The Healing Touch

Will Hicok Low, artist

1853–1932

The Healing Touch, 1906

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: canvas; oil

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 213.7 x 152.6 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 84 1/8 x 60 1/16 in
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 89 x 65 x 1 3/4 in

Credit line: Museum purchase

Accession number: 1981.0109

Not on display

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Will Low was admired by his contemporaries for his large decorative works painted for churches and other public spaces. He confessed to having “an inborn love of decoration” that by the late 1880s led him from early work as an illustrator to decorative projects, initially in stained glass, and subsequently in murals and large easel paintings. During studies in Paris he was especially impressed by the work of the French master Puvis de Chavannes, whom he called the “monarch of decorative painting.” He was also influenced by the impressionists’ colorful palettes and believed that, “until the Seine ceases to flow or the sun to shine over the misty meadows, [Monet’s Giverny] will still attract the painter.”
Low realized, however, that “in our fickle country” an artist’s reputation “must be purchased by an expenditure of tremendous energy, watchful of changing conditions.” Today the Seine still flows and Giverny still beckons, but tastes and conditions have changed and Will Low’s reputation has been eclipsed by other fashions. That change, however, provides opportunities for acquisitions such as this, which was purchased at auction for a proverbial song and now awaits renewed appreciation of Low’s once-acclaimed decorative work. Curatorial lesson? Buy against fashion. CCE

This painting likely portrays the so-called “woman of adultery” or Mary Magdelene, in an encounter with Jesus Christ. Jesus said he was healed by this woman, although many may see the healing as going in the other direction, with Jesus healing the woman from the wounds of her adulterous past. The somewhat androgynous portrayal of the man reflects the ethos of the era around 1900, when a “feminized” aesthetic held sway in artistic and literary circles in France (where Will Low studied) and the United States. However, the woman’s wilting form contrasts with the powerfully erect male figure, following more conventional gender distinctions from this time period.
Susan Earle, Curator of European and American Art

Exhibition Label:
"xy," Jun-2009, Kris Ercums
This painting likely portrays the so-called “woman of adultery” or Mary Magdelene, in an encounter with Jesus Christ. Jesus said he was healed by this woman, although many may see the healing as going in the other direction, with Jesus healing the woman from the wounds of her adulterous past. The somewhat androgynous portrayal of the man reflects the ethos of the era around 1900, when a “feminized” aesthetic held sway in artistic and literary circles in France (where Will Low studied) and the United States. However, the woman’s wilting form contrasts with the powerfully erect male figure, following more conventional gender distinctions from this time period.
Susan Earle, Curator of European and American Art