Fancy Dress

John White Alexander (American, 1856-1915) - Fancy Dress, c.1894-95 (Oil on canvas) - - Alexander’s many depictions of beautiful women were colored by his susceptibility to the prevailing Art Nouveau, an elaborately decorative style that emphasizes the use of sinuous and sensuous contours. Alexander’s work was also touched by the prevailing vogue for symbolism, the visual evocation of an idea, of an emotion through the association of analogous qualities.