On View
On viewObject number1960/1.12
Miss Molly Little
Artist
Nina Belle Ward
(American, 1885-1944)
Date1917
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionsframe: 35 1/4 × 30 1/4 × 2 in. (89.5 × 76.8 × 5.1 cm)
image: 29 1/4 × 24 1/4 in. (74.3 × 61.6 cm)
image: 29 1/4 × 24 1/4 in. (74.3 × 61.6 cm)
Credit LineGift of A. Pitzer Ward
Exhibition History"American Realism: Visions of America 1900-1950," Muskegon Museum of Art (May 11 - August 27, 2023); Flint Institute of Arts (September 9 - December 30, 2023); KIA (January 21 - April 14, 2024).
"Legendary Voices: Art for the Next Century," KIA (September 7 - February 18, 2025)Label TextRosy cheeks, an open, trusting smile, and a festive pink dress
emphasize the hopefulness and excitement of youth. Nina
Belle Ward’s choice to use animated brushstrokes reinforces
the innocence of this fresh-faced girl.
Since 1944, the subject of this portrait was known only as a
“Girl in Pink Dress.” In 2015, Dana Ward, the artist’s
great-nephew, located a copy of the 113th Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts Annual Exhibition catalog, in which a
photograph confirms that the artist exhibited this work as
Miss Molly Little in 1918.
Probably 17 years old when this was painted, Mary (“Molly”)
Little was the daughter of a Philadelphia lawyer. The local
newspaper’s gossip column described Molly and other
debutantes “coming out” to society in 1919 as “the true
types of old-fashioned sweetness and girlishness.” At age 22,
Molly eloped with her fiancé, Mr. Wright Griffin, a
University of Pennsylvania business student and son of a
banker from Buffalo, New York. ["American Realism" Exhibition Label, 2023]
