JEANNE POSTCARD

$1.50 at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

Alfred Maurer’s painting of French model Jeanne Blazy challenged traditional portraiture and social conventions of the time. Rendered in a full-length format popular in high society, Jeanne pokes fun at the more graceful figures typically seen in European and American paintings. Dressed and accessorized in garments from Maurer’s costume trunk, she dons a dramatic feather boa and large straw hat decorated with a stuffed white bird. Jeanne’s over-the-shoulder glance adds to her unconventional attitude and the…