Portrait 1956

Yvonne Thomas made this oil on canvas ‘Portrait’, whose date remains unknown. Thomas came into her own as an artist in the mid-20th century during the rise of Abstract Expressionism in America, yet she remained outside the spotlight of the New York School. The gestural brushstrokes and muted palette create a sense of inwardness, typical of much abstract portraiture. But what does it mean to make a portrait in this style? We might think about the cultural status of portraiture in the Post-War period, when photography had largely taken over the function of recording likeness. What space did this leave for painting? Perhaps abstraction offered a way to focus less on the outer appearance of the sitter, and more on their internal state. To understand more, we might turn to Thomas’s biography, letters and studio notes for clues. The interpretation of art is never fixed, but always contingent on the social and institutional histories that shape it.