Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Preview image of work. charcoal over graphite on yellow paper, Agnes Meyer 27408

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Agnes Meyer

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Artist

Marius de Zayas (Veracruz, Mexico, 3/13/1880 - 1/10/1961, Stamford, Connecticut)

Title

Agnes Meyer

Creation Date

ca. 1912-1913

Century

early 20th century

Dimensions

24 7/16 x 18 3/4 in. (62 x 48 cm)

Object Type

drawing

Creation Place

North America, Mexico

Medium and Support

charcoal over graphite on yellow paper

Credit Line

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., gift of Anne Meyer, NPG.99.98, Photo Credit: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution / Art Resource, New York

Copyright

This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.

Between 1909 and 1913, Alfred Stieglitz mounted three separate exhibitions of work by Marius de Zayas at his gallery, 291. At the third, the cosmopolitan émigré exhibited eighteen charcoal caricatures, including this example, in two styles: “relative” (representational) and “absolute” (non-representational). The abstractions on view combined algebraic equations, geometric forms, and dramatic chiaroscuro to impart the artist’s vision of otherwise imperceptible realities. Agnes Meyer, exemplary of the early twentieth-century “New Woman”, independently financed her education at Barnard College and became one of "The New York Sun’s" first female reporters. This rare drawing suggests her energy, drive, and élan. Francis Picabia’s representation of Meyer as a mechanical catalyst, reproduced nearby, also testifies to her dynamic character.