Polly Thayer is increasingly recognized as one of Boston’s important women artists, a painter who began under the influence of tradition and went on to explore a much more modern aesthetic, bridging a gap between the Boston School and nature-based abstraction. She trained with Philip Hale at the SMFA and then with Charles Hawthorne and Hans Hofmann in Provincetown; her paintings became increasingly bold and colorful. Thayer was highly admired for her portraits, and (unusually for a woman artist) particularly for those of men. A local critic described her work as “honest,” and in a fashion akin to the old masters, “able to tell an intimate life story in a portrait.” Portuguese Sailor (a descriptive title), made in Provincetown, depicts an attractive and pensive young man who is believed to have been a member of the town’s Portuguese fishing community. His sensuous appeal is enhanced by the rich folds of drapery that surround him, and by the small green leaf that curls up from lower left.

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