John La Farge

Edith Woodman Burroughs

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Burroughs modeled this bust of John La Farge (1835–1910) when the distinguished artist was seventy-three years old, toward the end of his extended career. In contrast to the optimistic dandy who appears in La Farge’s 1859 self-portrait (34.134), Burroughs presented him without apology as a pensive and melancholic elder. The vigor of the portrait rests in the assured surface modeling and the sharp horizontal termination at the chest.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art