This selection of 10 drawings, prints, and photographs from the MFAH collections highlights the nature of feminine beauty, a favorite subject in art during the 19th century. Catching women in candid, private moments, artists emphasized pensive contemplation as much as social status and glorified the timeless allure of beautiful women.

Wistful Beauties is a focused presentation celebrating and encircling Alfred Stevens’s rare and beautifully finished 1865 portrait drawing of Mademoiselle de Clermont-Tonnerre. This delightful example of the artist’s work demonstrates his keen interest in the subject of women from his era, mirroring the social milieu of late 19th-century Paris. Stevens portrays the young woman lost in reflection, languishing in an armchair within an exotic domestic interior. The room’s décor refers to the late-19th-century Parisian fashion of Japonisme, as Japan began to openly trade with Europe after more than 200 years of isolationism.

The exhibition also provides insight into the mutual fascination and cultural exchange between the West and East, affecting European, American, and Japanese images of women, featured in these choice works on paper from 1860 to 1920.