupont Studio (active New York and Newport, 1886 - 1950s)
Ethel Smyth, 1903
Platinum print, 27.8 x 20 cm (10 15/16 x 7 7/8 in.)
This is a vertical, postcard-sized platinum print, black and white, photograph. The sitter, Ethel Smyth, is located in the center of the composition and occupies most of the frame. She wears a cap with her hair either tightly pinned back or placed inside the cap. She also wears a light-colored, checkered shirt with a solid white collar, a striped bow tie, a dark colored trench coat, and a long skirt of a similar color to the trench coat. The sitter gazes towards our left as she poses, in a seated position on an intricately carved wooden bench. Although her legs lay beneath her thick skirt, it is evident she is cross legged with her right leg over her left and gazes towards our left. Her right hand is in her coat pocket, while her left forearm rests on the bench's armrest. The photograph is pasted on a larger, light colored piece of parchment which has multiple markings on the bottom margin. On the left some sheet music, on the center the name and address of the studio responsible for the picture: Annie Dupont, 574 Fifth Ave. N.Y., Newport R.I., and to the right is the name of the sitter and the date of production, March 1903. Lastly, a small caption in white ink located near the bottom left corner of the frame reads, "3 Copyright, A. Dupont."
Yellow Room
Commentary
Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) was the first woman composer to become a Dame of the British Empire; her opera “The Wreckers” is among the most important English operas. She dedicated her talents to supporting her political beliefs: her song “The March of the Women” was the anthem of the women’s suffrage movement. Isabella Stewart Gardner met Smyth through the artist John Singer Sargent and invited her to lunch at the museum in 1903. Gardner supported women’s educational and social advancement, and she undoubtedly admired Smyth’s dedication to her cause.