The Reading Woman II Book of Postcards

Whether routes to escape or paths to enlightenment, books create enticing worlds so absorbing to the reader that other realities fade away. A painting of a woman immersed in a book suggests a story of its own: the woman is at peace, or not; perhaps she is silently thrilled by the words she reads. Is she stealing a moment from daily routine to indulge her love of literature? Is she studiously searching the pages for illumination? Is this book the one that will change her life?

Little wonder that the reading woman has appeared in art for hundreds of years. She is a beautiful enigma, an untold tale, a fragment of a life momentarily set free from its long, complex story. This book of postcards presents thirty quietly joyous studies of women at their books or letters.

Images

1. Micah Williams (American, 1782–1837), Portrait of a Lady, about 1820
2. Laura Coombs Hills (American, 1859–1952), Fire Opal (Grace Mutell), 1899
3. Childe Hassam (American, 1859–1935), Lady Reading, 1898
4. Edmund Charles Tarbell (American, 1862–1938), Girl Reading, 1909
5. Unidentified artist (American, mid-nineteenth century), Girl with a Gray Cat, about 1840
6. Kitagawa Utamaro II (Japanese, dates unknown), Young Woman Reading a Letter, Edo period, c. latter half of the Bunka era (1810–1818)
7. James Abbott McNeill Whistler (American, active in England, 1834–1903), Reading by Lamplight, 1858
8. Erastus Salisbury Field (American, 1805–1900), Margaret Gilmore, about 1845
9. Edward Wilbur Dean Hamilton (American, 1864–1943), Summer at Campobello, New Brunswick, about 1900
10. Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917), Visit to a Museum, about 1879–1890
11. Kondo Katsunobu (Japanese, active about 1716–1736), Courtesan Reading a Book, Edo period, Kyoho era (1716–1736)
12. George Romney (English, 1734–1802), Portrait of Two Girls (Misses Cumberland), about 1772–1773
13. Migita Toshihide (Japanese, 1863–1925), Woman Reading a Letter, Late Meiji era
14. Mary S. Chapin (American, nineteenth century), Solitude, 1815–1820
15. Auguste Toulmouche (French, 1829–1890), Reading Lesson, 1865
16. Winslow Homer (American, 1836–1910), Two Girls Looking at a Book, about 1877
17. Mary Stevenson Cassatt (American, 1844–1926), Mrs. Duffee Seated on a Striped Sofa, Reading, 1876
18. Frank Duveneck (American, 1848–1919), A Girl Reading, 1877
19. John George Brown (American, b. England, 1831–1913), Reading on the Rocks, Grand Manan, about 1877
20. Yamazaki Joryu (Japanese, active about 1716–1736), Courtesan Reading a Letter, Edo period, about Kyoho era (1716–1736)
21. Jacques-Andr? Portail (French, 1695–1759), Woman Reading, 1735–1759
22. John Singer Sargent (American, 1856–1925), Simplon Pass: Reading, 1911
23. William Worcester Churchill (American, 1858–1926), Leisure, 1910
24. Torii Kiyonobu I (Japanese, 1664–1729), Woman Reading a Book, Edo period, early Kyoho era (1716–1736)
25. Eastman Johnson (American, 1824–1906), The Little Convalescent, about 1873–1879
26. Lilian Westcott Hale (American, 1880–1963), L’Edition de Luxe, 1910
27. William Morris Hunt (American, 1824–1879), Girl Reading, 1853
28. Henry Bacon (American, 1839–1912), On the Open Sea—The Transatlantic Steamship “P?reire,” 1877
29. Ignaz Marcel Gaugengigl (American, b. Germany, 1855–1932), The Visitor, about 1925
30. Alice Ruggles Sohier (American, 1880–1969), Girl in Red, 1926

Pomegranate’s books of postcards contain up to thirty top-quality reproductions bound together in a handy, artful collection. Easy to remove and produced on heavy card stock, these stunning postcards are a delight to the sender and receiver. Postcards are oversized and may require additional postage.