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FRANCIS DAY (American, 1863-1942) The Cellist Watercolor on paper 14 x 10-1/2 inches (35.6 x 26.7 cm) Signed upper right: FRANCIS DAY THE JEAN AND GRAHAM DEVOE WILLIFORD CHARITABLE TRUST Women making music was a theme James Francis Day regularly explored during his successful career as a genre painter and portraitist in New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey. Frequently, the women in Day's musical paintings are mothers playing the piano for their children, but occasionally they are debutantes entertaining admiring suitors with their musical accomplishments. The cello is an unusual choice for Day's musical scenes, but so is his presentation of the musician with her back is to us. Perhaps Day adopted this more modern approach to his subject because it was partially fueled by an element of modesty--since playing the cello necessitates propping it between your legs. With her beautiful upswept hair, long neck, and graceful gestures we can only guess at her facial appearance, which has added allure. Day began his art education as a very young man at the Art Students League in New York, and continued his training in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts with Merson and Hebert. He exhibited regularly at many of the most prestigious American venues from the later 1880s through 1908, including: the National Academy of Design, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Boston, Art Institute of Chicago and Corcoran Gallery. His productivity apparently declined after 1908 because he disappears from the exhibition records.