Any number of scenarios could be playing out in “At the Claremont.” It’s a rich and evocative nocturne featuring three women, one man, a table top of tea cups and bottles, and the twinkling lights of the Hudson River and New Jersey Palisades outside large picture windows.

The two rosy-cheeked women could be vying for the romantic attention of the handsome man in the tuxedo. These well-dressed women keep their distance across the wide table, but their extended hands suggest an invitation.

His arm on the table blocking his body, however, seems like a defensive move. Maybe he has an eye on the woman almost out of view behind him?

We might be viewing a fix-up between the man and the woman in the foreground. The woman with her back turned to the restaurant window could be the one playing cupid, pleased by the possibility of a match.

Or maybe all three are taking advantage of the romantic nighttime view to feel out the possibilities of pleasure later in the night. They’re at the Claremont Inn—an early 19th century roadside tavern north of Grant’s Tomb that by the turn of the century transitioned into a relatively pricey spot for dignitaries and businessmen. But a lavish meal doesn’t seem to be on the menu.

A closer look at the background of the painter might offer some clues. Ida Sedgwick Proper (at right) was born in Iowa in 1873. She made her first trip to New York in the late 1890s to attend the Art Students League.

After studying in Europe, she returned to Manhattan in 1905. In addition to creating art and exhibiting her work, she devoted herself to the suffrage movement and was a founding member of Heterodoxy—a group of 40 prominent women that met regularly at the Greenwich Village Inn on Sheridan Square to discuss issues in an appropriately bohemian setting.

Perhaps “At the Claremont” was simply Proper’s way of marking the shifting of social mores. The era of gendered public spaces began ceasing in the early 1900s. Both sexes were more free to mix in cafes and other venues—which would have shocked previous generations that accepted the social separation of men and (unchaperoned) women as a cultural norm.

Setting the painting at the Claremont Inn suits the situation. When it was a tavern, women were unlikely to be allowed inside. In the modern New York City of 1912, women dominate the venue.

[Top image: Artsy; second image: Wikipedia]