Esther Pressoir

In this self-portrait, Esther Pressoir gazes unapologetically out of the picture, a cigarette smoldering in her hand. In the 1920s and ’30s, many women asserted their independence by smoking in public. Here Pressoir floats in a swirl of thick paint strokes and draws her knees toward her chest. Her pink flesh is outlined in warm red tones, bringing the figure to life and separating the subject from the somber background. Her crimson lipstick and fingernails, bobbed hair, and high-heeled black shoe characterize Pressoir as a fashionable modern woman and an artist to be reckoned with.

–Suzanne Scanlan, assistant professor, Theory and History of Art and Design (THAD), RISD