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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1965.120
People
William Michael Harnett, American (Clonakilty, Ireland 1848 - 1892 New York, NY)
Title
Profile Portrait of a Girl
Other Titles
Former Title: Female Head
Former Title: Head of a German Girl
Former Title: Head of a Woman
Former Title: Portrait of a Young Girl
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1881
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/308801

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Charcoal with touches of white chalk on buff wove paper, mounted to cardboard
Dimensions
51.5 x 42.8 cm (20 1/4 x 16 7/8 in.)
mount: 51.6 x 43.2 cm (20 5/16 x 17 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: charcoal, l.r.: WMH (monogram) / München / 1881
  • exhibition label: removed from old mount? now in curatorial file, paper, black ink, blue ink, graphite, printed, typewritten, handwritten: One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition, 1955. [graphite:] 12/13/54; 10.1947; Box no. 42-1; [blue ball-point ink:] 112; [typed in black ink:] William Harnett / Head of a German Girl
  • exhibition label: removed from old mount? now in curatorial file, paper, black ink, printed and typewritten: [typed in black ink:] American Portrait Drawings, May-July 1980. Head of a Woman.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Harnett studio sale, Thomas Birch's Sons, Philadelphia, February 23, 24, 1893, no. 25(?). D. David; sold to Downtown Gallery, New York, 1947; sold to Paul J. Sachs, 1947 ($500); bequest to Fogg Art Museum, 1965.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Meta and Paul J. Sachs
Accession Year
1965
Object Number
1965.120
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • The One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition, exh. cat., Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Philadelphia, PA, 1955), no. 65, repr.
  • Alfred V. Frankenstein, After the Hunt: William Harnett and Other American Still Life Painters 1870 - 1900, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA, 1969), pp. 63, 169, pl. 51
  • Kenyon Castle Bolton, III, Peter G. Huenink, Earl A. Powell III, Harry Z. Rand, and Nanette C. Sexton, American Art at Harvard, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1972), cat. 90, ill.
  • Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., American Master Drawings and Watercolors: A History of Works on Paper from Colonial Times to the Present, Harper & Row (New York, NY, 1976), p. 207, fig. 168
  • Marvin Sadik and Harold Pfister, American Portrait Drawings, exh. cat., National Portrait Gallery (Washington, D.C, 1980), p. 88, ill.
  • Daniel M. Mendelowitz and Duane A. Wakeham, Mendelowitz's Guide to Drawing, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY, 1982), p. 240
  • Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), no. 293, p. 250, repr.
  • Malcolm Goldstein, "Edith Gregor Halpert: Art Dealer", Drawing, New York Drawing Society (July 1991 - August 1991), vol. XIII, pp. 32-35, repr. p. 34
  • Daniel M. Mendelowitz, David L. Faber, and Duane A. Wakeham, A Guide to Drawing, Thomson Wadsworth (Belmont, CA, 2007), fig. 15-1, p. 291

Exhibition History

  • Unidentified Exhibition, Downtown Gallery, 1948, The Downtown Gallery, New York, 01/01/1948 - 12/31/1948
  • The One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 01/15/1955 - 03/13/1955
  • American Art at Harvard, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/19/1972 - 06/18/1972
  • American Portrait Drawings, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, 05/01/1980 - 07/31/1980
  • Re-View: S426A (Large Niche) 19th Century French Portrait Drawings, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 05/07/2009 - 08/30/2009
  • 32Q: 2100 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 07/11/2017 - 11/01/2017

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu