Alfred Maurer
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Between 1897 and 1904, Alfred Maurer painted elegant figure studies and captivating scenes of urban life. As did many of his figure paintings from this time, Woman in Interior depicts a solitary woman wearing an elaborate, voluminous dress. She is in front of a plain background, the wall decorated only with a small medallion and the corner of a frame. The painting reflects Maurer's interest in James Abbott McNeill Whistler's use of harmonious color schemes and artfully arranged forms. Both artists' poetic, evocative studies are less about the subject's identity than they are about the nature of painting itself. Artists influenced by Whistler's experimental arrangements and harmonies, including Maurer, Frederick Frieseke, and Julian Alden Weir, treated the human figure as they would an element of a still life: as a source of the shapes, colors, and textures that made up the composition.