Women's Art Class

Louis Lang

ca. 1868 · Oil on canvas · The American Wing

Lang settled in New York in 1845, seven years after immigrating to Philadelphia from his native Germany. Here he presents a group of women in an unidentified studio space, industriously practicing the arts of painting, drawing, and sculpture. They appear amidst the varied essentials for training: books of prints, a palette and paints, plaster sculptures and architectural fragments, easels, and creative tools. By the late 1860s, educational opportunities for aspiring professional women artists had expanded; from private lessons with established artists to schools, notably the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, established in 1859, and the Ladies Art Association, started in 1867.

Artist

Louis Lang

Date

ca. 1868

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Morris K. Jesup Fund, 1999