Made around 1930, this self-portrait by American artist Esther Pressoir places modern self-fashioning at the center of the composition. It’s not a flattering display, but a clear-eyed record of mood, posture, and control. Smoking, then a charged marker of sophistication and transgression, becomes a small, deliberate gesture, echoed by looping smoke and the painting’s circling brushstrokes.
The young woman artist with light skin crouches low, her body folded into a compact, almost protective pose. She has short, dark, softly waved hair and strong brows. Her eyes look out from under heavy lids, almost meeting ours with a steady, unsentimental calm. Her lips are painted a vivid red, and warm peach and pink tones model her face and bare shoulder. A thin-strap, sleeveless garment (taupe and dusty rose, edged with quick red lines) wraps her torso and falls in loose folds around her legs. One arm hooks over a raised knee, while the other hand extends downward, holding a small cigarette between long fingers. To the right, pale rings of smoke rise and fade into a turbulent field of grays, browns, and sandy beige. The background is built from broad, circular sweeps of paint, like wind spiraling around her figure. At the bottom edge, a black heeled shoe peeks out, anchoring the pose. Across the surface, the brushwork stays sketchy, energetic, and layered so the Pressoir’s outline seems simultaneously drawn and dissolving.
Pressoir, born in Philadelphia and raised in Woonsocket, and a 1923 Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) graduate, was in her late twenties at the time she painted this presentation of herself. The work shows an artist testing how frank a woman’s image can be. She folds inward, yet refuses to look away and claims the right to be seen on her own terms.
“Self Portrait (Smoking)” by Esther Pressoir (American) - Oil on canvas / c. 1930 - RISD Museum (Providence, Rhode Island) #WomenInArt #EstherPressoir #Pressoir #RISD #RISDMuseum #SelfPortrait #WomenSmoking #artText #art #BlueskyArt #RhodeIslandSchoolofDesign #WomensArt #WomanArtist #WomenArtists
