Portrait of a Man

Sponsored by industrialist James B. Duke, Thomason enrolled at New York’s prestigious Art Students League in 1921. He started with conventional courses in drawing from plaster casts and live models, then progressed to portraiture. A compelling likeness of a studio model or fellow art student, Portrait of a Man features a challenging pose—the body in profile and the head turned toward the viewer. The sitter seems surly, a quality enhanced by his dimly lit face, deep-set eyes, and five o’clock shadow. The focus of the painting is entirely on the man’s head and the neutral background and brownish jacket do little to distract the viewer’s gaze.

Teaching at the League were three artists associated with the Ashcan School—so named because their paintings were down to earth, dark, and urban—as unglamorous as a can used for the disposal of ashes. George Luks, Robert Henri, and John Sloan all painted quickly and used broad ample brushwork, qualities techniques that Thomason embraced.