Mr. Fitch, I've Got My Own Life to Live. Good Night.

Date1913

Artist John Alonzo Williams (American painter and illustrator, 1869–1951)

Illustration Citation"The Young Woman," by James Oppenheim, in Harper's Magazine, March 1913

MediumInk on illustration board

Dimensionssheet: 25 5/16 × 18 3/4 in. (64.3 × 47.6 cm)

Credit LineAcquired through the bequest of Frieda Becher, 1975

Object number1975-5

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsDRAWING

Label TextIn this story, a young woman medical student works at night in an office to earn the cost of her tuition. At first she is attracted to her employer but at this moment in the plot she resigns when she sees his lack of respect for her goals. The author James Oppenheim was a strong supporter of women's rights, especially suffrage. He wrote the poem
"Bread and Roses," which became an anthem of the women's and labor rights movement.

This drawing shows John Alonzo Williams’ skill in using washes to create subtle tone, depth, and chiaroscuro, visible especially in the folds of the man’s sleeve and the almost unrelieved black of the woman’s dress (given further dimension with buttons and decoration below shoulders). The woman’s un-prettified face – her eyebrows reflecting the curve of her hat – is a study in somber dignity. The office seems full of the silence following her remark, greeted by the unsmiling boss (clearly delineated against the white paper on the wall), who recoils slightly.

Williams was a native of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. After studies at the Art Students League and the Metropolitan Art School in New York City, he worked consistently as an illustrator of books and magazines. He was also an award-winning watercolorist and a member of the National Academy of Design.