Collections

Dr. Cornelia De Bey, 1899

Alice Kellogg Tyler (1862–1900)

A person with short, light hair wearing round glasses and a gray suit sits on a wooden chair, resting one arm on the backrest and gazing thoughtfully forward. The background features a dark, patterned curtain.

Details

Title
Dr. Cornelia De Bey
Date
1899
Artist Name
Alice Kellogg Tyler
Artist’s Life Dates
1862–1900
Item Title
Painting
Materials
Pastel on canvas
Accession Number
1966.0112.0110
Credit Line
Hull-House Collection

Not on view

Dr. Cornelia De Bey (1865–1948), a physician and activist closely associated with Hull-House, lived in partnership with the artist’s older sister Kate Kellogg. Dressed in a loose dark suit coat with a masculine collar, De Bey leans back on a chair of shiny wood in front of a decorative curtain. Her right hand supports her head of reddish curls as she stares at the viewer, her eyes amplified by small, wire-rimmed glasses. The doctor’s other hand rests on her lap, elegant and finely rendered, both highly realistic and a symbol of De Bey’s most essential professional asset.

De Bey opened a private practice in downtown Chicago but did much of her work out of Hull-House, serving the immigrant communities on the Near West Side. A year after the completion of this portrait, De Bey attended to the artist on her deathbed.