Davis, Chelsea: “Depictions of Women in the Art of Francis Davis Millet” Thesmophoria, How the Gossip Grew, and Baby Worship
“Depictions of Women in the Art of Francis Davis Millet” Thesmophoria, 1894-1897, oil on canvas, 25 x 50 1/4
In 1892, Francis Davis Millet became the Director of Decorations for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This fair, during a period of civic and cultural architectural growth and the City Beautiful Movement, which was meant to enhance the aesthetic value of American cities, became part of a nation-wide mural movement in the late nineteenth century. The purpose of mural paintings within civic and cultural buildings was to create a more aesthetic environment and to encourage civic pride. Therefore, mural paintings were often decorative and often included superficial allegorical themes. The allegorical and decorative nature of these murals meant the increased presence of female figures in mural painting.
Millet’s Thesmophoria was a decorative, lunette-shaped mural commissioned for the Bank of Agriculture in Pittsburgh and consists of a group of women in antique drapery. The subject of the painting is the Athenian festival of the Thesmophoria, which was an annual celebration of women to honor the goddess of agriculture, Demeter.
Like many other contemporary images of women, Millet’s female figures are classical, idealized women dressed in antique classical drapery. The majority of the figures in the image are women, though there are some men and children present. However, though idealized, Millet’s figures have a sense of individuality and are portraits of women he knew, including Mrs. Millet, Mrs. Alma-Tadema, and actress Mary Anderson, who was represented as the priestess figure, separated from the rest of the group and carrying a thurible. Therefore, Millet’s images of women were not interchangeable, unindividualized figures and he specifically represented the main figure of the work as a popular actress held in high esteem.
Although Millet’s women have distinct characteristics, depicting them as classical, allegorical figures was common during this period of time in mural painting. Women, dating back to classical antiquity, had often been figures of abstract concepts like allegory and symbols. This kind of depiction removed women from reality and placed them in an otherworldly, mystical setting. During the late nineteenth century, artists often painted women as either leisurely women within the home, or as classical or mythological women. Either way, they were removed from the real, outside world.
Millet’s figures, the composition, costume, and landscape all work together to create an aesthetic, decorative effect. Millet’s use of color, line, and balance create a sense of stability, peace, and calm. The aesthetic quality and mood created in this mural painting by Millet overpowers and weakens any kind of story that the women may be part of in Thesmophoria. This suggests that there was an aesthetic intent for the work over any kind of narrative. Therefore, the purpose of the mural was a decorative one, and Millet’s choice of subject matter that primarily consisted of classically-inspired female figures was consistent with other contemporary depictions of women in decorative art.
Literature:
Caffin, Charles H. “Frank D. Millet’s Mural Painting for Pittsburg.” Harper’s Weekly 41
(December 1897): 1294-1295.
D’Angelo, Gina M. “Francis Davis Millet — The Early Years of ‘A Cosmopolitan Yankee,’
1846-1884,” Ph.D. diss. The City University of New York, 2004.
Van Hook, Bailey. Angels of Art: Women and Art in American Society, 1876-1914. University
Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996.
Van Hook, Bailey. “Decorative Images of American Women: The Aristocratic Aesthetic of the
Late Nineteenth Century.” Smithsonian Studies in American Art 4, no. 1 (1990): 44-69.
“Depictions of Women in the Art of Francis Davis Millet” How the Gossip Grew, 1889, Oil on Canvas, 37 x 60”
Francis Davis Millet’s How the Gossip Grew depicts two women sitting inside a room, having a relaxed conversation over tea. The woman on the right casually leans back on her chair reading a letter while the woman on the left leans in to listen to what she’s reading. They sit in a well-lit and nicely decorated room with fashionable Adam-style furnishings, a large decorative fireplace, and paintings along the walls—a setting fit for upper-class women. Neither women have any distinct facial expression. They are beautiful, refined, and graceful figures, but they offer no sign of emotion or narrative. Therefore, the emphasis on decoration implies the painting has an aesthetic and decorative purpose. Because of the decorative aspect of the painting, Millet’s choice of female subjects fit in with other decorative art depicting women in the late nineteenth century.
How the Gossip Grew is one of many paintings by Millet that contain a theme of genteel domesticity. He places his figures in a quiet, domestic setting and creates a sense of leisure as they casually converse with each other in what appears to be mid-day based on the lighting. The women in Millet’s painting represent culture, refinement, beauty, and the ideal woman. Ideal, upper-class women did not work. In fact, women with jobs were looked down upon as not fitting into their feminine role. High-class women were not employed and belonged in the home and assumed a domestic role while their husbands went out and worked. Millet’s image supports this ideal by portraying beautiful, refined women sitting around in their home in mid-day gossiping with each other. This portrayal of leisure in the middle of the day with no men present suggests that the men are out working so their wives could have time for leisurely activities. This idea of portraying women alone to imply that the men are working was a common device used in other decorative paintings of women in domestic settings at the time. Therefore, depictions of leisurely women, such as the women in How the Gossip Grew, suggested the wealth and success of their husbands.
Similar to classical or mythological women, women who were portrayed within a quiet interior were far removed from the realities of the outside modern world. In Millet’s painting, he creates a quiet and calm mood. There is no sign of the world beyond the walls of the room in which the figures sit. There is no sign of labor or the busyness of life or a progressing society. Scenes like How the Gossip Grew served as a sort of refuge. However, by portraying women isolated within their homes and removed from reality, these depictions implied the diminished role of women in society as they were not actively a part of its progress. This was also a common theme among many works by Millet’s contemporaries which portrayed women.
Millet’s depictions of women in How the Gossip Grew are consistent with contemporary attitudes and artistic trends portrayed in other works containing women. The quiet setting, the leisurely activities, the upper-class furniture and interior decorations, the lack of men, the lighting, and the expressionless faces of the figures all support the ideals of upper-class women in in the late nineteenth century.
Literature:
D’Angelo, Gina M. “Francis Davis Millet — The Early Years of ‘A Cosmopolitan Yankee,’
1846-1884,” Ph.D. diss. The City University of New York, 2004.
Jordy, William H. “American Architecture between World’s Fairs: Richardson, Sullivan, and
McKim.” Archives of American Art Journal 23, no. 4 (1983): 27-33.
Van Hook, Bailey. Angels of Art: Women and Art in American Society, 1876-1914. University
Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996.
Van Hook, Bailey. “Decorative Images of American Women: The Aristocratic Aesthetic of the
Late Nineteenth Century.” Smithsonian Studies in American Art 4, no. 1 (1990): 44-69. Weinberg, Barbara. “The Career of Francis Davis Millet.” Archives of American Art Journal 17,
1 (1977): 2-18.
Analysis of Francis Davis Millet’s, Baby Worship
Francis Davis Millet’s painting, Baby Worship, is a genre painting that depicts a baby seated in a chair surrounded by four adoring women. The four women wear casual dresses from the 1800s and stand, kneel, and sit around the baby who raises its arms playfully towards them. Sunlight from a small, square window on the right wall bathes the room in a warm glow and bounces off various objects around the room. Baby toys scatter the floor around the women and a spinning wheel can be seen on the left side of the painting in front of a wooden bench. The women stand in front of a niche in the wall filled with china, and various objects like food hang from the ceiling. It is an ordinary, comfortable room. In Baby Worship, Millet captures an intimate and familiar scene using color, line, and light.
The use of color in Baby Worship encapsulates feelings of warmth and cheerfulness which contribute to the overall mood of the painting. Millet utilizes dull, warm colors to surround the main object of the painting, while using brighter, cool colors to draw attention to the women and child. Millet accentuates oranges and reds in his browns for a warmer tint on the wooden furniture and walls to create a comforting environment. Millet leads viewers’ attention to the focus of the painting—the baby— by contrasting the reds, browns, and oranges of the walls with the blues, greens and whites of the dresses of the women around the baby. By using opposite colors on the color wheel to surround the child, it helps draw focus to it. The cool, light blue dress of the woman bending toward the child, the light green dress of the woman standing, and the white dress of the woman kneeling in front of the child all contribute to a feeling of tranquility while the white dress of the baby provides a sense of innocence. Therefore, color in Baby Worship is important because Millet uses it to draw viewer attention to the painting’s focal point and to evoke emotion from viewers that allow them to not only view a painting but also to join the familiar experience of admiring a new child in the safety and comfort of one’s home.
Line is another essential tool Millet uses to convey a sense of comfort and security throughout the painting and to direct focus toward the child. The horizontal lines of the bench and the shelves within the niche and the vertical lines in the wooden beams along the walls both work together to create a sense of order and stability. These lines emphasize a sense of security within the home. The sharpness created by the hard lines that define the room and the objects within it is softened by the soft, rounded lines that define the bodies of the five figures in the corner. The curved line of the seated woman’s back and knees convey feelings of relaxation. The lines created by the outstretched arms of the two women in the middle lead the eye to the baby. Millet emphasizes the baby as the focus further by encircling it through the use of line. From the knees of the woman sitting to the child’s left, focus is directed through the curved line of her thigh and waist and then up to what appears to be a round table stood up against the wall behind the baby. From there, gaze is directed to the tallest figure’s head, then over and down to the head of the woman crouching next to her, and then to the head of the woman kneeling in front of the baby, after which, her outstretched arms guide the eye to the child. Therefore, through line, Millet keeps focus on the baby while also creating a sense of comfort and stability.
As he did with color and line, Millet also uses light to draw attention to the focal point as well as evoke emotion from the viewer. Focus is drawn to the right side of the painting, which is bathed in warm, illusory sunlight pouring in through the small window on the right wall. The left side of the painting is out of reach of the sunlight and is cast in shadows and so is darker than the right side. The light from the window also bathes the room in a yellow glow, creating the feeling of warmth from the late afternoon sun. While the room is dark and full of shadows, light catches and shines on the dresses of the women and the baby, causing the baby to be surrounded by light. Of the four women, the light shines most directly on the woman in the white dress in front of the little girl. She is the lightest figure and so gaze is directed from the window down to her. From there, gaze is directed down to her arms, which are the brightest part of her body, and then over to the baby’s dress, which also contains a lot of light. Thus, light is used to create feelings of warmth and comfort to the scene as well as draw attention to the kneeling woman and the baby.
In Baby Worship, Millet captures a familiar and intimate scene of adoring women admiring the baby. The familiar feelings of being captivated by a playful young child and being filled with adoration are created using color, line, and light. Through these formal elements, Millet creates a sense of warmth, comfort, and cheerfulness within the home as well as feelings of tranquility and security. He not only paints a beautiful scene, but he brings those who view the painting into the warm home to join the women in adoring the baby.