Though small in size, Doolittle's portrait of Margaret Breckenridge commands attThough small in size, Doolittle’s portrait of Margaret Breckenridge commands attention. Head tilted up, eyes looking down and to the side, the subject seems caught in a moment of uncertainty. The strong, warm yellow and pink tones of her face are dramatically juxtaposed with cool shadows of blue, green, and violet. Breckenridge was the daughter of Hugh Breckenridge, Doolittle’s instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Doolittle was a modernist who explored contemporary European trends in painting, including cubism and expressionism. Born in Philadelphia, she studied illustration at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (now Moore College of Art and Design). Later, she attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where her instructors included Margaret Breckenridge and Arthur B. Carles. Doolittle shared a studio at 17th and Chestnut Streets with other women, who painted together and shared the expense of models. Carles visited once a week to critique their work.
