Thomas Dewing: 70 Masterpieces

Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851 – 1938) was an American painter working at the turn of the 20th century. He was a founding member of the Ten American Painters and taught at the Art Students League of New York. The Art Museum at the Smithsonian Institution has a room dedicated to his works. Dewing is best known for his tonalist paintings, a genre of American art that was rooted in English Aestheticism. Dewing's preferred vehicle of artistic expression is the refined, aristocratic female figure situated in a moody and dreamlike surrounding. Often seated playing instruments, writing letters, or simply communicating with one another, Dewing's sensitively portrayed figures have a detachment from the viewer that keeps the spectator a remote witness to the scene rather than a participant. His works are in private collections and museums in the United States. At the Freer Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, a room is devoted to Dewing's paintings.