Russian+Tea

ca. 1896
 * [[image:https://s3.amazonaws.com/saam.media/files/styles/x_large/s3/images/1911/1911.10.1_1a.jpg?itok=Dch4iQmP width="246" height="329" link="@https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/russian-tea-27697"]] || Title: **Russian Tea**

Artist: **Irving R. Wiles** Born: Utica, New York 1861 Died: Peconic, New York 1948

Medium: oil on canvas Dimensions: 48 x 36 1/8 in. (122.0 x 91.6 cm) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of William T. Evans

Accession: 1911.10.1 || Three elegant women and a young girl anticipate the hot tea that brews in a great brass samovar. Wealthy and beautifully clad, they gather in a richly appointed interior where lamps with gaily striped shades flank a gilt-edged mirror. For the privileged, the Gilded Age of the 1880s and 1890s represented a moment of untold wealth that allowed access to international culture. Russian art, music, and customs became widely popular. Wiles recorded this setting as a night scene with loose, caressing, impressionistic brush strokes and a French-influenced flair.
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Wiles Family Legacy
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Artist Biography <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Artist Biography from the Luce Center <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">SAAM Collections Page
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