Dorcas Doolittle began her training as an artist at the Philadelphia School of Design. In 1923 she enrolled at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and studied there until 1927. While at the Academy, Doolittle was highly influenced by Hugh Breckenridge and his conception of Modernism. She also took independent classes with Arthur B. Carles. Focusing on abstract form and a lively juxtaposition of color, Doolittle developed an artistic style and vocabulary that was born out of Philadelphia Modernism.
Philadelphia became a vibrant center for modernist music, theater and art in the early part of the twentieth century. A small group of artists, musicians and collectors actively and purposely promoted Modernism in the city through a series of exhibitions, theater productions, and concerts. Breckenridge and Carles were critical to the effort to bring modern art to Philadelphia. Carles, particularly, put himself at the center of the city’s modernist circle. Both men in their own work and through their teaching at PAFA sought to expose Philadelphians to the new artistic trends from Europe. Yet, interestingly, their own versions of Modernism, at least initially, were steeped in their academic training. Their first forays into abstraction were measured, and their artistic philosophies were rooted in the strength of their education as students at PAFA. Additionally, Breckenridge and Carles were both outside the circle of Stieglitz’s formidable influence and active promotion. They remained in Philadelphia and deeply connected to the modernist modes of thought that were embraced there, which one could argue were less radical and more didactic.
Doolittle was one of many artists who came under Carles and Breckenridge's sphere of influence. The forms in her paintings have an anthropomorphic quality that compliment the color she chooses. They are indeed abstract paintings, but they are not formless or chaotic. There is something quite rhythmic in the way she organizes her compositions and uses color to elicit emotion.