Daniel Catlin

Daniel Catlin was an American patron and socialite whom Zorn portrayed during one of his American visits in 1901. Zorn made multiple trips to the United States beginning in the 1890s, where his reputation for brilliant society portraiture made him enormously successful among the American upper class. The Catlin portrait, now in the Saint Louis Art Museum, demonstrates the breadth of Zorn's American clientele — businessmen, socialites, and public figures sought him out in the same way that European aristocrats had. Zorn's American portraits are generally distinguished by their directness and their refusal to flatter at the expense of truthful observation.

Zorn's society portraits achieve their effect through the confident placement of a few decisive marks — the glint of an eye, the highlight on a collar, the shadow under a jaw. The background is kept simple and atmospheric to direct full attention to the sitter's face and projected character.