Focus on this artwork and discuss the abstract.
The Concert Singer is a painting by Thomas Eakins (1844–1916), depicting the singer Weda Cook (1867–1937).  The work, commenced in 1890 and completed in 1892, was Eakins's first full-length portrait of a woman. It is now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. 
The Concert Singer was one of a series of portraits Eakins painted of Philadelphia natives who were prominent in science and culture, with the intent of producing major showpieces for exhibition. The painting exemplifies Eakins's desire to truthfully record visual appearances with "historical value."Eakins drew, painted, or sculpted at least twenty-two works that dealt with the visual aspects of music; at one point, this included "eleven straight portraits of musicians and musicologists", of which The Concert Singer has been called "the finest".
Thomas Eakins 3 Philadelphia Weda Cook Philadelphia Museum of Art