Cosmopolitanism and the Gilded Age

On the Veranda, 1887
Object-Irving Ramsey Wiles, On the Veranda
Best remembered for his fashionable portraits of women, Irving Ramsey Wiles produced works that captured the informal elegance characteristic of cosmopolitan American art at the turn of the twentieth century. In On the Veranda, three young women enjoy a summer afternoon on the wide, columned porch of a country home. Two sit in a pool of afternoon sunlight; one of them seems lost in a pensive reverie. Hanging laundry in the background, mismatched chairs, and the open porch gate add touches of informality to the scene. A celebration of the pleasures and ease of everyday life, On the Veranda exemplifies an artistic interest in middle-class leisure during the decades following the American Civil War (1861–65). Picturing women in domestic settings as symbols of the peace and growing prosperity of America’s Gilded Age, Wiles advances an idyllic vision of his country.
Learn more about this painting on the Terra Foundation website.
On the Veranda, 1887
Cosmopolitanism and the Gilded Age

Une Averse—rue Bonaparte, 1887

Morning at Breakwater, Shinnecock, c. 1897

In the Orchard, 1891

Summertime, 1894

Breton Woman with a Basket, Study for “En route pour la pêche” and “Fishing for Oysters at Cancale”, 1877

Breton Girl with a Basket, Study for “En route pour la pêche” and “Fishing for Oysters at Cancale”, 1877

Girl on the Beach, Study for “En route pour la pêche” and “Fishing for Oysters at Cancale”, 1877

Young Boy on the Beach, Study for “En route pour la pêche” and “Fishing for Oysters at Cancale”, 1877

The Zattere: Harmony in Blue and Brown, c. 1879

Note in Red: The Siesta, by 1884

From Shore to Shore, 1885

The Weaver, 1889

Brook, Giverny, 1887

On the Veranda, 1887

Lotus Lilies, 1888

Brittany Town Morning, Larmor, 1884

Dennis Miller Bunker Painting at Calcot, 1888

Spring Flowers (Peonies), by 1889

Horse Drawn Cabs at Evening, New York, c. 1890

Garden at Giverny (In Monet's Garden), c. 1887–91

Giverny Hillside, c. 1890–91

Horticulture Building, World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893

Blossoms at Giverny, 1891–92

Self-Portrait, c. 1889–96

Les Invalides, Paris, 1896

Winter Landscape, c. 1890–1900

Havana Harbor, 1902

Portrait of Thomas J. Eagan, 1907

Portrait of a Lady Holding a Rose, 1912

Lady in a Garden, c. 1912