Baronne+Emile+D’Erlanger,+La

Date: ca. 1924
 * [[image:http://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=http://americanart.si.edu/images/1968/1968.18.5_1a.jpg&max=460 width="298" height="362" link="@http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=2884"]] || Title: **La Baronne Emile D'Erlanger**

Artist: **Romaine Brooks** Born: Rome, Italy 1874 Died: Nice, France 1970

Medium: oil on canvas Dimensions: 41 7/8 x 34 1/8 in. (106.4 x 86.7 cm) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of the artist

Accession: 1968.18.5 || The daughter of the Marquis de Rochegude, D’Erlanger lived mostly in London and entertained lavishly at her house in Piccadilly. She also participated in Parisian society, where D’Erlander probably met Romaine Brooks. Like other sitters that Brooks painted, D’Erlander was an interior decorator.
 * About the artwork: **

An independent woman, D’Erlanger was a businesswoman whose husband financed the railroad from New Orleans to New York City. The diminutive cat, let out of the cage for the moment, was said to represent her husband. The features of the cat, especially the ears, recall the traits of African wild cats. At the time, explorers and safari goers brought back exotic cats; wealthy Europeans kept these animals as pets. D’Erlanger was sphinx-like and an androgynous woman with an animal nature.

Brooks was a gifted artist, who challenged the typical views of female roles in society. She was a lesbian. Brooks had a very unhappy childhood that was haunted by the instability of her brother and the eccentricities of her mother. Independently wealthy, her large fortune allowed her personal and professional freedom. She was part of the Anglo-American gay community on the Isle of Capri, Italy where she was a noted hostess. She had a three year relationship with Ida Rubenstein and a lifelong relationship with Natalie Barney, the daughter of Alice Pike Barney. Although many of her peers were creating abstract art, she held to a representational style that explores female identity. She was particularly intrigued with the role that appearances (clothes and manners) played in sexual identity.
 * About the Artist: **

Women Artists
 * Resources: **

Artist Bibliography SAAM Collections Page [|Graphic Masters: Highlights from the American Art Museum] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.3px;">Serval Wikipedia Entry <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.3px;">Ocelot Wikipedia Entry
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