[From the catalogue-in-progress for “Landscapes & Livestock,” a loan exhibition for Agincourt Homecoming in the Fall of 2015]

Pictor Ignotus

Portrait of Grace Arbogast

1930s

oil on canvas / 12.5 inches by 16 inches

At one time this was a full length portrait of Agincourt couturier Grace Arbogast, shown wearing one of her own gowns—a design which apparently failed to meet her developing sense of style. The painting has been “edited,” its bottom half roughly cut off and thrown away. Retrieved from the trash bin by one of Arbogast’s staff—she employed many local girls and women, some who went on to their own careers in fashion—it was acquired in 1992 from the estate sale of Anthemia Marsh.

Some have remarked on the portrait’s resemblance to Anjelica Houston.