Emily Burling Waite Attributed Oil Painting

Item Details

An oil painting on canvas of a nude figure attributed to well-listed Massachusetts artist Emily B. Waite (1887 – 1980). It depicts the back of an androgynous nude figure against a dark background. The figure is in a partially reclining pose, propped up on both arms, emphasizing the curve of the spine. The piece is unsigned but comes directly from the estate of Worcester Historical Museum with artist attribution. It is presented as an unframed canvas.

Emily B. Waite is best known for her oil portraits, still life paintings, and etchings. She began her formal artistic training at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where she studied from 1908 through 1910 under Philip Leslie Hale and Francis Luis Mora. In 1910 she received the Paige Traveling Scholarship and traveled extensively for two years throughout France, Spain, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, and Italy, studying and copying master paintings. Waite’s work is represented in the collections of numerous distinguished institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D. C.; and the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C., among many others.

Condition

- to fair; water stains throughout; canvas has lost tension.

Dimensions

Item #

16BOS020-307