[OUSAMERIOIN OMEN PAINTER
DEPARTMENT O]
HNE ARTS
irial Number 55
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The Mentor Association
TT
)R THE DEVELOPMENT OF
:; ii\ ihREST IN ART, LITERATURE,
MT<;TnRY, NATURE, AND TRAVEL
THE ADVISORY BOARD
G, HIBBEN HAMILTON W, MABIE JOHN a FAN DYKE ALBERT BUSHNELL HART HILLIAM T.HORNADAY DiriGHT L ELMENDORF
Froj
President of Princeton University
Author and Editor
f the History of Arty Rutgers College
ior of Government^ Harvard University
Director New York Zoological Park
. Lecturer and Traveler
THE PLAN OF THE ASSOCIATION
THE purpose of The Mentor Association is to give its members, in an interesting and attractive way, the information in various fields of knowledge which everybody wants and ought to have. The infor- mation is imparted by interesting reading matter, prepared under the direction of leading authorities, and by beautiful pictures, produced by the most highly perfected modern processes.
The object of The Mentor Association is to enable people to acquire useful knowledge without effort, so that they may come easily and agree- ably to know the world's great men and women, the great achievements and the permancntlv interesting things in art, literature, science, history, nature, and travel. ^ ,
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FAMOUS AMERICAN WOMEN PAINTERS
By ARTHUR HOEBER
Author, Artist, and Critic
MENTOR
GRAVURES
iMOTHER AND CHILD By Mary Cassatt
LADY WITH DOG
By Cecilia Beaux
FAIRY TALES
By Lydia Field Emmet
IDLENESS
By Mary Greene Blumenschein
PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG GIRL
By Louise Cox
BROTHER AND SISTER By Jean McLane Johansen
MEMORY, by Ella Condle Lamb
THE MENTOR
MARCH i6, 191 4 • DEPARTMENT OF FINE ARTS
THE first American woman whose name is associated with the fine arts in the United States was a Miss Patience Lovell, of Borden- town, New Jersey; a place, by the way, that produced a number of painters. She was born there in 1725. She married one Joseph Wright, and one of her daughters married, in her turn, the celebrated English painter John Hoppner; while a son, Joseph, became a well known portrait painter, to whom Washington sat. One of Mrs. Wright's daugh- ters was likewise an artist, and there was a great friendship between the mother and Benjamin Franklin. Mrs. Wiight was not a distinguished painter, being mainly a modeler of portraits in wax. She did paint a little, however, and she attracted the attention of King George III when she was in London. He was very friendly with her; but withdrew his favor when she scolded him for sanctioning the war against America. After her death, for many years, there was but little interest manifested by her sex in producing works of art in this country. Now and then a woman appeared on the scene; but she was not taken seriously.
FAMOUS AMERICAN WOMEN PAINTERS
EARLY WOMEN PAINTERS
Half a century ago, when one thought of women painters, three names stood out prominently. Living at that time were the famous French- woman, Rosa Bonhcur (bo-ner'), painter mainly of animals, whose most important canvas, ''The Horse Fair," had been bought by the rich Ameri- can merchant, A. T. Stewart; Angelica Kauffmann, identified with English art life and sentimentally associated with old Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was said to have been in love with her, had been dead fifty years, while
another Frenchwoman, Madame V'igee Lebrun (leh-broon'), was dead a decade only. Outside of these three one was put to it to name a prominent representative of the fair sex who had accom- plished anything worth while in painting. Today women are as plentiful in the fine arts as they are in other w^alks of intellectual development; for the old order passes, giving place to the new. Best of all, America has produced a goodly number who have not only demonstrated their right to be taken with great seriousness, but are among the first flight of the artists of the time, regard- less of the question of sex.
MARY CASSATT
It was an American woman painter, Elizabeth Gardner, who married the French artist Bou- guereau (boog-ro'), in Paris. She had been his pupil, and had received an hon- orable mention at the Salon of 1879, painting very much like her husband. Mary Cassatt (ka-sat'), however, was one of the first of the moderns to attract serious attention in Paris. A member of the well known Philadel- phia family, her brother the president of one of the great American railroads, Miss Cassatt went to the French capital many years ago, being represented at the Salon there as early as 1 874, and she has made that city her home ever since. Her earlier pictures gave great promise, were solidly modeled and painted with much seriousness, one canvas, "Dans le Loge" (In the Box), receiving the commendation of the critics. Later, coming
-IN THE BOX." by Mary Cassatt Boston Museum of Fine Arts
FAMOUS AMERICAN WOMEN PAINTERS
under the influence of Manet (mah-nay') to a certain extent, as well as some of the men associated with the new school of French Impression- ism, the woman changed her style to a gayer scheme of color, to a different technic; not going to extremes, however, but maintaining her own personality. She has made an intimate study of the beauty of child life, has painted children under lov- ing maternal care, and has been most successful, receiving official honors and the favor of the collector.
CECILIA BEAUX
A year ago a most unusual thing occurred. Yale University conferred one of its honorary de- grees on a woman painter, Cecilia Beaux (bo), formerly of Philadel- phia, where she had studied at the Academy schools, subsequently going abroad. It was an honor well de- served, and met with general appro- bation, since Miss Beaux had won her way through serious, well con- sidered work as a portrait painter of the first order, having received recognition in France, where she had been made a fellow of the offi- cial art organization, as well as a National Academician of the Acad- emy of Design in New York. She has painted a long line of illustrious sitters, men and women identified with achievements in art, literature, and statemanship, and particularly has she been happy in her repre- sentation of child life. A notable portrait of Richard Watson Gilder, poet and editor, as well as of his children, one of the president of Bryn Mawr College, and above all an exquisite head and shoulders of a child, little Cynthia Sherwood, disclose a varied talent in securing character, as well as enormous facility in brushwork. One is conscious of Miss Beaux's debt to John S. Sargent, whose manner of painting has had a profound influence on her style; but, then, few American painters have escaped Mr. Sargent's engaging methods. Yet Miss Beaux retains her own person- ality, and in more recent years Mr. Sargent's dominance is less manifest.
MRS. CLEMENT A. GRISCOM AND DAUGHTER By Cecilia Beaux
FAMOUS AMERICAN WOMEN PAINTERS
LYDIA FIELD EMMET
Lydia Field Emmet, too, has felt strongly the influence of Mr. Sar- gent. She comes of an artistic family, several of whom are painters among the women, her cousin, Ellen Emmet Rand, being one of the leading portrait painters of the day. Like Miss Beaux, Miss Emmet has had a large measure of her success in the rendering of portraits of children. She acknowledges a considerable number of masters, including Chase, MacMonnies, Mowbray, Cox, Reid, and the French- men Bouguereau and Tony Robert Fleury in Paris. She is a miniaturist as well, and is an associate of the National Academy of Design.
Jean McLane Johansen (Mrs. John C. Johansen), a portrait painter, has nevertheless given no little attention to ideal figures and compo- sitions, disclosing much invention, and an equal amount of facil- ity. Indeed, when women are facile, they seem almost to outstrip the men in this direction, securing a cleverness and a command of the medium most surprising. This talent Mrs. Johansen possesses to a high degree; yet it is backed by a thorough training in the funda- mentals, wuth a fine sense of design and an engaging color scheme. She, too, has many important sitters, mainly women, and her picture of a seated w^oman on a hilltop created much attention when it w^as first shown in the exhibitions, and has received official recognition.
A GOOD LITTLE GIRL, by Lydia Field Emmet
MARY GREENE BLUMENSCHEIN
Mary Blumenschein, like the foregoing an associate of the Na- tional Academy of Design, is un- like them in that she has never exe- cuted a portrait; although she has made admirable likenesses of her models. She has, however, con- fined herself to the figure, and in this direction some years ago had the distinction of receiving a sec- ond medal at the Paris Salon, being the first woman in this country to be thus honored. Hers is a very personal color scheme, and her treatment of her work is entirely unique. Fanciful figures, generally of young and beautiful women, come from her brush, and are exe- cuted with great sparkle and al- lurement. Some of these have a
FAMOUS AMERICAN WOMEN PAINTERS
highly decorative quality, while there is an originality that is most fascinating.
The late Sarah Ball Dod- son, a Philadelphian by birth, had a training at the schools of that city, and then went to Paris, where she became a pupil of the Frenchman Lu- minais (loo-min-ay'), as well as of Lefebvre (la-fay'-ver). Her first contribution to the Salon was in 1877, and from that time until her death she was rarely absent from the displays there.
Few women have had so diversified a talent as had Miss Dodson, who painted the figure and the landscape equally well, and with un- mistakable authority. One of her large canvases called *' Deborah," a biblical scene, is in the Corcoran Gallery, Washington; while another of commanding proportions is called "The Signing of the Declaration of Independence," and is of course of historical importance, a w^ork over which she labored for many years, giving great study to the details of costumes, interior, and all appertaining to that momentous event. The woman knew her trade thoroughly, and was one of the best equipped of all her sex, the result of long and serious application. She died in January, 1906.
OTHER WOMEN ARTISTS
So many of the women painters of promise appear with brilliance on the artistic horizon, only to drop out through reasons of matrimony and consequent cares of home and family. Before her marriage to the late Rich- ard Watson Gilder, Helena de Kay showed unusual distinction, and was a foundation member of the Society of American Artists, which was formed in 1877, and after thirty years was merged into the National Academy of Design. As Miss de Kay, she signed many admirable paintings, disclosing a very personal color feeling, a broad touch, and a serious grasp of the ele- mentals. Since her marriage few if any works have come from her brush.
PORTRAIT, MOTHER AND DAUGHTER By Jean McLane Johansen. Owned by H. S. Brown
FAMOUS AMERICAN WOMEN PAINTERS
Sarah Choate Sears of Boston must be included in the list of distinguished workers, a painter of the figure and a water "colorist of unusual merit and cleverness. Mary Fairchild, now Mrs. Will H. Low, studied in the art schools of St. Louis, and so great was her progress that in 1885 the school sent her to Paris for a three years' course of study in the Julian studio. She w^as first admitted to the Salon in 1888. In 1893 she was commissioned to paint a large decorative panel for the Woman's Building at the World's Colum- bian Fair at Chicago. For years Mrs. Low resided in Paris, where her work received serious consid- eration. One of her canvases, "The Breeze," in the meanwhile attracted much commendation. A winner of the Dodge prize at the National Academy exhibi- tion of 1895, Edith Mitchill Prell- witz is a painter of the figure, having been a pupil of the Paris schools. She has been identified with the making of designs for stained glass win- dows, as has Mrs. Charles R. Lamb, who was Ella Condie, a pupil of William M. Chase and the Englishman Hubert von Herkomer. She has done much mural work as well.
Adele Herter, wife of Albert Herter, is a painter of the portrait and genre (janr)* works, and she too, although working in oil, is a water colorist of distinction.
LOUISE COX
Many of the women painters are wives of artists, notably Louise King (Mrs. Kenyon Cox), who was a pupil of her husband and the Art Students' League, and has had many medals. Her figure work has been reproduced in various mediums, and she is represented in prom- inent collections.
Maria Oakey, wife of Thomas W. Dewing, N. A., was a pupil of John LaFarge and Thomas Couture (koo-toor'), and paints figures and flower pieces, these last attracting much attention.
♦ Genre painting is illustrative of common life. E. C. Stedman wrote: " We call those genre canvases, whereon are painted idyls of the fireside, the roadside, and the farm, pictures of real life."
PORTRAIT By Mary Greene Blumenscheln
FAMOUS AMERICAN WOMEN PAINTERS
Prominent among the animal painters is Matilda Brown, who has also executed many flower pictures. She studied under Carleton Wiggins, N. A.
Ellen Emmet (Mrs. Rand) is a portrait painter of great promi- nence and a woman of large technical ability, who has had as sitters some of the important people of the land, notably Vice President Levi P. Mor- ton and others. A capable draftswoman, thoroughly well grounded in her profession, she has had considerable vogue for some years. She was a pupil of the Paris schools and has a studio in New York.
Adelaide Cole Chase, a Boston painter, is the daughter of the well known artist, J. Foxcroft Cole. She pursued her studies in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and in Paris under Laurens and Carolus Duran, and her early success was in the Society of American Artists with a portrait of children.
In this same list we must include Louise L. Heustis, an Alabama wom- an and pupil of the Art Students' League, as well as Charles Lazar in Paris, and Ellen Wetherald Ahrens, who won theToppan prize in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. The latter hails from Baltimore, and had a medal at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh for her ^'Woman Sewing," a por- trait of her mother. She has also made designs for stained glass windows.
Elisabeth Gowdy Baker has had success with large water color por- traits, and Anna Richards, from Ger- mantown, Pennsylvania, a daughter of the late W. T. Richards, the dis- tinguished marine painter, won the Dodge prize at the National Acad- emy of Design in 1890. One of the latter's best known works in com- position is ''May Day at Whitelands College, Chelsea."
ROSINA EMMET, MARCIA OAKES, AND DEWING WOODWARD
Rosina Emmet (now Mrs. Arthur Sherwood) had her first recompense at the Paris Exposition of 1889, with others at Chicago in 1893, and Buf- falo in 1901. Her painting ''Sep- tember" belongs to the Boston Art Club, and she is, of course, a mem- ber of the artistic Emmet family.
Marcia Cakes, wife of Charles H. Woodbury, the distinguished ma- rine painter, died in November, portrait, by Louise cox
FAMOUS AMERICAN WOMEN PAINTERS
i9n- ^i^^' ^^'^^s idciuiiied with strong character renderings of the Dutch peasantry, in which she was not surpassed; for she knew these people thoroughly, and had lived long in Holland, painting by the side of her husband. She came from South Berwick, Maine, and had a summer home at Ogunquit, in the same State. She was awarded prizes at the Boston Art Club, at Atlanta, and at Nashville, and was an adept in the medium of water color. One of her principal works is "The Smoker," which was reproduced in the "famous artist" series in the Century Magazine some years ago.
Another painter of Holland people is Dewing Woodward, a Penn- sylvania woman and pupil of both the Philadelphia schools and those of Paris. She exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1893. Miss Woodward has made many portraits in a virile manner, and in figure work has chosen to render the life of the laborer, of which she has made a most serious study.
ANNA ELIZABETH KLUMPKE
W^e have referred in this paper to the Frenchwoman Rosa Bonheur, painter of animals. One of her intimate friends, her heir and executor, was an American, Anna Eliza- beth Klumpke, a San Francisco woman w^ho was a pupil of the Paris schools under Lefebvre. She had considerable success in Paris, receiving honor- able mention in the Salon of 1885, and a bronze medal in the Universal Exposition in that city in 1889, as well as the Tem- ple Medal in Philadelphia. Meeting Rosa Bonheur, a strong friendship was formed, which resulted in a close companionship un- til the death of the French- woman. Miss Klumpke painted her portrait, seat- ed, with a dog in her lap. Other portrait sitters in- clude Randolph Jefferson Coolidge of Boston, and Mrs. Foster, at Chicago University. Other themes
Copyright by The Kiiai>iJ ("()in[);iny.
THE READER, by Sarah Paxton Ball Dodson
FAMOUS AMERICAN WOMEN PAINTERS
by Miss Klumpke have been of the peasant life of the French, and in ad- dition to her painting she has written a biography of her friend and patron, Rosa Bonheur.
CLARA MacCHESNEY
Another woman who has written as well as painted is Clara Taggart Mac- Chesney, also a Califor- nian and a pupil of the Paris schools. She has had medals in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Paris, and is a member of many art associations. For several years she has written authoritatively for various New York publi- cations. She too has spent much time in Holland, and enjoys a close friendship with many of the most dis- tinguished Dutch painters, and has done numerous pictures of the peas- antry of that land. She works both in oil and in water color. Her pictures are in the possession of the Boston Art Club, the National Arts Club, and many important collections.
MARY L. MACOMBER
A Boston woman, Mary L. A/[acomber, pupil, among others, of Frank Duveneck, is an unusually gifted painter of ideal figures, one of which, " Saint Catharine," is in the permanent collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; while another, ''The Annunciation," is owned by A^Irs. S. D. Warren. Madonnas, Annunciation, Saints — these many pictures of religious themes Miss Macomber renders in a highly personal and dec- orative manner. Her women recall in a way some of the delicate types of Sir Edward Burne-Jones, being refined and pathetic realizations of humanity. She too has had much official recognition.
Coming from Cincinnati, Ohio, Elizabeth Nourse began her studies in that city, and completed them in Paris, where she has remained ever since. Carolus Duran and Henner were her masters, and she has long been a con-
JUNE. by Lillian Genth
FAMOUS AMERICAN WOMEN PAINTERS
Copyright, C. Klackner.
SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY. by Jennie Brownscombe
tributor to the Salon, where her pictures, mainly of Brittany themes, have found great favor. She is a fellow of the Salon des Beaux Arts, in Paris.
OTHER WOMEN PAINTERS IN VARIOUS FIELDS OF ART
Sarah P. Waters, from St. Louis, became a pupil of Luc-Olivier Merson, and gave herself over to religious themes. She died in 1900. Her best known painting, called '^La Vierge au Lys," from the Salon, was exhibited in various European cities, as well as in New York.
Pictures of the Colonial period in American history, by Jennie Brownscombe, attracted considerable attention, and have been repro- duced in engraving and in color, and met with a popular success. She was a pupil of the Academy schools in New York, and of Henry Mosler, and has shown in the Royal Academy of London. Her best known works include "Colonial Minuet," ''Sir Roger de Coverley at Carvel Hall," and the "Battle of the Roses." She has a studio in New York.
Two more animal painters claim our attention: Matilda Lotz, from Tennessee, a pupil of Williams in San Francisco, and of Van Marcke in Paris. She has traveled extensively in the Far East, painting camels and dromedaries, and has been a frequent exhibitor all over Europe, paint- ing many of his famous stud of horses for the Duke of Portland.
The second is Mary Guise Newcomb of New Jersey, a pupil of Schenck, Chialiva, and Edouard Detaille (de-tahy') in Paris. She too has traveled in the Orient to study the Arab horse, which she paints with authority.
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FAMOUS AMERICAN WOMEN PAINTERS
Sarah Whitman, pupil of William M. Hunt and the Frenchman Thomas Couture, has painted land- scapes and portraits, and designed some of the stained glass windows in Memorial Hall, Cambridge, Massa- chusetts. One of her better known portraits is of Senator Bayard in the State Department, Washington. A winner of the gold medal of the Philadelphia Art Club, a fellow of the Academy of Fine Arts of that city, born in Detroit, Michigan, Janet Wheeler is a well known portrait painter. Another woman in por- traiture and ideal heads is Helen Turner, A. N. A.; while Lillian Genth, A. N. A., is a painter of nudes whose pictures have had a large vogue of recent years. There are many more who may not receive detailed attention, owing to space: Airs. Harry Watrous, Emma Lampert Cooper, Martha Weaker, Elizabeth Sparhawk Jones, and Helen Peterson; while Helen Hyde has achieved much distinction by her pictures of Chinatown, San Francisco. Charlotte B. Coman has made a place
for herself in land- scape work; Edith
DECORATIVE PANEL By Helen Hyde
PORTRAIT, by Adelaide Cole Chase
Mitchill Prellwitz in ideal figures, and Amanda Brewster Sewell in portraiture; while in both figure and landscape Clara Davidson (Mrs. Simpson) has exhib- ited important canvases, including por- traits. Mrs. Benjamin Guinness, a se- rious worker in portraiture, has painted likenesses of important people as well as landscapes and still life.
NOTE — All the paintings reproduced, where not otherwise des- ignated, are in private collections.
SUPPLEMENTARY READING
WOMEN IN THE FINE ARTS
By Clara Erskine CUmmt New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN PAINTING
By Samuel I sham New York: The Macmillan Co.
THE STORY OF AMERICAN PAINTING
By Charles H. Caffin New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.
II
THE MENTOR READING CIRCLE
My friend Carleton is an expert chemist and a leader in his profession. His advice is sought by great business interests, and he is a very successful and prosperous man. He knows chemistry, and it has made him rich. He regards almost every- thing else in the world of knowledge with indifference. He admits the importance of engineering and other sciences, but he looks upon art and literature with a half- contemptuous indulgence. He considers music a rank waste of time. His mental life is like a chemical formula.
Then there is Professor Muller — a near- by neighbor. He lives on the roots of verbs. He can trace a Greek word root through ten other languages. It would be vain for a Greek verb to attempt to escape him by hiding in the dark recesses of the Indo-European family of languages. Professor Muller would ferret It out with- out losing the scent, or the accent, for a moment. But to Professor Muller the arts and sciences alike are of little impor- tance. He seems to regard mechanics as a mere pastime for the leisure moments of a student, and not a thing to be taken seriously.
• • •
These two neighbors and others like them are living illustrations of what the English essayist, Hazlitt, called "the Ignor- ance of the learned." It is true that the specially developed mind gives the most finished results in the arts and sciences, but it makes the world of civilization seem a world of experts who live *'by bread alone*' — and the bread of each is his own particular profession. And among them there seems to be no taste for the lotus of culture.
• • •
We are often told that this is an age of classification, and subdivision, and special- ization— that the time of the man of en- cyclopedic knowledge has gone by. We
are told that the most a man can be ex- pected to know is his own chosen profes- sion, and that he can best serve the world by mastering that, to the exclusion of everything else. So often is this note struck, and so frequently do we find men devoted exclusively to some one subject that the world generally has come to ac- cept and to apply a classification that is often unfair. The physician must say nothing of art — he knows only medicine. The artist must stick to his canvas — he knows nothing of business and had better be silent thereon. The engineer is re- spected when he speaks of mechanics or electricity, but If he ventures to express himself on literature his lamp burns low. ¥ ¥ ¥ But this attitude toward men who have mastered special subjects is in many cases unfair — and we know how unfair it Is. If it had ever been our belief that specialization had the general effect of making mankind nar- row and bigoted, we would have been cured of It very soon In the course of the life of The Mentor Association. We are impressed daily by the breadth of interest shown by the readers of The Mentor. Who are those that have writ- ten the most interestedly concerning The Mentor articles on Ancient Rome, and Athens.^ Not, as might be supposed, the professors of Greek or Ancient History. In fact, we have not received one letter from such a source. The letters have come from physicians, lawyers, business men, and a number of women who are inter- ested in club work. An apothecary in -a Western city writes for information on literature. A professor of mathematics wants to know about the American humor- ists. A hardware merchant asks questions concerning our music articles — and so it goes. There is plenty of evidence in the mall that even in this age of specialization a wide range of information is wanted by those who are following particular lines of professional and business work.
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MOTHER AND CHILD, by MARY CASSATT— Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York
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lustrating
OTHER AND CHILD," by Mary Cas- satt, one of the most famous of pres- entday women artists, is the subject of one of the intaglio-gravure pictures Famous American Women Painters."
MARY CASSATT
Monograph Number One in The Mentor Readinir Course
MARY CASSATT is one of the most famous of presentday women painters, in addition to being a noted etcher. She is remotely of French descent. She was born at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1855, and first studied in Philadelphia; but she learned little of art there.
Her first visit to Europe was in 1875. There she studied hard and made great progress. Following this she went to Spain for a short time and studied the work of the great Spanish painter Ve- lasquez; but she soon returned to Paris, where she became greatly influenced by Manet and Degas. Without losing her own point of view she profited by her study of them, sharing their deep love of nature, of color, and of form.
She first exhibited in 1893; but it was ten years later that she held the first im- portant exhibition of her work in New York City.
Mary Cassatt always clearly portrays her subject, regardless of type. She has been highly praised by French critics. Mothers and babies, and children of any sort have been her main inspiration. vShe is very original in her point of view.
She gets her effect simply, yet justly and with truth. She is never puerile or sen- timental. Miss Cassatt is better known abroad for her work, and lives there, hav- ing her home in Paris. Her paintings are numerous; but she is very independent. She does not care for medals or honors, although she has won many of them. In the social and art world she holds a high position, and has travele 1 all over Europe.
Mary Cassatt has been called "a painter of the psychology of babies" ; but she also has a broad understanding of the woman of the world. Her children are sometimes very homely; yet every one of them seems to be joyously happy. They express grace and innocence in an original and simple manner.
Her more important works are "Moth- er and Child," which is in the Metro- poUtan Museum, New York City; "At the Opera, " Museum of Fine Arts, Bos- ton; "Femmes et Enfant," Detroit Mu- seum; "The Toilet," Art Institute, Chi- cago.
She is an associate member of the Na- tional Academy of Design in New York City, and is a chevalier of the Legion of Honor of France.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION COPYRIGHT. 1014. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
LADY WITH DOG. BY CECILIA BEAUX
.DY WITH DOG," by Cecilia Beaux, an artist who paints only what she sees and is a seeker of truth, is the subject of one of the intaglio-gravure pictures illustrating "Famous American Women Painters."
CECILIA BEAUX
Monograph Number Two in The Mentor Reading Course
CECILIA BEAUX is an artist who paints only what she sees, and strives always for comprehensive insight into her subject, ignoring unnec- essary details and presenting the big facts: in short, she is a seeker of truth. She was bom in Philadelphia about 1863, and first studied in the school of Profes- sor Adolf van der Weilen, and Mrs. T. A. Janvier. She got her real training, how- ever, at Paris, where she entered the life class in the Julian Academy in 1889. Four times she received the Mary Smith prize for the best painting by a woman resident of Philadelphia.
Cecilia Beaux' first work was the draw- ing of stone fossils for one of the Ameri- can scientific societies. This was e.xact- ing work, and to it she owes much of her present skill. Her earlier efforts in paint- ing were not so successful as the later ones; for she was poor, and had to use the means nearest at hand to gain a live- lihood. She did work for the Geological Survey, and later painted china and made crayon portraits from photographs, also teaching painting for a time. She did everything to the best of her ability, and
appHed her acquired knowledge, which is the key to her success.
She won many prizes, including a gold medal at the Paris Exposition of 1900; a gold medal at the Pan-American Expo- sition in 1901; and a gold medal at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904. In 1902 she was elected a member of the National Academy of Design in New York City, and she also belongs to the Society of the Beaux Arts.
Miss Beaux is an earnest and untiring worker. Her work is modem in spirit, her people are all set in ordinary clothes, in familiar surroundings, and in the least conventional poses. There is no striving after pictorial effect. In spite of the severe work that she has done through- out her life, she still retains the spirit of youthful enthusiasm, which is shown in all her productions. In none of her paintings are there dull or hea\^ tones, all being full of life.
Among her more important works are "Dorothea and Francesca," "Mrs. Roose- velt and Daughter," and "A New Eng- land Woman. "
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION COPYRIGHT. 1914. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC.
FAIRY TALES. BY LYDIA FIELD EMMET
AIRY TALES," by Lydia Field Emmet, a very successful painter of charming portraits, is the subject of one of the intaglio-gravure pictures illus- trating ** Famous American Women Painters."
LYDIA FIELD EMMET
Monograph Number Three in The Mentor Reading Course
LYDIA FIELD EMMET was born J at New Rochelle, New York, on January 23, 1866. She studied at the Art Students' League, and was a pupil of Mowbray, Cox, and Reid. In Paris she studied under Bouguereau and Fleury, and also studied privately with MacMonnies, WilHam Chase, and others. Miss Emmet is one of the most success- ful American portrait painters. She paints mostly women and children, which subjects, in America at least, seem to be better handled by women painters. Her success is due particularly to her femi- nine expression. Charm is the main fea- ture of her work. Her women have in- tellect, and her children health. She has a personality that is rare among artists. She is satisfied to look upon her subjects from the viewpoint of the subjects them- selves. Her own point of view is purely American. She inherits this patriotic spirit from her New England ancestors. Seldom has Miss Emmet painted men;
but she has painted a number of inter- esting portraits of boys. Her picture of a boy in a sailor suit is famous. The boy gazes out from the canvas with a wondering interest. This is the boy from a woman's point of view, — a mi"Xture of baby and man. It shows the superiority of a woman's understanding of children, and especially her greater sympathy with them.
In the daily papers Society is repre- sented as continually flying from one function to another. The fact that its members have homes and families is rarely taken into consideration; but Miss Emmet's portraits of aristocratic Americans show sweet and pure-minded people to whom the family is everything.
Miss Emmet is a member of the Na- tional Academy of Design, the Art Stu- dents' League, the Art Workers' Club for Women, the New York Water Color Club, and other associations of art work- ers, and has won many prizes.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION COPYRIGHT. 1914. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
BROTHER AND SISTER. BY jean mclane johansen
ROTHER AND SISTER," by Jean McLane Johansen, a woman artist with a powerful individuality, is the subject ^ of one of the intaglio-gravure pictures illustrating ** Famous American Women Painters."
JEAN McLANE JOHANSEN
Monograph Number Six in The Mentor Reading Course
EVEN in her very earliest work Jean McLane Johansen showed that powerful individuality which was later to win her many honors in the field of art. The first picture of hers that at- tracted attention was the standing por- trait of "The Girl in Gray." Although the influence of William M, Chase, the veteran American artist, was very mani- fest, she proved that she already had her own way of seeing and feeling her subject. Jean McLane was born in Chicago on September 14, 1878. She studied under John Vanderpoel and Frank Duveneck. Afterward she studied independently in France, Italy, and Spain. She married John C. Johansen, the painter.
Mrs. Johansen 's work is characterized by a determination to comprehend the essentials of a subject and to represent them with unaffected simplicity. She successfully justified this point of view, and proved her capacity for comprehen- sion. Her technic is altogether true and unaffected. Wholesomeness is a dis- tinguishing feature of her art. This she admirably demonstrated in one of her
latest pictures, "On the Hilltop." An- other picture of hers, "Mother and Babe," has also been highly praised by art ex- perts.
Mrs. Johansen is represented by pic- tures in the Toledo Museum of Art, the Syracuse Museum of Art, and the Art Museum of San Antonio, Texas. She has also been awarded the following honors: A bronze medal, Louisiana Ex- position, St. Louis, 1904; first prize, In- ternational League, Paris, 1907 and 1908; Mary Elling prize, Woman's Art Club of New York, 1907; Burgess prize. Wom- an's Art Club of New York, 1908; silver medal. International Exposition, Buenos Aires, 1910; Julia A. Shaw memorial prize. National Academy of Design, 1912; third Hallgarten prize, National Academy of Design, 1913.
Mrs. Johansen lives in New York, and although she is very happily wedded, she proceeds with her art work and continues to win fame. She is a member of the Na- tional Association of Portrait Painters of New York City, and an Associate Mem- ber of the National Academy of Design.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OP THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION COPYRIGHT. 1914. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC.
IDLENESS. BY MARY GREENE BLUMENSCHEIN
DLENESS," by Mary Greene Blumen-
schein, who has won many honors both
in Europe and in America, is the subject
of one of the intaglio- gravure pictures
illustrating "Famous American Women Painters."
MARY GREENE
Monograph Number Four ia
MARY GREENE BLUMEN- SCHEIN, like many other American artists, received the greater part of her art education abroad. She was born in New York City. She learned the first rudiments of art at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, When she was in attendance there the influence of Herbert Adams, the sculptor, had con- siderable effect upon her artistic devel- opment. After this she continued her studies in Europe, living in Paris for six- teen years.
From the first she showed that taste for exquisite color and love for all things feminine that have made themselves evi- dent in all her work. And so well did she express this taste, and so highly was her work appreciated, that she was rewarded at the Salon in 1900 with a third-class gold medal, and in 1902 with a second- class medal. Soon after this she began to study with Raphael Collin, who had a small class at Fontcnay-aux-Roses, a village near Paris. Beside her in the Collin garden worked Susan Watkins, the American artist. The friendship that Ijegan between these two talented
BLUMENSCHEIN
The Mentor Reading Course
women there endured through many years of keen rivalry.
Mrs. Blumenschein studied industri- ously. Particularly did she acquire a knowledge of the figure against a back- ground of green foliage. In this way she gained a knowledge of light and atmos- phere and clear, fresh color which is al- ways evident in her pictures.
Mrs. Blumenschein won her spurs in the field of art under her maiden name, Mary Shepard Greene; but in 1905 she was married to Ernest L. Blumenschein, the painter, at the "little tin church" in the Latin Quarter of Paris.
Since returning to her native country four or five years ago she has been much occupied with her little family of one daughter. But nevertheless she has found time to paint a number of charm- ing pictures which have been much ad- mired, not only by the public, but also by her fellow artists. In 1912 she was made an associate of the National Acndemy of Design. She has received many other honors in America, the principal one a silver medal at the St. Louis E.^position in 1904.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION COPYRIGHT. 1!)14. BY TFIE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC.
PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG GIRL. BY LOUISE cox
ORTRAIT OF A YOUNG GIRL," by Louise Cox, whose portraits of chil- dren are much admired, is the subject of one of the intaglio-gravure pictures illustrating "Famous American Women Painters."
LOUISE COX
Monograph Number Five in The Mentor Reading Course
LOUISE H0WT.AND KING COX, J wife of Kenyon Cox, the well known painter, was born in San Francisco on June 23, 1865. She studied at the Art Students' League in New York City under Kenyon Cox, whom she married in 1892. Mrs. Cox paints small decorative pic- tures and portraits, mostly of children. One art critic says of her, "Mrs. Cox is an earnest worker, and her method is in- teresting. Each picture is the result of many sketches and the study of many models, representing in a composite way the perfections of all. For the Virgin in her 'Annunciation' a model was first posed in the nude, and then another draped, the artist sketching the figure in the nude and draping it from the second model. The hands are always separately sketched, from a model who has a pe- culiar grace in folding them naturally." •'Psyche," by Mrs. Cox, exhibited in 1893, won for her the rarest of ail honors accorded to American women, — admis-
sion to the Society of American Artists. The drawing in this picture is careful and true, the color charming, and the pose natural and graceful. It was sold within a few hours after the opening of the exhi- bition.
"The Three Fates," exhibited the next year at the Academy of Design, was a more ambitious work, and placed her at once in the foremost rank of American women artists.
In 1896 "Pomona" received third prize at the Academy of Design. This paint- ing shows the "atmospheric quality and beautiful color that characterize her work." A woman stands holding a bas- ket of fruit. There is a fine suggestion of midsummer heat and noonday stillness. The honors won by Mrs. Cox include a bronze medal at the Paris Exposition in 1900, a silver medal at the Pan-Ameri- can Exposition at Buffalo, in 1901, and a silver medal at the St. Louis Exposi- tion in 1904.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION COPYRIGHT. 1914. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC
^four Mentor Library
^ing numbers of The Mentor Course, already issued, jHed at the rate of fifteen cents each, or at ten cents ^mplete set. Send your list, and the numbers Lt once, charges prepaid.
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pMBSrEaHMEninm ' |
r^Flowen of Decoration |
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> Mak«n td Aamlean Pottry |
20. |
Makttn of AmerloulHumor |
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MWriiwtoD. tlw Capital |
21. |
Amdkaa Sea Palaten |
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^HKnl WoncB in Art |
22. |
Stonr of America in Pictures: |
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^^Kbtlc IfcUad |
TheBsploren |
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HBIbttcf Mw#lr |
23. |
Sporting Vacationa |
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iNatwml Wooden of America |
24. |
Switaertaad: Tlie Land of |
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^IPlctvna Wb Lotc to Live with |
Scenic Spfcndora |
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Tbe Caaqvest of tbe Peaks |
25. |
American NoveHata |
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|»tlud. the Lud of Soiu and |
26. |
American Landscape Palnten |
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27. |
Venice, the Island Cte»?.^-a:^l: |
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HBMba in Art |
28. |
The WUe In Art 4HHiii |
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^^Kh with a Story |
29. |
Great American In^^^^H |
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^^^■l^KAinerica ia Pictures; |
30. |
Furniture and Ita lOSI^^^ |
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^^^^^■taoveren |
31. |
Spain and Gibraltar |
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m^^^p^ |
32. |
Historic Spota of Amerlcn |
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EKWmonrof Panama |
S3. |
Beautiful BttUdlaca of the Worid |
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American Blrda of Beauty |
34. |
Game Birds of America |
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Dutch Masterpieoes |
35. |
Story of America in PIcturea:The |
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Paris, tbe Incomparable |
Contett for North America |
Serial
No.
3d. Famoua American Sculptors
37. The Coaaoest of the Poles
3S. Napoleon
39. The Mediterranean
40. Aatdain Art
41. Famoua Compoeera
42. Btarpt. Mm Land of Mystery
43. Stqrv of America in Pictures:
Tbe Revoiutioa
44. Famoas Enslish POeta
45. Makera of American Art
46. The Rolna of Rome
47. Maker* of Modem Opera
48. Dttzer and Holhela 40. VIenaa. the Queen City
60. Aadeat Atbeaa
61. The Barbtzoa Painters
62. Abraham Liaoola
63. George Washington
64. Mexico
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