Portrait of Gertrude Kingston
Hull-born Starr established himself as a portrait, genre and mural painter. He trained at London's Slade School of Art, winning a scholarship at the age of seventeen. He became a friend of the American artist Whistler (1834-1903) and is regarded as one of the most successful of his followers. Starr was one of the artists represented at the London Impressionist Exhibition in 1889. He lived in London until 1892 when a scandal forced him to move to New York. He remained there until his death. Gertrude Kingston (1866-1937) was an actress who made her stage debut in 1887, the year before this elegant portrait was painted. It is possible that she posed in costume as a stage character, rather than actually being dressed for hunting. The monochromatic colour scheme and the broad, flat areas instead of modelled forms clearly show the influence of Whistler in this bold, assertive portrait. Her finely sculpted features present the ideal Victorian beauty of the 1880s.
