Unknown Woman

A relatively little known artist, Smith displays his skill at capturing the elegance and style of a fashionably dressed woman through the use of two colors of chalk. Black chalk creates the shadows that form in the folds of her ballooning silk, while touches of white mimic flashes of light on the fabric as the figure moves along. Small-scale portraits exhibit many of the stylistic qualities of larger paintings, but in a size conducive to display within more intimate interior spaces such as dressing rooms or even in albums, where they were often placed for their decorative appeal. Far more than bust-length studies, full-length portraits like this drawing provide an opportunity to focus on the costume and accessories of the figure, allowing for rich, sumptuous materials such as silks and satins to act as additional markers of beauty.