Alma Sewing
American Art

Alma Sewing
Artwork Details
Artist/Maker
Francis Criss
American, 1901–1973
American, 1901–1973
Date
ca. 1935
Medium
Oil on canvas
Accession #
2002.70
Dimensions
33 x 45 inches
Location
On View - Stent Family Wing, Level 3, Gallery 301
Description
Francis Criss was critically acclaimed for his distinctive blend of realism and abstraction. Alma Sewing is his most ambitious and striking work. In its celebration of the artist as worker, the painting is a quintessential 1930s expression, but it also makes a personal statement: a self-portrait appears in the lower half of the seamstress’s lamp. While Alma may be viewed as the artist’s model, Criss thoughtfully presents her as a skilled professional surrounded by the tools of her trade.