Portrait of Miriam S. Ruhe

Charlotte Harding and her sitter Miriam S. Ruhe were young art students in Philadelphia at the end of the nineteenth century. Harding graduated from the Philadelphia School of Design for Women in 1894 and Ruhe in 1896. Harding went on to teach at PSDW and study at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Drexel Institute. Ruhe posed for this portrait while still a student, likely as a favor to her former classmate who was working independently. In this portrait sketch, Ruhe’s face is finely modeled, but the costume she wears is comprised of blocky brushstrokes of gray, black and white.