Florine Stettheimer, whose 124th anniversary has just come and gone, painted a self-portrait in 1923, when she was 51. It is a parody of one of William Blake's illustrations from The Song of Los. It comes out as a yearning apotheosis of the Jewish-American princess, in a semitranslucent nightie from some celestial boutique, languidly holding a bouquet and wafted aloft. Above her is the sun, looking like an expensive Christmas ornament. An insect-winged, bifurcated, slender-is flying toward it, helplessly attracted. It is Florine's eager soul, rising to the em pyrean. Bendel's she loved; and next to Bendel's, art.
The show of...
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