John White Alexander was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, where he had first-hand knowledge of the tough life of steel workers. He became one of the most prominent, fashionable artists in New York City during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is most noted for paintings of portrait, figure, and mural work and is especially for female paintings, which he rendered with fluid, sweeping lines and an almost abstract, decorative rhythm of shape with a graceful and voluptuous expressiveness.