Art Eyewitness Book Review: Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast

 

Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast

By Marie-Sophie Carron de la Carrière

Thames & Hudson/272pages/$65

Reviewed by Ed Voves

How have the mighty fallen! 

These familiar words supply the refrain for one of the most time-honored topics in literature and history - the rise and fall of daring, high-stakes risk takers. 

From the ancient Greeks, with their concepts of hubris and nemesis, to "rich today, broke tomorrow" financial magnates, stories of those who defy the odds - and the "gods" - are fascinating and unnerving. Life can be very, very unkind to most people at some point in their lives, but especially so to those with the ambition to gamble everything for fame, power and riches.

Paul Poiret (1879-1944) was the protagonist in such a cautionary tale. Poiret chose to roll the dice of fate in the competition between haute couture fashion houses rather than on an actual battlefield. But the end result for Poiret le Magnifique was the same as for Napoleon at Waterloo.

Unknown photographer, Portrait of Paul Poiret, c. 1913

Poiret was the subject of a recent exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, June 2025 to January 2026. It was the biggest art show dedicated to Poiret since the celebrated Met Gala exhibit of 2007. Over five hundred dresses, evening gowns, coats, fashion accessories and works of art were displayed. The majority of these were donated to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs by Poiret's wife.

There are, sadly, no plans to bring a version of Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast to the U.S. museums. Thanks to Thames & Hudson, the companion book to the exhibition will keep fashion enthusiasts from rending their garments in despair. Even by T&H's exalted standards, this volume is a brilliant integration of beautiful full-page views of Poiret fashions, vintage photographs and cogent analysis.

Page spread from Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast, published by     

Thames & Hudson, showing Poiret's Mosaique Evening Gown, c. 1910

Special strong points of the T&H book are the extraordinary fidelity to color tones - Poiret loved vivid hues, especially green (above) - and the close-up details of dress ensembles such as the hand-embroidered silk crepe designs on the 1911 Flammes Shawl and Culotte-dress.

Page spread from Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast, showing Poiret's Flammes Shawl and Culotte-dress 1911

With such a dazzling repertoire, it is not hard to understand why Poiret rose to be the "King of Fashion." Rather more puzzling is how he toppled from his throne.

This begs the question, which the book's lead author, Marie-Sophie Carron de la Carrière, raises.

Who are you, Paul Poiret?

Paul Poiret was born in 1879 to a Parisian family engaged in the fabric trade. Such a background in fashion was hardly extraordinary. Poiret's sisters became successful designers, as well. But Poiret was not content with merely expanding the family business or working in concert with talented siblings. From the start, he had visions of la Grande Couture Française, with himself as its champion.

While still in his twenties, Poiret began selling designs to leading fashion "houses" in Paris. In 1898, after being hired by the firm of Jacques Doucet, one of Poiret's designs, for a theatrical costume used by the actress Rejane in the popular play Zaza, earned him widespread accolades.

After a mandatory year's service in the French Army, Poiret joined the celebrated House of Worth in 1901. What should have been a dream job lasted but a short interval. Like the "wild beast" painters, Matisse and Derain, Poiret wanted to redirect French fashion along unconventional paths. 

In 1903, Poiret opened his own fashion house, with designs emphasizing comfortable, body-configuring lines. In a series of radical moves, Poiret discarded rustling petticoats and the constricting corset which had held women in a tight-grip of stylish discomfort for decades.

Like most great cultural figures, Poiret was a man of contradictions. He boasted about liberating the bodies of women from corsets but claimed credit for introducing the leg-hugging "hobble" skirt, with a hem so-tight that it made walking nearly impossible. The original inspiration, incredibly enough, was to design a skirt to enable women to fit into the cockpit of an airplane.

Most of Poiret's other designs were comfortable, ravishingly beautiful - and highly priced. Cost-cutting was never an option for Poiret. The ultimate expression of his taste for rare, expensive materials and exquisite, painstaking stitchery is worth noting here, though it came late in his career.

 Paul Poiret, Marrekech Evening Gown, 1924

The shimmering Marrekech Evening Gown, dating to 1924, featured silver strip embroidery done in the Tsel stitching technique from the Berber people of Morocco. At the hem, Poiret affixed a wide band of chinchilla fur. The South American animals whose pelts provided the fur had been hunted almost to extinction until a 1910 protective treaty preserved the species. This saved the furry rodents but sent the prices of available fur soaring. 

Expense was no concern to Poiret. Chinchilla fur was added to the bottom of the gown, making it a symbol of luxury for the sake of luxury!

Poiret in a remarkably short interval after opening his "house" became France's leading fashion designer. But he did not succeed through high-priced gimmicks. His clothes were striking to behold and - hobble skirts aside - comfortable to wear. 

What today we would call the Poiret "brand" evolved into a mindset focused on grace and beauty, a life-enhancing experience that buyers brought home with the stunning garments they purchased at his shop.

Two of Poiret's creations from his pre-World War I heyday speak for the glittering fashion array which was displayed at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and now appear on the pages of the companion book published by T&H.

The Evening Coat, from 1910, was made of a material known as gros de Tours, with brocade design in gold and silver strips, trimmed in fur at the collar, shoulders and wrists and fastened at the waist by six ingeniously-placed silver buttons. Elegant and sensual, the coat also kept the woman who wore it warm on cold, damp winter evenings in Paris.

Paul Poiret, Evening Coat, 1910

If the 1910 Evening Coat was a masterpiece, so was 1912 Melodie Dress. Poiret's focus with the Melodie Dress was on a more natural, organic state of elegance.

At first glance, with its triangular pinafore, made of silk velvet, and side pocket, the Melodie Dress almost looks like a work tunic or leisure attire. But this apparent simplicity could not disguise its "groundbreaking silhouette that is both straight and flowing," to quote Marie-Pierre Ribere, one of the curators from the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. It was a revolutionary moment in fashion design.

Paul Poiret, Melodie Dress, 1912

Two years after introducing the Melodie Dress, Poiret was involved in designing truly functional garments. These were uniforms and overcoats for the French Army engaged in World War I. Poiret served in the army and there are photos of him, looking like a battle-hardened poilu. Though he did not fight in the trenches, the war left its mark on him. The glittering, glamorous world before the war was gone forever.

Poiret was not ready in 1919 to move-on, emotionally, from the pre-1914 milieu which he had dominated. He was not alone. Jean Cocteau, who knew Poiret well, wrote an influential essay, Le Rappel à l’ordre: discipline et liberté, calling for a return to classicism in all forms of cultural expression.

Poiret was only too willing to oblige. Too willing, if fact. Thus began his decline and fall as France's "king" of fashion.

Thérese Bonney, Paul Poiret and the model Rénee, 1927

As Poiret struggled to maintain his supremacy during the aftermath of the "Great War", he created fashion designs of unsurpassed beauty. Of those which appeared in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs exhibition, none exemplifies Poiret's post-war efforts better than the Martinique Dress of 1922.

This reinterpretation of the kimono, made of crepe-marocain and printed crepe de chine, was truly of a work of art. However, women in the 1920's, especially young women, increasingly valued dresses that made them feel vital, alive and sexy - not just look beautiful.

Paul Poiret, Martinique Dress, 1922

For all of its breathtaking allure, Poiret's Martinique Dress would not become the signature fashion design of the 1920's. That honor belongs to Coco Chanel's "Little Black Dress" - in its various incarnations. I saw one of these "flapper" dresses in the 2017 Jazz Age exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt. Even on a mannequin, Chanel's evening dress was the show-stopper of the exhibition.

The success of the"Little Black Dress" has helped to create the myth that the House of Chanel was built on the ruins of the House of Poiret. This is only partly correct, as revealed by several 1920's Poiret dresses in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. When directly contrasted with the Chanel evening dress from the Cooper Hewitt show, Poiret's "Arrow of Gold" (1925) more than holds its own in terms of lithe, sultry elegance.

Ed Voves, Photo (2017) Chanel's 1926 Evening Dress & Underslip; Poiret's "Arrow of Gold" Dress, 1925, Metropolitan Museum collection

Earlier, I commented how Poiret, in the pre-World War I era, created fashion designs which exuded a "life-enhancing experience that buyers brought home with the stunning garments they purchased at his shop." This is exactly what Chanel did in the 1920's. But there was an added bonus to Chanel's achievement - she was a stylish, savvy, independent woman who managed to make a success of her own bold endeavor.

To women in the 1920's, finally able to vote and with memories of their vital contributions to the war effort, Chanel was a major role model. Poiret might match Chanel's fashion designs, but how could he, a giant from an earlier epoch, respond to her appeal to the "new" woman of the Jazz Age?

The tragedy of Poiret's fall from grace was that he was wed to a beautiful, talented woman who could have helped him recreate the House of Poiret in the changed circumstances of the 1920's. In 1905, Poiret married Denise Boulet (1886-1982). It was a love match and, for many years, a successful marriage, though saddened by the death of two of their children during the war years.

 Denise Poiret wearing the Melodie Dress by Paul Poiret, 1913

Denise Poiret was her husband's best model. Poiret's fashions never looked better than when Denise wore them. She accompanied him on his tours throughout Europe and to the U.S. Audiences, especially Americans, were fascinated by the winning combination of Denise's devotion to her husband and her mysterious allure.

As far as the business-end of the House of Poiret, that was as far as it went. Poiret spent staggering amounts of revenue during the 1920's to reverse the dwindling fortunes of his business. At the same time, he ignored the public cachet and abundant talent of his wife. Instead, he treated Denise, in one case literally, like an exotic bird in a gilded cage.

Why did Poiret marginalize his wife, rather than give her a proactive role? Poiret admired Coco Chanel. He was the first to believe in Elsa Schiaparelli's fashion sense and mentored her during the early years of her career. Yet, he failed to capitalize on the many gifts of his own wife or give her scope for creative endeavor.

In 1928, Denise Poiret, worn-out by her husband's increasingly abusive behavior and, sad to relate, infidelity, sued for divorce. Fate, waiting in the wings, turned its full fury on Poiret. First bankruptcy and then everything fell apart. By the time he died in 1944, Poiret was destitute, living in his sister's apartment in Paris, a vanquished hero from a bygone age ...

... but not a forgotten genius. Elsa Schiaparelli, who paid for his burial expenses, called Poiret the "Leonardo of Fashion." So will you, after even a brief look at the wonderful T&H book, Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast.

***

Text: Copyright of Ed Voves, all rights reserved.

Introductory image:

Cover art of Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast by Marie-Sophie Carron de la Carrière, 2026. Courtesy of Thames & Hudson

Unknown photographer. Portrait of Paul Poiret, facing left, c. 1913. Library of Congress collection: LC-USZ62-100840 (b&w film copy neg.) photographic print.

Page spread from Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast, showing Poiret's  Mosaique Evening Gown, c. 1910. Collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Courtesy of Thames & Hudson

Page spread from Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast, showing Poiret's Flammes Shawl and Culotte-dress, 1911. Collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Courtesy of Thames & Hudson

Paul Poiret (1879-1944) Marrekech Evening Gown, 1924. Collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.

Paul Poiret (1879-1944) Evening Coat, 1910. Collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.

Paul Poiret (1879-1944) Melodie Dress, 1912. Collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.

Thérese Bonney (1894-1978) Paul Poiret and the model Rénee at his fashion house at 1 rond-point de Champs-Elysées, 1927. Gelatin silver bromide print. From the negative by l’ARCP. Paris. © Bibliotheque de la ville de Paris

Paul Poiret (1879-1944) Martinique Dress of 1922. Collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.

Ed Voves, Photo (2017) Coco Chanel's Evening Dress and Underslip, 1926, from the Kent state University Libraries, Borowitz collection; Paul Poiret's "Arrow of Gold" Dress, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection.  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Arrow_of_Gold%22_MET_DP145111.jpg

Unknown photographer. Denise Poiret wearing the Melodie Dress by Paul Poiret, 1913. Gelatin silver bromide print. Paris. Bibliotheque national de France. Prints and Photography department, inv. OA-702-FOL

Art Eyewitness Review: A Nation of Artists, 1776-2026

 

A Nation of Artists, 1776-2026

In collaboration:

The Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

The Middleton Family Collection

Reviewed by Ed Voves

The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) are joining forces to present a complementary exhibition, celebrating the 250th anniversary of American independence from the rule of Great Britain. Over one thousand works of art are displayed in long-term installations which will remain on view through the summer of 2027. 

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) 

The Great Stair Hall of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, showing  Augustus St. Gaudens' Diana and video highlights of the

 A Nation of Artists exhibition at the PMA

The galleries at both the PMA and PAFA have been refurbished, reorganized and revitalized. Both the post-Civil War American art wing at the PMA and the venerable Frank Furness-designed building at PAFA, closed for renovation during the last two years, are now open! 

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) 

Gallery view of the A Nation of Artists Exhibition

 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

A Nation of Artists is thus a celebration of these two outstanding institutions, along with the Semiquincentennial of the U.S.A.

And what a celebration! Paintings, sculptures, works of art in every medium command the viewer's attention, even if you've seen them before. Indeed, such are the vast holdings of American art at the PMA and PAFA, that quite a number of works of art have been brought out of storage to take a prominent place in A Nation of Artists. 

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) 

Charles Burchfield's Hill Top at High Noon, 1925

Charles Burchfield's Hill Top at High Noon is a case in point. Painted in 1925, it entered PAFA's collection three years later. Although Hill Top at High Noon is not graced by the ethereal or numinous elements that are such a marked feature of many of Burchfield's other landscapes, this work has a shimmering grandeur all its own.

 

Searching my memory, I can't recall the last time - or ever - that I saw Hill Top at PAFA. Yet, seeing how Burchfield depicted the billowing clouds rising-up over the summit of the hill evokes a thrilling sensation, not unlike the feeling one has glimpsing the real "thing" in nature.

How glad, too, is the sight of a much more familiar PAFA "icon." This is Winslow Homer's somber, late-career masterpiece, Fox Hunt, painted in 1893. 

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) 

Winslow Homer's Fox Hunt, 1893

During the hiatus of PAFA's renovation, Fox Hunt went on tour to a number of museums. It featured in the outstanding 2022 Winslow Homer exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery in London. And now, bounding through deep snow, the embattled fox has returned to PAFA. Those nasty crows haven't caught up with him yet!

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) 

Kristen Shepard, President & CEO of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; Daniel Weiss, Director & CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

The joint displays of American art at the PMA and PAFA are intended to complement each other.  Under the dynamic leadership of Kristen Shepard at PAFA and Daniel Weiss at the PMA, each museum takes a different path to reach the same goal: preserving America's heritage as an investment in its future.

A Nation of Artists at the Philadelphia Museum of Art takes a chronological approach in presenting the story of American creative genius. As mentioned above, the main focus is the long-anticipated unveiling of the galleries devoted to art from the Civil War-era through the 1960's. 

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) 

Gallery view of A Nation of Artists at the PMA.

 The purple color of the silk dress, c.1866-68, known as magenta,

 was achieved by using a recently invented aniline dye.

Building on the success of the early American wing, opened in 2021, these re-envisioned galleries are devoted to life in the modern-day U.S.A. - as it was lived at the time. These splendid configurations of art, artifacts and furniture mark the culmination of the incredible Core Project redesign of the PMA, which began in 2017. 

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) 

Gallery view of the A Nation of Artists exhibition

 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts emphasizes a thematic approach which challenges, as well as honors, many of the cherished notions of American freedom, individuality and enterprise. In quite a number of cases, works of art which had been ignored or marginalized in earlier celebrations of "the rising glory of America" are given their due.

There is much to applaud - and to reflect upon - at both museums. Along with masterpiece paintings like Homer's Fox Hunt, there are marvelous examples of American folk art. The carousel horse carved by the greatest master of the genre, Daniel Carl Mueller (1872-1952) is sure to be a crowd-pleasing favorite. In total contrast is the "death cart" used in religious processions by Hispanic-American communities in New Mexico. Both works of art are displayed at the PMA.

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) 

Gallery view of A Nation of Artists at the PMA. In the foreground is a Carousel Horse, carved by Daniel Mueller, c. 1917

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) 

 Death Cart (Carreta de la Muerta), 1880-1900, from New Mexico

 

Gaps in collection building inevitably occur in even the greatest of museums.  Thanks to a previously untapped source of major works of art, A Nation of Artists has almost every "base" covered in its expansive coverage of visual art in the United States.

The mystery masterpieces come from a local, Philadelphia, source, the Middleton Family Collection. If you are a baseball fan, you are more likely to have a clue to the Middleton family identity than otherwise.

John S. Middleton, whose family has been a fixture of the Philadelphia business community for over a century, is the managing partner of the Philadelphia Phillies. For many years, Mr. Middleton has been addressing social ills and issues facing disadvantaged people in the Philadelphia area with generous financial support. His wife, Leigh, is a major advocate for helping the homeless.  

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) 

John S. Middleton at the press preview for A Nation of Artists

Just as John and Leigh Middleton have quietly worked on behalf of the local community, they have amassed - without fanfare - one of the most impressive collections of American art in private hands. They have now joined with the PMA and PAFA, placing 120 works from their collection on display in both venues for A Nation of Artists.

The first painting purchased by the Middletons was one of the most important portraits in American art history. To use baseball terminology, this "lead-off hitter" of the Middleton Family Collection blasted a "grand-slam" home run.

In 1779, Charles Willson Peale was commissioned by the state government of Pennsylvania to paint a portrait of George Washington. The occasion to be celebrated was both rare and important: an American military victory, the January 1777 Battle of Princeton.

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) 

Charles Willson Peale's George Washington at Princeton, 1779

Peale's portrait was such a success that a further eight copies were painted. Several were sent overseas with American diplomats who were seeking military and financial aid for the Patriot cause. The copy which the Middletons purchased was one of these, which the emissary to Spain, William Carmichael from Maryland, took with him on his mission to Madrid.

The Middletons' success with George Washington at Princeton should not obscure the magnitude of their subsequent purchases. Thanks to their acute collecting eye and knowledge of history, several holes in the timeline of A Nation of Artists have been filled with major works of art from the Middleton collection. 

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) 

A gallery view of A Nation of Artists, showing (from left) Edward Hopper's The Lee Shore, 1941, and Joseph Stella's The Swan, 1924

It should come as no surprise that one of these Middleton treasures is a signature painting by Edward Hopper. After Hopper died in 1967, the bulk of his oeuvre was bequeathed by his wife to the Whitney Museum. PAFA had been the first museum to acquire a Hopper oil painting, Apartment Houses (1923). The PMA (which has an impressive trove of Hopper sketches and etchings) recently acquired a late Hopper, Road and Trees (1962). But these are the only Hopper oil paintings owned by either Philadelphia museum.

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) 

Edward Hopper's The Lee Shore, 1941

Sailing to the rescue is Hopper's The Lee Shore (1941) from the Middleton Family Collection. It is a wonderfully strange painting. 

What seems like a calm day is anything but. Sea and land confront each other at point-blank range. A Queen Anne-style home is perched directly on the shore-line without a hint of sandy beach between its front porch and the water. A schooner looks like it is about to run aground on the shoals in front of the vulnerable dwelling. What happens next? That is left to our imaginations.

Andrew Wyeth is another major artist featured in the Middleton Family Collection. PAFA and the PMA both have important Wyeth paintings in their respective collections. Neither have one of Wyeth's celebrated Helga paintings, which gained such notoriety after Time Magazine did a cover story in 1986 about the series.

  Ed Voves, Photo (2026) 

Andrew Wyeth's, Crown of Flowers,1974

Crown of Flowers (1974) is a brilliant painting, in its own right, and a fitting exemplar of the nearly three hundred works in the Helga series.

I could continue to comment on "show-stoppers" at A Nation of Artists. Follow-up posts in Art Eyewitness will indeed examine in detail both the PAFA and the PMA presentations. But I want to reflect on the significance of the title, A Nation of Artists, and mention a contemporary African-American artist whose works are currently on view elsewhere at the PMA.

In 1782, Benjamin Franklin, then engaged in negotiating the end of the Revolutionary War, wrote an essay for people in Europe who were considering a move to the newly-independent United States.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2018) 

Joseph Siffred Duplessis' Benjamin Franklin,1778. This portrait appeared in the Visitors to Versailles exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum, 2018.

Among those looking for a fresh start in the new nation were motivated idealists, honorable in their intentions. Others were opportunists and adventurers. Some were artists, with a foot in each camp, seeking patronage and commissions. 

Franklin advised them all:

The Truth is, that though there are in that Country few People so miserable as the Poor of Europe, there are also very few that in Europe would be called rich; it is rather a general happy Mediocrity that prevails. There are few great Proprietors of the Soil, and few Tenants; most People cultivate their own Lands, or follow some Handicraft or Merchandise; very few rich enough to live idly upon their Rents or Incomes, or to pay the high Prices given in Europe for Paintings, Statues, Architecture, and the other Works of Art, that are more curious than useful. 

Franklin went on to note that a number of established American artists - "the natural Geniuses, that have arisen in America with such Talents" - had departed to seek opportunity in Europe. He was no doubt thinking of Benjamin West and John Singleton Copley.

What then would Dr. Franklin say about A Nation of Artists, if he could return to his adopted city for a visit?

Judging from his comments, quoted above, I think that Dr. Franklin would have preferred the title A Nation of Artisans.

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) 

        A period room at A Nation of Artists, showing Victorian furniture and the painting, The Lardner Sisters (1848) by Samuel Bell Waugh.

Given the profusion of skillfully-created craft objects on view, Rookwood vases, carved walnut cabinets, oil lamps with glass shades and chimneys and much more, Franklin would likely be pleased  - and impressed. If there are works of art "more curious than useful" displayed in A Nation of Artists, the American genius for combining utility with beauty is everywhere in evidence. 

This American "genius" is evident elsewhere at PAFA and the PMA  - and beyond the doors of these great museums. There is no sense of finality about A Nation of Artists. The exhibits continue and will "keep-on, keeping-on" as long as creative  Americans set to work to make a reality of their visions.

That this is not wishful thinking was brought home to me after my second visit to A Nation of Artists at the PMA. I had been looking forward to visiting the exhibition of paintings of Noah Davis for weeks. A long, cold winter and lots of snow - by Philadelphia standards - kept interfering with my travel plans.

In a way, it was good that I waited until after seeing A Nation of Artists. Noah Davis (1983-2015), I soon realized, was one of the "natural Geniuses, that have arisen in America" as noted by Benjamin Franklin. Davis, moreover, remained on his native soil. 

Noah Davis aimed to present the African-American community of Los Angeles free of stereotypes, filled with down-to-earth humanity and a quiet, unpretentious nobility. Struggling with a rare form of cancer, Davis succeeding in creating an impressive, heart-stirring body of work before he died, aged thirty-seven in 2015. 

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) 

Paintings by Noah Davis, Pueblo de Rio: Vernon, 2014; Mary Jane, 2008

As long as artists in the U.S.A. devote themselves to their chosen forms of creative expression with the same courage, integrity and skill as Noah Davis, then America is sure to remain "a nation of artists."

***

Text: Copyright of Ed Voves, all rights reserved; Photos: copyright of Ed Voves and Anne Lloyd.                                                   

Introductory Image: Ed Voves, Photo (2026) Gallery view of the A Nation of Artists exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), showing the artist’s palette of Cecelia Beaux, PAFA collection.

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) The Great Stair Hall of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, showing Augustus St. Gaudens' Diana and video highlights of the A Nation of Artists exhibition at the PMA. 

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) Gallery view of the A Nation of Artists exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA).

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) Charles Burchfield's Hill Top at High Noon, 1925. Oil on canvas: 32 × 22 in. (78.7 × 55.9 cm) PAFA collection, #1928.1

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) Winslow Homer's Fox Hunt, 1893. Oil on canvas: 38 × 68 1/2 in. (96.52 × 173.99 cm) PAFA collection, #1894.4

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) Kristen Shepard, President & CEO of  the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; Daniel Weiss, Director & CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) Gallery view of the A Nation of Artists exhibition at the  Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA), showing a silk dress, c. 1866-68, colored magenta, by using a recently invented aniline dye. 

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) Gallery view of the A Nation of Artists exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA).

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) Gallery view of the A Nation of Artists exhibition at the PMA, showing a Carousel Horse, carved by Daniel Mueller, c. 1917. PMA collection. #2019-101-1

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) Death cart (Carreta de la Muerta), 1880-1900, from  New Mexico. Cottonwood, with spruce wheels: 51 x 25 x 49 inches (129.5 x 63.5 x 124.5 cm) PMA collection. # 2006-85-1.

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) John S. Middleton at the joint press preview of A Nation of Artists, April 10, 2026, held at the PMA and PAFA.

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) Charles Willson Peale's George Washington at Princeton, 1779.  Oil on canvas: 96 1/2 x 61 1/2 in. (243.8 x 156.2 cm.) Middleton Family Collection. 

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) Gallery view showing Edward Hopper's The Lee Shore, 1941, and Joseph Stella's The Swan, 1924.

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) Edward Hopper's The Lee Shore, 1941. Oil on canvas: 28 ¼ x 43 in. (71.76 x 109.22 cm.) Middleton Family Collection.

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) Andrew Wyeth's Crown of Flowers, 1974. Dry brush water color: 10 ¼ x 12 ¾ in. Middleton Family Collection.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2018) Joseph Siffred Duplessis' Benjamin Franklin,1778. This portrait appeared in the Visitors to Versailles exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018. Metropolitan Museum of Art collection.

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) Period room at A Nation of Artists, showing Victorian furniture and the painting, The Lardner Sisters (1848) by Samuel Bell Waugh.

Ed Voves, Photo (2026) Paintings by Noah Davis, Pueblo de Rio: Vernon, 2014. Oil on canvas: 69 x 76 in.; Mary Jane, 2008. Oil and acrylic on canvas: 60 x 52 1/4 in. Private collections, on view at the PMA.