Malcolm Parcell (1896-1987)
Portrait of Helen Gallagher, c. 1928
Malcolm Parcell, the son of a minister, grew up in Washington, Pennsylvania, where his father was pastor of the Broad Street Baptist Church. He returned home after his graduation from Carnegie Tech in 1918, and soon met Helen Louine Gallagher, who became his wife in 1937 when she was thirty-four. His portrait of her, Louine (1918, Board of Public Education, Pittsburgh), painted when she was fifteen, earned for him his first acclaim, winning a medal when it was exhibited the next year at the National Academy of Design. She remained his favorite model, and the profile pose of his 1943 full-figure portrait of her is unusual. She was a public school teacher in Washington, though her stylish bobbed hair and dress suggest a night out rather than classroom attire. Her pose implies some discomfort, as one of her arms rests on the arm of the chair, while the other is draped over the back, her tense fingers perhaps signaling impatience with posing.
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