The Elevated

This early work by Mitchill (later Prellwitz) dates from her years at New York’s Art Students League, where she was elected Women’s Vice President in 1888. A protégé of William Merritt Chase, Mitchill would go on to work primarily as a portraitist and figure painter. This experimental scene was likely inspired by the French Impressionists, especially Claude Monet and his train series. Painted out of doors with an on-the-spot immediacy and energy, the calligraphic brushwork and pastel-like surface reveal Mitchill’s early talent for texture and color. At the time, she also briefly worked as an apprentice glass cutter for Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company, moving between the fine and applied arts with ease.