Portrait of Honoré Willsie Morrow

c. 1917

Portrait of Honoré Willsie Morrow, c. 1917. Gertrude Käsebier (American, 1852–1934). Platinum print; image: 12.6 x 9.5 cm (4 15/16 x 3 3/4 in.); paper: 12.6 x 9.5 cm (4 15/16 x 3 3/4 in.); primary mount: 14.2 x 10.5 cm (5 9/16 x 4 1/8 in.); secondary mount: 23 x 18 cm (9 1/16 x 7 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg 2022.115 This bust-length portrait of Honoré Willsie Morrow demonstrates how Käsebier brought an artistic attitude to even straight-forward commercial portrait commissions. Morrow (1880-1940) was a successful author of fiction and non-fiction and a magazine editor. Käsebier’s portrait, while appropriately demure, nonetheless conveys the sitter’s intelligence, energy, and directness, enlivening a formulaic composition through pose, framing, and highlighting. Gertrude Käsebier was one of the most revered artistic portraitists of her day.