Lawton Silas Parker studied at the Chicago Art Institute, the Academie Julian and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, as well as under the tutelage of William Merrit Chase. An original member of the Givernois Colony in France, Parker painted figures in landscapes in an Impressionistic fashion. In contrast to this legacy, his Woman in a White Dress drawing is a small, spare study in neutrals, but it does evoke Chase’s full-length images of singular women in his studio environment. Parker held teaching positions at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts and the Chicago Fine Arts Academy. He managed his own school of painting in Paris, known as the Parker Academy.