American Art Collaborative

The portrait of Dorothy Roosevelt was executed in 1901-1902, when John White Alexander returned to the United States from his most recent ten-year European stay.The sitter was the first cousin of President Theodore Roosevelt and was soon to marry Langdon Geer. The portrait effortlessly demonstrates all the qualities that put Alexander in demand. The simplicity of the composition-a solitary seated figure accompanied by a dog-allows for a focus on Miss Roosevelt, whose grace is emphasized by the sweeping brushwork that defines her tall, elegant figure. Yet the oblique gaze and profile view remove this painting from the straightforward depiction of a particular sitter and position it as a study in reverie. John White Alexander was a truly cosmopolitan painter whose mature career is a synthesis of the major stylistic trends affecting late 19th-century American art. He studied in both Paris and Munich and subsequently became friends with the expatriate American artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler, whose influence may be seen in the mysterious slightly melancholy nature of this portrait. Alexander was also widely acclaimed as a muralist and illustrator.