A painting of three seated women in ladder-back chairs, each holding a corner of a large white …

The Lacemakers

Artist Walter MacEwen (American, 1860 - 1943)

Datec. 1885 - 1900

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsCanvas: 22 7/8 × 38 3/4 inches (58.1 × 98.4 cm)
Framed: 28 13/16 × 44 9/16 × 2 1/4 inches (73.2 × 113.2 × 5.7 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. George A. S. Starke, Jr. and family.

Object number1992.2

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CopyrightThe images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextA native of Chicago, Walter MacEwen had originally planned to pursue a career in business, but an odd quirk of fate changed the course of his life. When a destitute painter asked MacEwen for a small loan, the artist left his paints and brushes as collateral. He never returned to collect them, and MacEwen began to experiment with the abandoned materials. By 1877 he had departed for Europe, where he studied under Frank Duveneck at the Royal Academy in Munich, and later at the Académie Julian in Paris. By the mid-1880s, MacEwen had established studios in Paris and Holland, spending sixty years in Europe before returning to the United States in 1939 when war broke out. In The Lacemakers, three seated Dutch women are engaged in tatting the edges of a large piece of white fabric. Behind them, a man stands by a window, smoking a pipe and staring at the woman on the left, who seems lost in meditation. Dominated by muted, silvery tones, the palette is enlivened by the bright red bodices of two of the women and the tiny potted flowers on the windowsills.

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