tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64201083735989003062024-03-18T19:47:35.353-07:00Cecilia Beaux ForumUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6420108373598900306.post-79004039024992097252012-08-03T10:19:00.001-07:002012-08-03T10:20:39.951-07:00Bessie Potter Vonnoh<div style="font-family: inherit;">
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<span style="font-size: small;">Collaboration by Lauren Mills, Chris Saper, and Sarah Bishop<br /><i>The Art of the Portrait Journal</i></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Issue No. 53, 4th Quarter 2011</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghFnsxwt-uhInK9Gcof77MXyAlxf4_4dVA5lOJ450gGuzVg5ddWX1vJ6d3t_smZPQAMEgLyDKZsRKVOGoJIfC2JwT-4YbueFUl3vbjk-MLKX37FCBODA74sUDBTKxQ-aKwi3HDsoCjYGU/s1600/bessie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghFnsxwt-uhInK9Gcof77MXyAlxf4_4dVA5lOJ450gGuzVg5ddWX1vJ6d3t_smZPQAMEgLyDKZsRKVOGoJIfC2JwT-4YbueFUl3vbjk-MLKX37FCBODA74sUDBTKxQ-aKwi3HDsoCjYGU/s200/bessie.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>In Arcadia</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">bronze on marble base<br /> 12 7/8 x 28 3/4 x 6 5/8"<br />Smithsonian American Art Museum</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Known as “the grand dame of American sculptors,” Bessie Potter Vonnoh
is credited with pio</span><span style="font-size: small;">neering the genre of small,
elegant bronze sculpture depicting women and children in everyday domestic
life. </span><span style="font-size: small;">Potter’s
artistic direction </span><span style="font-size: small;">was a significant departure
from the world of sculpture at the time …a world dominated by male sculptors
who created large scale public works often described as avant- garde. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Her work was not without its
critics, and was at times marginalized by both her gender and choice of subject
matter: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>“The
work of Bessie Potter…is of the first order of merit, and yet of such a nature
as to be in place only in the home. It is too delicate to relate to the private
phases and emotions of the home life to appear beautiful anywhere outside the
home.”</i><i><br />
--Theodore Dreiser, "Frank Edwin Elwell, Sculptor,"<br />
<i>New York Times</i>,
</i></span><span style="font-size: small;">4
December 1898</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Despite
the New York Times’ criticism, Potter’s work was widely and enthusiastically
received. Many critics applauded not only her sensitive artistic ability, but
also her fearless rendering of the intimate domestic scenes they felt couldn’t
be handled as well by men. Potter’s success broke ground for many women
sculptors who were hesitant to pursue such a path, fearing they would be considered
inferior.<span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;">Potter’s
body of work is notable for her impressionistic use of flowing, classic
garments – women whose dress more resembled that of Isadora Duncan than the
rigid, confining styles of her time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Potter’s resounding success grew out of a rather inauspicious start: crippled
by a mysterious disease (in retrospect, most likely polio) at age two, Bessie spent
the next eight years in leg casts. Her physical and creative outlets were
limited to what she could do with her hands. Though her widowed mother
struggled financially, she always managed to provide Bessie with an ample
supply of clay. Potter recovered from her illness at the age of ten, yet
remained a diminutive 4’8” in height. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">By the age of fourteen, Potter’s passion and already considerable skill
in sculpting led her to study at the</span><span style="font-size: small;"> Art
Institute of Chicago under sculptor Loredo Taft, paying tuition by working as
his assistant on Saturdays. In 1893,
Taft was facing stringent deadlines in preparing his sculptures for the </span><span style="font-size: small;">World's Columbian
Exposition in Chicago. Taft found all
the male sculptors of the time to be hired out; he was desperate for help and
sought permission to hire female assistants – he was told he could hire anyone, "Even white
rabbits," if it would mean he'd get the work done on time. Taft hired
eight women sculptors to assist him, dubbing them the "White
Rabbits." <i> </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>While completing
her work as a “White Rabbit,” </i><i>Bessie Potter was commissioned to sculpt a
separate piece, the Personification of Art for the Illinois State Building. By
1903 she had participated in five major exhibitions.</i> </span><span style="font-size: small;">During her career, Potter Vonnoh created almost two
hundred works (not counting duplicates and variations), including terracotta
statuettes, portrait busts, plasters, marbles, and noteworthy public
commissions, such as the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bird Fountain at Oyster
Bay and the Frances Hodgson Burnett Fountain in Central Park.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Potter married painter Robert Vonnoh in 1899. The couple traveled
widely and immersed in an artistic life until Robert Vonnoh’s death in 1933.
Bessie Potter Vonnoh died in 1955 at the age 82.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgXlFEf_VwVFpT4E50_QKFq9pL5BTKOYPqvq8Ltz-SA16h4gPkvYZ4sTTNfL47ceD3qVSKOO4dnlopkh-Y3IBaV3vfwWDsNQJquS1kSYOvluJEFA5dtKzlXxqLyQ-UJ7hcOSYp45Hyt9g/s1600/Bessie+Fountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgXlFEf_VwVFpT4E50_QKFq9pL5BTKOYPqvq8Ltz-SA16h4gPkvYZ4sTTNfL47ceD3qVSKOO4dnlopkh-Y3IBaV3vfwWDsNQJquS1kSYOvluJEFA5dtKzlXxqLyQ-UJ7hcOSYp45Hyt9g/s400/Bessie+Fountain.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the heart of the Conservatory Garden's English garden, deep within Central Park, is Bessie's "Burnett Fountain." The fountain is a tribute to Frances Hodgson Burnett, the famed children's author of The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, and Little Lord Fauntleroy. The statue has been the center of the storytelling area of Central Park since 1936, which was created to honor Burnett's death in 1924.</td></tr>
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<br /></div>Cecilia Beaux Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16111394369017816865noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6420108373598900306.post-19992063878782926222012-08-03T10:02:00.003-07:002012-08-03T10:04:02.744-07:00Clara Westhoff: Art and Community<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">By Pat Aubé Gray</span></span><br />Edited by Lauren Harris<br />The Art of the Portrait Journal<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />Issue No. 41, 3rd Quarter 2008</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJTCq6-93otR8Iv5VrTyLFLpLyZE0pNkkr9ZzRiOQnXK1uHJepvQH1iSX89kM2Cp3ApjxywamlN4Y7u3aPG7qveU7TIgUqHO_Gc29PolkIN3xjT7IK6OxVmqVqreqTgICvfXDErkkQdFk/s1600/Rilke-Westhoff_Paula+buste.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJTCq6-93otR8Iv5VrTyLFLpLyZE0pNkkr9ZzRiOQnXK1uHJepvQH1iSX89kM2Cp3ApjxywamlN4Y7u3aPG7qveU7TIgUqHO_Gc29PolkIN3xjT7IK6OxVmqVqreqTgICvfXDErkkQdFk/s1600/Rilke-Westhoff_Paula+buste.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Bust of Paula Modersohn-Becker, 1922</i><br />
by Clara Westhoff</td></tr>
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Clara Henriette Sophie Westhoff
Rilke was born September 21, 1878 in Bremen, Germany.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At seventeen, Clara Westhoff began her
artistic education at the private Munich<span class="style3"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Damenakademie</i>, one of three art schools in
Germany at the time for women artists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Until the early twentieth century, women were officially barred from
traditional government fine art academies in Germany</span>, an obstacle that
Clara and her contemporaries circumvented by seeking instruction in other
artists’ studios and abroad.</div>
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At the conclusion of her formal education
at the <span class="style3"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Damenakademie</i>
in 1898</span>, Clara moved to Worpswede, a small town north of Bremen and the recently
founded artist colony there that took its name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>While seeking instruction in the studios of other Worpswede artists, Clara
was encouraged by Fritz Mackenson, the award-winning German Lyrical painter, to
expand her artistic study to include sculpture, a medium which quickly became her
primary form of artistic expression.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Worpswede welcomed artists from a
variety of traditions, many rejecting the conservatism at the Munich and
Dusseldorf Academies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Among the artists
who joined the Worpswede community were Clara’s future husband, Rainer Maria
Rilke, and close friend and painter, Paula Modersohn-Becker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clara Westhoff and Paula Modersohn-Becker
maintained a strong creative bond and devoted friendship throughout their lives,
sitting for and working along side one another, travelling together and
maintaining correspondence from which we understand many thoughts and
experiences of both artists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact one
of the best known images of Clara Westhoff is her portrait by Paula
Modersohn-Becker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSX1KcQTTJWT0p5gMCcdGEY15-luOspFi89-Y8gop0EWRRZfsi1IYzrQz91wEQbXKtyhj99QO0EHXXqP2TbI3Wb9HnE78aRpGmqhDHa9aEIUHib7s92ECqyE8TcdiQ2G90vMqucC1e23s/s1600/clara_westhoff-rilke_use+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSX1KcQTTJWT0p5gMCcdGEY15-luOspFi89-Y8gop0EWRRZfsi1IYzrQz91wEQbXKtyhj99QO0EHXXqP2TbI3Wb9HnE78aRpGmqhDHa9aEIUHib7s92ECqyE8TcdiQ2G90vMqucC1e23s/s200/clara_westhoff-rilke_use+small.jpg" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Clara Rilke Westhoff, 1905</i><br />
by Paula Modersohn-Becker</td></tr>
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In 1899, Clara Westhoff and Paula
Modersohn-Becker with Marie Bock, another Worpswede artist, showed their work in
exhibits at the Bremen Kunsthalle which were scathingly denounced in reviews by
critic, Arthur Fitger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Contemporary
voices offer an explanation for Fitger’s harsh reaction as an understandable
reaction to art that was both “modern” and particularly executed by women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite critical venom, other artists praised
Clara’s work, including the painter and founding Worpswede artist, Heinrich
Vogeler and Auguste Rodin, Clara’s mentor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even as she was being denounced by Fitger, Clara was seeking further
education by studying with Max Klinger and Carl Seffner in Leipzig.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paula both visited and wrote to Clara during
her tenure there.</div>
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In early 1900, Clara and Paula
Modersohn-Becker traveled to Paris to continue their studies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While her friend attended the Academie
Colarossi, the Louvre, and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Clara joined the
celebrated Auguste Rodin’s atelier in Paris.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At the time, Rodin and his work were garnering international acclaim at
the 1900 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Exposition Universelle</i>, an
event attended by more than 50 million people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some time after Paula’s death, Clara wrote about their experience in
Paris in 1900, particularly on their mutual discovery of Cezanne’s work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For both artists, the opportunities Paris
afforded were invaluable.</div>
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In the spring of 1901, Clara
Westhoff returned to Worpswede and married Ranier Maria Rilke, establishing a
home there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the same year Paula
married Otto Modersohn, a mutual friend of Paula, Clara and Ranier Maria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Rilkes had a daughter, Ruth, in early
1902, but within six months they agreed to live apart in order to better pursue
their art. Though there were brief reunions and a lifelong cordial relationship
between them, the family never remained together. Westhoff remained in
Worpswede until 1919, when she moved to Fischerhude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She died in Fischerhude in 1954, and her home
and studio stand today as the Café Rilke.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg3f9QOL-LP3ScrEy4nDuqob-WS77PvXk4FaujoAvWkDy-rm5MkniLpXhiI8qwTWJaJfSjORfhk4282jHYbGF4Z5uFqNwfylsGwc5VutNqcM03W7A3i6YkO9miC5F3R4e7gxDk1PFRki4/s1600/clara+and+paula+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg3f9QOL-LP3ScrEy4nDuqob-WS77PvXk4FaujoAvWkDy-rm5MkniLpXhiI8qwTWJaJfSjORfhk4282jHYbGF4Z5uFqNwfylsGwc5VutNqcM03W7A3i6YkO9miC5F3R4e7gxDk1PFRki4/s1600/clara+and+paula+2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clara and Paula</td></tr>
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Among Clara Westhoff’s surviving
works are her 1901 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Portrait Bust of
Ranier Maria Rilke</i> (gypsum on gypsum base), a 1902 bust of Heinrich Vogeler
and an unsigned bronze bust of author, Ricarda Huch, from 1912.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps the most expressive of her existing
works is the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bust of Paula
Modersohn-Becker</i>, seen today as a symbol of their friendship and shared
passion in art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bust of Paula Modersohn-Becker</i> is in the collection of the
Kunsthalle in Bremen.</div>Cecilia Beaux Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16111394369017816865noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6420108373598900306.post-24655324570709302972012-08-03T09:15:00.001-07:002012-08-03T09:15:31.899-07:00Lavinia Fontana Zappi<br />
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span>By Angelo Fernandez</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>The Art of the Portrait Journal</i> </span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Issue No. 40, 2nd Quarter 2008</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Judith and Holofernes</i><br />oil on canvas, 175.9 x 134.1 cm</span></td></tr>
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Born in the major art center of Bologna, Italy to leading
painter, Prospero Fontana, Lavinia enjoyed her professional training at home. In
her artistic development, she was influenced by her role model, Sofonisba
Anguissola, the first internationally recognized Italian female portrait
painter. Lavinia’s own portrait style combined elegance and elongation of the
human figure, typical of the Mannerist style. She was admired for the beauty of
color and the precise description of clothing, texture, and jewelry worn by her
subjects.</div>
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Women painters of the era were generally limited to portraiture.
Lavinia enjoyed a well established reputation for portraits of many women
sitters but also of local, aristocratic men. She became the portraitist of
choice among Bolognese noblewomen and important individuals connected with the University of Bologna. By the 1570’s, public
commissions for large paintings of religious and mythological subjects, which
included female nudes, resulted in her unique reputation.</div>
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In 1577, at the age of 25, Lavinia married Giovanni Paolo
Zappi, a wealthy fellow artist. Zappi recognized her superior talent and
dedicated himself to assisting Lavinia by rendering backgrounds in some of her
paintings. Despite her demanding art schedule, the couple bore 11 children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only 3 outlived Lavinia.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbDJkuNvKz-XGHF-UW3XTRfHCDyRa0TgzXiEUS8H81BVJRmi9scIwGsoxZG8TkJYMo-_GL8e_4mJmVETuHZDW_6dtLU-dPpYmk1KlqAdup1p3eCQqRfpi-LJQQWCjEJqwvM00D7jA29UA/s1600/Lav_Fontana_Autoritratto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbDJkuNvKz-XGHF-UW3XTRfHCDyRa0TgzXiEUS8H81BVJRmi9scIwGsoxZG8TkJYMo-_GL8e_4mJmVETuHZDW_6dtLU-dPpYmk1KlqAdup1p3eCQqRfpi-LJQQWCjEJqwvM00D7jA29UA/s200/Lav_Fontana_Autoritratto.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Portrait d'homme assis feuilletant un livre<br />(dit du senateur Orsini)</i><br />Musee des Beaux-Arts, France<br />Bx E 197; Bx M 5689</td></tr>
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The first of Fontana’s large religious paintings was the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Holy Family with St. John</i> (1589), done
as an altar piece for El Escorial, the Spanish Royal Palace and now in the
collection of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She subsequently executed a major commission,
her most ambitious narrative work, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon, </i>presently in the National Gallery,
Dublin, Ireland.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>This is probably a
group portrait of the wealthy, powerful, and ruling Gonzaga family of Mantua. Another altar
piece, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Vision of Saint Hyacinth</i>
(1599-1600), for the Santa Sabina church in Rome led to an invitation by Pope
Clement VIII to become a papal court painter. The Zappis permanently moved to
Rome in 1603 where Lavinia became a court portraitist, enjoying the patronage
of Pope Gregory XIII’s family. In 1604 she painted the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Martyrdom of St. Stephen</i>, her largest altar piece for a Roman
basilica, San Paolo Fuori le Mura. A rare honor for a female, Lavinia was
elected a member of the Roman
Academy.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG254cQ1P4Zds3Cq8AuKKOTYVt3gbkc3k8sbqlAECVzkii68WqMcnQzaf7h0CNmlA-SYeECj2FBmiQZtDBZqwK01tga5mF54rzJMosFoQFvSweR_b-fVEYSjxf3i0FWND9FmwN-ylHY5w/s1600/LFontana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG254cQ1P4Zds3Cq8AuKKOTYVt3gbkc3k8sbqlAECVzkii68WqMcnQzaf7h0CNmlA-SYeECj2FBmiQZtDBZqwK01tga5mF54rzJMosFoQFvSweR_b-fVEYSjxf3i0FWND9FmwN-ylHY5w/s200/LFontana.jpg" width="144" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Minerva Dressing, 1613</i><br />oil on canvas<br />Galleria Borghese, Rome</span></td></tr>
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After her marriage, Fontana
would occasionally sign her paintings using her married name, Zappi. Of
Fontana’s body of work, only 30 paintings consistently attributed to her
survive. This still represents the largest known body of work by a woman up to
the year 1700. Lavinia received many awards and honors, was one of the first
women to paint large, publicly commissioned figure paintings, and is recognized
for developing a successful artistic career while working within the sphere of
her European, male counterparts. At present, Fontana’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Portrait of a Noble Woman</i>, said to be Bianca Capello, Grand Duchess
of Tuscany, and her <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Portrait of Constanza
Adidosi</i> are in the collection of the National Museum of Women in the Arts,
Washington, D.C. </div>Cecilia Beaux Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16111394369017816865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6420108373598900306.post-83925401930596886442012-08-03T08:46:00.000-07:002012-08-03T08:46:17.819-07:00Dawn Whitelaw<br />
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By Terry Howell Stanley</div>
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<i>The Art of the Portrait Journal</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Issue No. 37, 3rd Quarter 2007</span></div>
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A common thread between the most successful women artists,
past and present, is they consider their success neither a result nor an
accomplishment in spite of their gender. Dawn Whitelaw echoes that sentiment,
saying “I feel that my career is shaped by my personality, by my likes and
dislikes, my strengths and weaknesses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My gender has influenced who I am and the choices I’ve made, but I
honestly don’t feel like it has generally hindered or helped…my career.”</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrZAitadfVeVyLHwEL32BZ34tTSDh3gcDCZ0bU4HBP7tRNaR3iAjTS90nBQfF1gi7f8sxY6Gv-0LaFTrpRupK6aOyv6O2QJUh1g0HaEnaslgv85-flMS8AvJdT_uu_CqhqJxiN1QGwKc0/s1600/Whitelaw.+Untitled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrZAitadfVeVyLHwEL32BZ34tTSDh3gcDCZ0bU4HBP7tRNaR3iAjTS90nBQfF1gi7f8sxY6Gv-0LaFTrpRupK6aOyv6O2QJUh1g0HaEnaslgv85-flMS8AvJdT_uu_CqhqJxiN1QGwKc0/s200/Whitelaw.+Untitled.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Private collection, oil</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Dawn studied art in college at David Lipscomb University,
but her first years in the workforce focused on graphic arts…until she saw the
painting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Man With A Cat</i> by Cecilia
Beaux. Her love affair with painting began in that moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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She attended a workshop with Everett Raymond Kinstler
shortly thereafter and credits her continuing studies with him as a major
influence in her work. At one point she asked Mr. Kinstler his advice to
make her a better portrait painter. His reply was to paint nature -
landscapes – outdoors, on site.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNwgulbRlaXPgXys5xHvBhGSrFcUXUuU2BHeTqhVdAq5idgh4KXhBCOS_0g76OOiRIJV_H3EhPosT2tXLxEA63kI3l5c04Xc-daDe2krgB1ibKABvuS7E-bvvXkiZQKkYlQfTwlT-cGI/s1600/Whitelaw.+Erin+Orange.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNwgulbRlaXPgXys5xHvBhGSrFcUXUuU2BHeTqhVdAq5idgh4KXhBCOS_0g76OOiRIJV_H3EhPosT2tXLxEA63kI3l5c04Xc-daDe2krgB1ibKABvuS7E-bvvXkiZQKkYlQfTwlT-cGI/s200/Whitelaw.+Erin+Orange.jpg" width="148" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Erin</i><br />
oil, 30" x 20"</td></tr>
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She ignored that advice until one of her own university
students asked her the same question and she found herself parroting Kinstler’s
advice. The audacious student didn’t have a car, so Dawn not only became chauffeur
but got hooked on painting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">en plein ai</i>r…and
her portrait work did indeed improve!</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In the ensuing years, Dawn Whitelaw has achieved
notoriety as a talented painter of people and of nature. She is a generous and
popular instructor and has won numerous accolades including the Best of Show at
the 2001 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Art of the Portrait</i><sup>®</sup>
conference, and second place in the Richeson 75: Figure/Portrait 2007
competition. She has been the subject of articles in several recent national publications,
including <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American Artist</i> magazine’s
portrait special edition and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Workshop</i>
magazine, as well as an online chat on <a href="http://www.myamericanartist.com/">www.myamericanartist.com</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An extended article will be posted on the Portrait
Society website and will give readers more specific information on her methods
and inspiration</span>Cecilia Beaux Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16111394369017816865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6420108373598900306.post-66988878036776197202012-08-03T07:39:00.002-07:002012-08-03T07:39:43.151-07:00Patricia Watwood: Contemporary Classicist<br />
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span>By Pat Aube Gray<br /><i>The Art of the Portrait Journal</i></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Issue No. 38, 4th Quarter 2007</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwLo7HjtUqqIKYyPGSHVDKTtR17ubp1FoXexrnOGnJWwrr-B0U61RZuyhs9i1B5SmEzylI7FB2xEGMIbuJefvlgfXuZVQVe3TOMb1kiEy2M5z1Pz67v55je54FJjqgsnYv0g1fbukBQw8/s1600/cecelia+payne+gaposchkin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwLo7HjtUqqIKYyPGSHVDKTtR17ubp1FoXexrnOGnJWwrr-B0U61RZuyhs9i1B5SmEzylI7FB2xEGMIbuJefvlgfXuZVQVe3TOMb1kiEy2M5z1Pz67v55je54FJjqgsnYv0g1fbukBQw8/s200/cecelia+payne+gaposchkin.jpg" width="160" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Cecelia Payne Gaposchkin</i><br />oil on canvas, 47" x 38"<br />University Hall, Harvard University</span></td></tr>
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Sewing machine whirring
as she finishes a Halloween costume princess cape, successful artist Patricia
Watwood, mother of two, expresses, “Having young children is a blessing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t postpone it until your career is
established.” </div>
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Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Watwood was
enrolled in art classes throughout her childhood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She graduated <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Magna Cum Laude</i> from Trinity University in Texas, with a major in
Theatre (Scenic Design), and a minor in Art and Art History.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Watwood moved to Seattle, Washington where
Tony Ryder introduced her to traditional figure drawing and painting at The
Academy of Realist Art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She knew then this
would be her life’s work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Watwood and her husband moved to New York in 1996
for the artist’s study at New York Academy Graduate School of Figurative Art
and to work privately with Jacob Collins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On an eight-month sabbatical she attended the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ecole Albert Defois</i> in Les Cerqueux sous Passavant in France with
artist Ted Seth Jacobs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Watwood earned her
Masters of Fine Art Degree in 1999.</div>
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With work in major
exhibitions in notable museums and galleries throughout the United States,
Watwood has twice won the James Amster Memorial Award from the National Arts
Club in New York.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2004 she and ten
other artists were invited by <i>American Artist</i> and Forbes, Inc. to
participate in <i>The Next Generation of Realists, </i>spending ten days in
London painting, exchanging ideas, and visiting museums.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSHclZdfJguGD_ATHPKBB8S4N3BM1DsUZWdDo7ACbQv4putf2LfcSWrNja6p5HVSi4NK_U32-ECgtLBA8feET-va_Js05LkIa7z8emn9xPngKBEb2UMaCPNcqLqZS_U0iTgJjjx3GQGqs/s1600/semele+watwood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSHclZdfJguGD_ATHPKBB8S4N3BM1DsUZWdDo7ACbQv4putf2LfcSWrNja6p5HVSi4NK_U32-ECgtLBA8feET-va_Js05LkIa7z8emn9xPngKBEb2UMaCPNcqLqZS_U0iTgJjjx3GQGqs/s200/semele+watwood.jpg" width="116" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Semele</i><br />oil on canvas with gold leaf<br />36" x 24"</span></td></tr>
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The first woman
commissioned to paint a portrait for University Hall at Harvard University,
Watwood unabashedly composed her painting of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin after
Vermeer’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Astronomer</i>.
Payne-Gaposchkin, a mother of three, was the first person to receive a Ph.D. in
astronomy from Harvard and the first woman to receive tenure there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Leaning toward narratives
and allegories and exploring classical mythology, she is painting in a higher
key with a more colorful and modernistic intention than the Old Masters whose
work she reveres.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Watwood’s style has
evolved since her training, bringing a contemporary sensibility to her
realistic compositions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She explains, “I
want people to know my paintings are being executed <i>now</i>.”</div>Cecilia Beaux Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16111394369017816865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6420108373598900306.post-88034436344946111652012-08-03T07:19:00.001-07:002012-08-03T07:19:52.195-07:00Mary Beth McKenzie<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">By Terry Howell Stanley<br /><i>The Art of the Portrait Journal</i></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Issue No. 47, 1st Quarter 2010</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHKyF95PzgxHdc6VHo9LMJM-pewDomSsLPfT-NocCEnlJE8MurZGRRAmmzOoJ402P_4pCNmz6afk86n1xIRrXDeAtchHG5Qg_japyYriLXp2EESzOdI8Y-7W9UH6JWbjwM1nKhg2VQK58/s1600/McKenzie+2-JPEG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHKyF95PzgxHdc6VHo9LMJM-pewDomSsLPfT-NocCEnlJE8MurZGRRAmmzOoJ402P_4pCNmz6afk86n1xIRrXDeAtchHG5Qg_japyYriLXp2EESzOdI8Y-7W9UH6JWbjwM1nKhg2VQK58/s200/McKenzie+2-JPEG.jpg" width="151" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Benat</i><br />oil on canvas, 64" x 48"</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Mary
Beth McKenzie is not an artist who claims to have found overnight success immediately
after first putting paint to canvas. Her path was deliberate and focused,
encompassing study with several of today’s acknowledged Masters, as well as the
School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Cooper School in Cleveland,
the Art Students League and the National Academy of Design. McKenzie struggled
to find her artistic voice for nearly five years, during two of which, she
discarded more of her art than she kept. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Persevering as student, artist and instructor,
she has emerged as a celebrated member of today's fine art community. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Mary
Beth McKenzie cites Robert Phillipp as one of her most influential instructors
and mentors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Painting
as his student at the National Academy of Design and modeling for him in his
studio, McKenzie explains the education she received by watching Phillipp develop
paintings was invaluable. “…his remarkable enthusiasm and excitement for life
as well as for painting was contagious. I never left his studio without feeling
a renewed motivation and inspiration. He really enjoyed the act of painting,
and through his bold handling of paint I became aware of a more sensuous side
to painting, a lushness of paint surface and a beauty of color. I loved his
loose, seemingly effortless way of working.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">“He
was also a link for me with the great tradition of painting. He had such
wonderful stories about artists he had known personally or had had some contact
with, such as John Singer Sargent, Frank Vincent Dumond, and many
German artists like Wilhelm Leibl and Adolf von Menzel -
people I could only read about. Up until the time he died (at eighty-seven) he
still painted almost every day. Being around him made me realize that painting
is a way of life; and the faith he showed in me also encouraged me to believe
in my self as and artist. “</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMLnUURvNyVesOpGCD9-m9zx1qhUjzeefyB0GqWtUl7bbD9LX5h5PgFXEnm1O6oRFC7J8LlX-V66KF_HWZpgznyaUUwDK_gOACIApYW7JSuyhmiAeHdlskWvv13sQ73miiSB-OkXYdD-8/s1600/dying+swan+mckenzie.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMLnUURvNyVesOpGCD9-m9zx1qhUjzeefyB0GqWtUl7bbD9LX5h5PgFXEnm1O6oRFC7J8LlX-V66KF_HWZpgznyaUUwDK_gOACIApYW7JSuyhmiAeHdlskWvv13sQ73miiSB-OkXYdD-8/s320/dying+swan+mckenzie.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Dying Swan</i><br />oil on canvas, 50" x 60"</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Burton
Silverman was another major influence, and McKenzie credits him with helping
her learn to actually think more about her painting subject. During classes
with Silverman, McKenzie developed lasting friendships with Ron Sherr, ark
Isaacson and Sharon Sprung. She also came to know Nancy Buirski, Everett Rayond
Kinstler and Harvey Dinnerstein, all of whom have influenced her thought
process and her art. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">When
asked which artists she particularly admired, she responded “I have always been
very influenced by Rembrandt and Velasquez, particularly by their
dramatic use of light and dark. Rembrandt left an amazing number of very
revealing self-portraits, a visual diary, as did Van Gogh, Kathe
Kollwitz and Egon Schiele. ...I frequently use myself as a model. A
self portrait is extremely personal."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">While
most of her oil paintings are large using a combination of brush and palate
knife, she makes a point to work directly from life or sketches done from life.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"I enjoy having an interaction with
the subject as well as having a direct response to color and shape," she
explains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes I think that
drawings are even more personal than paintings because drawings are so
immediate. All the lines remain on the paper, and you can see how the drawing
evolved. You can see how the lines were searched for and the choices that were
made when certain lines were emphasized. I particularly love the drawings
of Rembrandt, Degas, Matisse, Kathe Kollwitz and Egon Schiele. All of these
artists devoted a great deal of themselves to drawing."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Since
McKenzie is well known for her expertise in oils, pastels and monotypes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When asked if she felt working in more than
one medium was something she recommended, she explained, “I think that
everything you do feeds back into your work and alters your way of seeing. For
instance, I studied Sculpture for a year and I feel it was so important for my
painting. My understanding of the figure, of volume and space was different
after working in 3 dimensions...also my understanding of anatomy was greater.
This had a huge impact on my painting.”</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0c1zkHUpNK8BEeH65othAqrVrKOzeb4EajeMQNvop7HO-L9TkUxdPsoKQtjqshOJyAa1MFi7LFibVBc9ks1FR2xv8UKfZv63uY851_k6lT3x103Iyq06YPr6Pbr8dAkFwXVWCYAkADv4/s1600/mckenzie_paul.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0c1zkHUpNK8BEeH65othAqrVrKOzeb4EajeMQNvop7HO-L9TkUxdPsoKQtjqshOJyAa1MFi7LFibVBc9ks1FR2xv8UKfZv63uY851_k6lT3x103Iyq06YPr6Pbr8dAkFwXVWCYAkADv4/s200/mckenzie_paul.jpg" width="141" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Paul</i><br />oil on canvas, 37" x 26"</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">She
goes on to express, “I also love the paintings of: Uccello, Bruegel,
Matisse, Ceyzanne, Vuillard, Edward Hopper, and more recently Diebenkorn,
Freud, Uglow. The abstract relationships: geometry,
patterning, their use of shape and color and line are all part of my response
to these artists.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Her
most important message to artists and art students is “Composition is
everything: If you don’t have a good composition it doesn’t matter how well you
execute a painting, you will never like it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">"I
have always been preoccupied with the human figure... people alone or in
relation to other people or objects. I am not always sure why a specific
subject interests me. Someone evokes a feeling in me, but I don't always know
what it is and cannot verbalize it."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">McKenzie,
elected to the National Academy of Design in 1994, has taught at both the Art
Students League and The National Academy of Design and is the author of “A
Painterly Approach: Working in a broader, more abstract way in oil, pastel and
monotype.” (Although the book was written in 1987, the valuable lessons and
advice contained therein remain relevant).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Her work is included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum’s
20<sup>th</sup> Century Paintings Collection and in it’s Print Collection, the
National Museum of Women in the Arts, New Britain Museum of America Art,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Brooklyn Museum of Art and others. She
will be one of the featured artists at the group show at the Butler Museum
in the fall of 2010.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>Cecilia Beaux Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16111394369017816865noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6420108373598900306.post-89740494938300602432012-08-01T08:04:00.001-07:002012-08-03T07:15:16.323-07:00Bettina Steinke On Her Own Terms<br />
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By Terry Howell Stanley<br />
Edited by Luana Luconi Winner<br />
<i>The Art of the Portrait Journal</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Issue No. 34, 4th Quarter 2006</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmvGIvuY3i1w4xs_Xzk3VXBTLS5-jr6anwFi8PWY_Oiv5wXBIyHD0458gekzcJYRPTz9WPmLu8ogh6726vLfUAQHbGDYgnW2cGGy6GeZv5v2kqjxxmu79h52Ml6h_Eh5_LdglZ6MM9yjs/s1600/Betina+studio+pose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmvGIvuY3i1w4xs_Xzk3VXBTLS5-jr6anwFi8PWY_Oiv5wXBIyHD0458gekzcJYRPTz9WPmLu8ogh6726vLfUAQHbGDYgnW2cGGy6GeZv5v2kqjxxmu79h52Ml6h_Eh5_LdglZ6MM9yjs/s200/Betina+studio+pose.jpg" width="161" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bettina at the easel, 1940</td></tr>
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The Oklahoma Journal Record dubbed Bettina Steinke the
“acknowledged Grande Dame of portrait painting” on the occasion of her
retrospective exhibition (at the Cowboy Hall of Fame) in 1995. What else would
you call an artist whose first commissioned assignment resulted in two paintings
that are now part of the National Portrait Gallery’s collection? In talking to
Bettina’s peers and protégés, tags of “mentor”, “critic" and “teacher”
were often heard, but the common thread in all of the conversations was an almost
overwhelming sense of love and admiration. It quickly became evident that any
profile of Bettina needed to address the person as well as the artwork in order
to do her justice. </div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Bettina
Steinke had the DNA of an artist: Her father, William (“Jolly Bill”) Steinke,
was an editorial caricaturist (and later a popular children’s radio show host)
who nurtured her talent and encouraged her to pursue her dreams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She attended Fawcett Art Institute in New Jersey, Cooper Union and the Phoenix Art Institute (both
in New York City)
over the course of six years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Her first commission in 1937 was to
produce portraits of 107 members of the NBC Studio Orchestra in New York for a 10<sup>th</sup>
Anniversary promotional book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
produced the charcoal portraits in a tiny studio set up at NBC where the
musicians would pose for her, but painted a portrait of the orchestra’s
conductor Arturo Toscanini from a space near the stage as he worked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This portrait, full of life, energy and
movement is now part of the National Portrait Gallery collection (along with
Bettina’s portrait of Ignace Paderewski, another conductor of the Orchestra and
widely known at the time as the greatest pianist who ever lived). </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGiJCGwHacfuGWVDJsC1Y_2n_dD5ltAnCHuVERBlf8JqNNkhacYtr41ENeS0ndSmIbWzgZ4tnbUTydaq-u03_9qcTMZYuqvwWxDJEY3Ulq63m2fkcf2O4BLBJzHU7wGRp3z98PxA2BcMQ/s1600/Drawing+in+charcoal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGiJCGwHacfuGWVDJsC1Y_2n_dD5ltAnCHuVERBlf8JqNNkhacYtr41ENeS0ndSmIbWzgZ4tnbUTydaq-u03_9qcTMZYuqvwWxDJEY3Ulq63m2fkcf2O4BLBJzHU7wGRp3z98PxA2BcMQ/s200/Drawing+in+charcoal.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bettina, drawing in charcoal.</td></tr>
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During the next ten years, Bettina
worked as a portraitist and illustrator in New York City, gradually gaining notoriety in
a business dominated by men and a society which actively discouraged women from
pursuing careers, particularly in the “wild” arts. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During WWII, she did work for the War
Department and even toured military hospital installations where she did bedside
sketches of injured soldiers that were then sent home to their families.</div>
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In 1943 Bettina became acquainted
with a photographer named Don Blair. They corresponded regularly until 1946
when she went to visit him in Aruba where he
was working at the time: During that visit, they were married and began a lifelong
synergistic method of working that allowed each to excel in their respective
mediums with the assistance of the other. For Bettina, that meant that when her
portrait subjects, (such as Dwight D. Eisenhower), were unable to sit for the
entire portrait-making process, Bettina would have an initial meeting with the
individual, spending a day with them, talking to them, getting his/her ideas
for the portrait and doing some preliminary sketches and color notes. Don would
take several rolls of candid photos from which Bettina would finish the
painting. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She preferred to go to the
subject and meet them in their natural environment: Occasionally this meeting
would be done in her studio, but she felt that the person might be somehow
inhibited in that unfamiliar surrounding. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She would take about six to eight weeks to
complete a portrait commission. </div>
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Don and Bettina established their
base of operation in Oklahoma.
They lived modestly and traveled the world for their work. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1955, they moved to Taos and in the early 60’s, they opened a
gallery there. Bettina began what would become a lifetime of mentoring with a
group of young male artists. In 1970 the Blairs migrated to Santa Fe, where they stayed until their
deaths. Bettina’s work focused on commissioned portraits and paintings of
Native Americans and the Southwest culture, with only the odd illustration job
being accepted if a project piqued her interest. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj50UsMAt97utjf5KazKs-REd6qkSxbv0l_m7dJfwF6eI76ApzyoOSTflzVpYxncGOMtXK7rPThyphenhyphenRDj6Q2JMYf1bIwtHZonKwtcuOWWZq1HHBUIaU05p57NSEQmxc0lr3ixUB3EtqMGWLM/s1600/Malvina+and+Don.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj50UsMAt97utjf5KazKs-REd6qkSxbv0l_m7dJfwF6eI76ApzyoOSTflzVpYxncGOMtXK7rPThyphenhyphenRDj6Q2JMYf1bIwtHZonKwtcuOWWZq1HHBUIaU05p57NSEQmxc0lr3ixUB3EtqMGWLM/s200/Malvina+and+Don.jpg" width="158" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bettina and Don Blair</td></tr>
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Bettina was an avid correspondent
with both protégés and friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum (NCWH) holds a huge collection of
her letters, business and personal papers that document the growth of her
reputation as a national presence in the visual arts and her wide circle of
friends. </div>
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Besides winning public acclaim for
her work, it was acknowledged through awards and prizes in competitions she
entered. In 1978, Bettina was awarded the prestigious Prix de West prize for
her painting “Father & Daughter at the Crow Fair.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The National Cowboy Hall of Fame (NCHF)
hosted the definitive retrospective of her career in 1995, when her sight and
health were deteriorating. The Society of Portrait Artists’ John Singer Sargent
Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to her in 1996. </div>
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The art of Bettina Steinke now
graces private collections throughout the world and is included in important
museum collections as well, including the National Portrait Gallery of the
Smithsonian Institution, The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in
Oklahoma City, OK, The National Academy of Western Art (of which Bettina was a
founder and executive board member in the early 70’s), and The Fred Jones Jr.
Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma (Norman, OK).</div>
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None of the honors so justifiably
awarded to Bettina Steinke shine quite as brightly as do the memories of those
who knew her, including some of the most famous artists of our time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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When I first emailed renowned
painter and sculptor Edward Jonas to request an interview with him to talk about
Bettina Steinke, I received the following reply: “She was a refreshing
talented, chain-smoking, no-nonsense called-them-as-she-saw-'em
personality as I have ever met. She and her husband Don could
entertain you for hours with story after story always accented with her knee-slapping
laughter and Don smirky grins. Christine and I do miss them very much and
would love to share our memories. I wished she could have lived
forever!” </div>
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Ed said he first became Bettina
Steinke’s work when he saw it in gallery brochures as a teenager. In the
early-to-mid 1980’s, he saw an ad for a workshop with her in Scottsdale, he wrote to her, and a long
friendship began.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He described Bettina
as an unpretentious person who primarily saw herself as a portraitist and
illustrator who worked to earn the respect of her peers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She adamantly felt that women artists and
men artists must compete head-to-head…that “lowering the bar” for women would
be doing them a disservice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bettina’s
conviction in this matter was so strong that she turned down an invitation accept
an honor awarded by a western art society to become the first <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">woman artist</i> inducted to it: She wanted
induction as an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">artist! </i>Bettina told
Ed that when she was in school in New
York, she realized if one looks for color, it is
found, but if one doesn’t look for it, they will see gray. “She had a very
direct philosophy: Learn to see and paint what you see.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ed described Bettina’s brushstrokes as
bravura with Sargent’s directness but with a much more crafted look.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He found her charcoal drawings among her most
intriguing work. </div>
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“Bettina taught an approach that harkened back to Pre-WWII
– Robert Henri, Aikens, and the Europeans. She strove for simplicity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She would look at the model for a while and
analyze the large shapes, values and colors and then begin to block in the head
and other forms always working from large to small.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her approach was to break each surface such
as the face and neck, the hair, the clothing and the background either into a
simple light and shadow area or to its nearest value.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She then would begin to work the next size
forms within each area down until she would place the final highlights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often she would back-up, look and if it
didn't suit her eye, a "colorful" comment to herself might be made,
the area wiped or scraped and then it was adjusted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it wasn't exactly as she wished her down
home honesty wouldn't allow it to stay on the surface.</div>
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“It wasn't how she put the color and shapes onto the
canvas or paper that made her work so wonderful but how her mind and eyes could
so quickly see and know just what it was that made each subject or scene exciting
to her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She could pare things down to
their unique essence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her talent was
supported by years of practice and self criticism with which she never let
herself off the hook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She loved the
challenge, and you knew that she lived for it even beyond when she could no
longer work because of her failing eyesight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The easel and chair stayed up ready to go in the corner of her living- room/studio
beyond the point of her ability to use them.”</div>
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Ed also shared a letter written to him by Bettina in 1996
in which she said, “In every day life as well as teaching, if the subject is
portraiture truth must be faced without being mean or overbearing! I am very
mean to myself in the studio…In that retrospective show (in 1995) I found one
thing wrong on one of the canvases – a small place near a hand (and) from then
on I didn’t look at any more stuff! Was it Monet who said on his dying bed ‘If
I had 20 more years I could have done something good?’ I guess we all feel like
that.”</div>
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When I asked Everett Raymond
Kinstler, (whom Bettina referred to as her “artist son”) about her, the
emotions evoked in him were immediately evident in his voice. “She was outspoken,
funny, and tough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She deplored what she
called ‘commercial, slick portrait painters,’ and was one helluva
painter.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to him, Bettina
worked and drew directly – no layers or glazing for her!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ray described being amazed at Bettina’s method
of drawing a portrait from the top of the head on down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her use of the reference photos that Don took
of her portrait subjects were used primarily to remind her of nuances of the
individual but the portrait itself was completed from her own drawings and
notes, not copied from a photo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was
a strong proponent of drawing and painting from life. “Her studio was her
living room; she piled paint ten inches high on her palette and used vertical
files to store her canvases.” About 30 typewritten letters Bettina sent to Ray
over the course of several decades are included with the collection of his
correspondence that is now housed at Boston
University. </div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
Ray recalled an event about 20 years ago: “Bettina, Glenna
Goodacre and I shared a Denver
seminar interpreting artist Chen Chi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
fell off the stage (I think Bettina pushed me!) and my easel collapsed, my
canvas slipped onto the floor…and the audience thought it was all rehearsed. No
one laughed harder than the three of us! We talked about taking our show on the
road…”</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_zAov_qY-16IXyyigh7rA3LCjQdupFw13CrwgYRIBKqtXFxS0d6HhBfaKi9IORAkTNQnfYjuP4t_2ZomNiBsWzyFHUiQAJAEULG7HHgaS1eI_qjb8ZNVekaR85qsMSEV_fpzArmq3QbY/s1600/Western+heritage+Festival.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_zAov_qY-16IXyyigh7rA3LCjQdupFw13CrwgYRIBKqtXFxS0d6HhBfaKi9IORAkTNQnfYjuP4t_2ZomNiBsWzyFHUiQAJAEULG7HHgaS1eI_qjb8ZNVekaR85qsMSEV_fpzArmq3QbY/s200/Western+heritage+Festival.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bettina and Don at the San Dimas<br />
Festival of Western Arts<br />
San Dimas, California, 1982<br />
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Richard Schmid studied with Bettina
for a long time and even named his daughter after her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said that she totally embraced the Western
lifestyle after her marriage to Don and moving to Oklahoma.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She made friends with many famous and wealthy people such as Choke
Phillips of the Phillips Oil Company, but they were all “down home” types like
herself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“She and Don lived rather frugally,
but very happily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the end, she
suffered macular degeneration among other things and her loss of sight was
very, very sad.”</div>
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<br />
Urania Christy Tarbet recalled
meeting Bettina on many occasions and always enjoying her directness and
humor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Bettina was a most powerful
woman, mentally. She had great presence. She knew herself and her work. She was
beautiful and sharing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Urania called
Bettina “the leading woman in western art and she was a driving force in the
western movement. She was very powerful emotionally and didn’t hold back on her
colors.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last time Urania saw
Bettina was in the late 90’s, at a rooftop party in Denver. She was still smoking up a storm and
she looked tiny…frail…never a word I ever associated with her before”, but
still displaying her trademark humor. </div>
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The American art world lost our
“Grande Dame” in July of 1999. As she wished, her ashes were spread in New Mexico.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her husband Don died little more than a year
later, with romantics among us attributing his death to a heart broken by life
without his beloved Bettina.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without
exception, every person who knew her that I spoke with to gather information
for this article mourns Bettina’s passing and spoke of her with great affection
and admiration. Can any artist – or person – hope for a greater legacy?</div>
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For those who wish to know more
about Bettina Steinke and her work, there are several books that may be of
interest:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<u>Bettina: Portraying Life
in Art”</u> by Don Hedgpeth (Northland Publishing, 1978); “<u>From Heartland
Profiles O</u>” by Lawrence C. Powell, illustrated by Bettina Steinke
(Northland Publishing, 1976); “<u>The Last War Trail: The Utes and the
Settlement of Colorado</u>” by Robert Emmitt, illustrated by Bettina Steinke
(University of Oklahoma Press, 1972). Bettina’s work is also featured in many
“how-to” books, among them “<u>The NBC Symphony Orchestra”</u> by Hendrick
Willem et al (National Broadcasting Company, 1939); “<u>The Art of Pastel
Portraiture”</u> by Madlyn-Ann C. Woolwich (Watson-Guptill Publications, 1996);
and “<u>Painting Beautiful Skin Tones With Color & Light in oil, Pastel and
Watercolor”</u> by Chris Saper (North Light Books, 2001).</div>Cecilia Beaux Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16111394369017816865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6420108373598900306.post-60570519148521489332012-07-18T08:39:00.000-07:002012-07-18T08:39:02.678-07:00Catherine Prescott: Paint & Passion<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
By Luana Luconi Winner</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>The Art of the Portrait Journal</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Issue No. 45, 3rd Quarter 2009</span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I really do think painting is about desire. There is
something that I want to make happen. It is about longing…about making an image
that I long for… something more beautiful, something more meaningful."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLuWOdw38xEcV97YfWsFjBm6GLVYTjEf35Rjgkl05z8GU-Gib2sePJ8ihdRuR4tXkWeejN36OuQkq9VgGflYirUJ-sAJdWV_TH8-zs8fAo8HFtaOUr3MlfCeLTv1sD10uYkw3G5IoWYq0/s1600/gregandsue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLuWOdw38xEcV97YfWsFjBm6GLVYTjEf35Rjgkl05z8GU-Gib2sePJ8ihdRuR4tXkWeejN36OuQkq9VgGflYirUJ-sAJdWV_TH8-zs8fAo8HFtaOUr3MlfCeLTv1sD10uYkw3G5IoWYq0/s320/gregandsue.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Marriage Portrait: Gregory and Suzanne Wolfe</i><br />Oil on wood panels</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Catherine Prescott grew up enriched by a constant exposure
to the arts through her “culturally interesting” parents in a small Wisconsin community. Her father was a jazz musician and
her mother an avid amateur watercolorist and they frequently took her on trips
to nearby Chicago
to visit the Art Institute and other galleries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At 13, Catherine studied with a local artist
doing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">plein aire</i> paintings with a
adults, and at 15 she studied at an artist’s studio during a summer retreat to Mexico,
staying with extended family and creating large charcoal nudes from life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prescott pursued art academically, but not
without difficulty.</div>
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<br /></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
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Attending Colorado College
in the 60’s during influences of abstract art, pop art, and expressionism, Catherine
was not able to find a portrait or figure painting class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She decided she had no interest in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the contemporary art world's aesthetic
opinion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because of this she spent the
summer she was 20 in Madrid, studying Spanish painters at the Prado and took a side
trip to Italy
to study Caravaggio.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Back in college, she
rushed to finish home work, hired her own models, and stayed up all night doing
large scale charcoal figures studies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And although her instructors found this interesting, they never really
took it seriously, and she found no one who could guide her into deeper development
of the portrait and figure. Even in graduate school, only photorealism was
taught, a style Catherine thought to be too cold and rigid. Again she was left
without true guidance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I believed in
myself but not in the contemporary art world. The skills were never
automatic."</div>
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<br /></div>
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After college, she and her husband moved to Switzerland
for a year of personal enrichment and there she started painting from
observation exclusively: “My first paintings were little tiny panels of
wildflowers. I would go out into the hills. They were very detailed like little
Dutch paintings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to teach myself
to paint with small brushes. This was long before I saw anybody contemporary
doing that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These were more like what I
saw from the 17<sup>th</sup> century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
taught myself and learned to paint from observation.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Prescott became a Christian and began painting the figure
seriously. She felt that God was guiding her, and that she didn’t have to paint
what other people thought defined art at the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"Becoming a Christian....that’s [where]
I started taking myself seriously, and how I gained a sense of purpose and
focus.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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With new resolve she pursued only what she wanted to paint:
portraits. Catherine said, “I just won’t call myself an artist. I don’t care if
it is art or not. I will just do what I want.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>While teaching high school she continued to paint from hired models and
began accepting commissions even though she still had never had anyone show her
how to do a portrait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It all came from
studying Sargent, Vermeer, Velasquez, Rembrandt, Raphael. </div>
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Catherine's belief in herself was affected by a visit to NYC
at age thirty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was living and
teaching part time at a local college in Rochester,
NY, and was surprised to see a
group of figure painters doing similar work to what she was attempting. She
began thinking, “Maybe I am an artist after all.” Ten years later, she was again
inspired, this time by Richard Mawry ‘s work. He had lived in Italy after
college as this was the only place where one could still study classical figure
work. His images were similar to what she wanted paint, but to do this she knew
she had to slow down her painting process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She explains, “The biggest change in my paintings happened when I went
from ‘fast painting’ in a more painterly way to a ‘slow painting’ with more
detail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not getting at what I want
unless I put more time into it… and putting in more detail to it."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This approach varied from her prior technique
when painting from life, where she had to work fast to be considerate of her
model.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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This reduced speed requires that she work primarily from
photographs, although she states, "I will work from life if I do a self portrait
or a still life."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her commissions
are done from photographs, "because I don’t want anyone to be there while
I am painting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want just to be
alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s when I can feel the
emotion. That’s when I can make the painting do something.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prescott very rarely uses to photograph to provide
the emotion or atmosphere of a painting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>"I paint it the way I want it to feel. The idea is the painting,
but I also impose upon the figures what I call my own ‘interior
landscape’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of giving me the
feel of the painting, the photographs give me the detail.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She heavily emphasizes the importance of
drawing skill.</div>
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Feeling her intense longing to create, the desire to express
herself uniquely, has driven Prescott to pursue her own style, subject and
method away from the restrictive academic curricula and aesthetic movements she
encountered in her education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
advises students and other artists to give themselves the same permission.</div>
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<br /></div>
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“If someone had said to me in the 60’s, ‘Give it your best
shot. Go for what you would really like to paint” and I could have, I would
have painted just like I am painting now. I feel like I am painting the
paintings I have always wanted to but didn’t know how.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It just takes a long, long time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Give yourself 35 years, and you’ll be able to
do it and they won’t look like mine. They will look like yours.”</div>Cecilia Beaux Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16111394369017816865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6420108373598900306.post-8197039921743681052012-07-18T08:21:00.001-07:002012-07-18T08:21:37.961-07:00Berthe Morisot: Quintessential Impressionist<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
By Laurel Alanna McBrine</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>The Art of the Portrait Journal</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: xx-small; line-height: 115%;">Issue No.50, 4th Quarter 2010</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieWGHIouvJoNqwFlW456A7On53jwwFH__fIUAWGzGkXShn9pB_ddfccoO_64zb149lfNFcsGzJ-Cn82-jy6noSS152SndfDyvrZyRIMJ3Qt3T7BipMbfKbXIXJGIIej0dJ-KkbasgWRUI/s1600/Morisot,+Cache-cache+%28Hide-&-Seek%29+1873.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieWGHIouvJoNqwFlW456A7On53jwwFH__fIUAWGzGkXShn9pB_ddfccoO_64zb149lfNFcsGzJ-Cn82-jy6noSS152SndfDyvrZyRIMJ3Qt3T7BipMbfKbXIXJGIIej0dJ-KkbasgWRUI/s200/Morisot,+Cache-cache+%28Hide-&-Seek%29+1873.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Cache-cache (Hide and Seek)</i><br />Oil on canvas, 1873<br />Collection of Mrs. John Hay<br />Whitney, New York</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Looking back more than a century, we find a painter who,
despite the constraints put upon her by society, managed to fulfill her
artistic ambitions along with marriage and a child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Berthe Morisot would become one of the core
group of six Impressionist painters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
was born in 1841 to a wealthy and cultured family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Berthe and her sister, Edma, unexpectedly became
serious art students. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their teacher
warned: “With characters like your daughters’, my teaching will make them
painters, not minor amateur talents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do
you really understand what that means?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the world of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">grande
bourgeoisie</i> in which you move, it would be a revolution, I would even say a
catastrophe.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Berthe’s mother was
undeterred by this advice and the sisters went on to study with Corot, whose
teachings encouraged the development of her unique style.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said,<em><span style="font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> “While trying for the conscientious imitation of
(nature), I never for a single instant lose the emotion which first seized me.”</span></em></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<em><span style="font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">In
1864, Morisot experienced success when two of her landscapes were accepted by
the Salon and she continued to show there until 1874, when the first Impressionist
exhibit was held.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em>Her
mentor, Edouard Manet, feared that exhibiting with the Impressionists would
harm her career with the Salon, but she courageously chose to follow her own
instincts, remaining loyal to the Impressionist movement.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Relationships with colleagues were affected by Berthe’s
feminine gender.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was not able to
move about freely and was excluded from café society, where male artists met to
discuss new ideas in art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite these
limitations, Berthe Morisot established friendships with and was respected,
even admired, by her fellow Impressionists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She was included in exhibits even though she was not able to attend the
meetings that organized these events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Manet
was so intrigued by her personality and appearance that he painted her image 11
times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually her home became a
salon where Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas and other artists would gather to
socialize. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl_rv-h8CR8QZz5sGXkD6rvz464stCJPkBJ-DHctkxCRZSiKA2Gcl5jm5jSEzESbIyWQYah-tkrmyWk41QadFtZ-0sM-EgXvIax7liAnNhUxkdhUKR4iiavfFFhV8p_dalm7N4IfoP9T8/s1600/Berthe_Morisot,_Le_berceau_%28The_Cradle%29,_1872.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl_rv-h8CR8QZz5sGXkD6rvz464stCJPkBJ-DHctkxCRZSiKA2Gcl5jm5jSEzESbIyWQYah-tkrmyWk41QadFtZ-0sM-EgXvIax7liAnNhUxkdhUKR4iiavfFFhV8p_dalm7N4IfoP9T8/s200/Berthe_Morisot,_Le_berceau_%28The_Cradle%29,_1872.jpg" width="162" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>The Cradle</i><br />Oil on canvas, 1872<br />Collection of Musee d'Orsay, Paris</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Morisot’s social standing and gender, to some degree,
determined her subject matter – for instance, working from nude models was
verboten.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Similarities in subject matter
to Mary Cassatt’s work can be seen. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both
painters captured the everyday moments of women's lives, with deft brushwork –
girls picking fruit, small children in big chairs holding their dolls, women
with babies and ladies in the garden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<em><span style="font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">A
friend recalled that Morisot: “always painted standing up, walking back and
forth before her canvas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She would stare
at her subject for a long time (and her look was piercing), her hand ready to
place her brushstrokes just where she wanted them.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Laforge noted the result was: “a thousand
conflicting vibrations, in rich prismatic decompositions of color.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Berthe Morisot was the quintessential Impressionist, her
paintings filled with freely applied brushstrokes - the epitome of a loose,
gestural, painterly style.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She sought to
dazzle her viewers at first glance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Upon
closer examination, the daubs and slashes of paint dissolve into a mass of
confusion, but at a distance coalesce into a shimmery vision of color and
light.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Morisot was not spared attacks by critics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wolff scathingly reported: “five or six
lunatics - among them a woman . . . take up canvas, paint, and brush, throw a
few tones haphazardly and sign the whole thing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, not all were unsympathetic – Mantz
wrote, “The truth is that there is only one Impressionist in the group . . . it
is Berthe Morisot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She has already been
acclaimed and should continue to be so.”<em><span style="font-style: normal;"></span></em></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although very attractive, Berthe managed to evade suitors
until age 33, when she married Eugene Manet, younger brother to Edouard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her husband had a nervous temperament and was
impatient with posing, but he was very supportive and helped her with the
practical details of showing her work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was not heavily invested in his own career as a civil servant and was
non-traditional in many of his views. They seem to have been quite content as a
couple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghcNAVfBLVyFG2EihIlia3bwUWxCDDxrLiDKTVtDLEqWkcOLIDwCI__K5iH5z21hJ4AVol1e5i2SOardGX6fnGz1c2bDqWLjhFBu4JuPkKLKrUvC15iyesIh6wVBCe-pmARUIYb8uwAIw/s1600/250px-Edouard_Manet_040.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghcNAVfBLVyFG2EihIlia3bwUWxCDDxrLiDKTVtDLEqWkcOLIDwCI__K5iH5z21hJ4AVol1e5i2SOardGX6fnGz1c2bDqWLjhFBu4JuPkKLKrUvC15iyesIh6wVBCe-pmARUIYb8uwAIw/s200/250px-Edouard_Manet_040.jpg" width="142" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Berthe Morisot</i><br />by Edouard Manet<br />Oil on linen, 1872</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 1878, Berthe gave birth to her daughter, Julie, who
proved to be an inspiration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Berthe <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>managed to continue working steadily from the
earliest days of motherhood by hiring a wet nurse and changing her working
methods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She often painted in her parlor
and would whisk away her palette and paints into a cupboard when visitors would
come to call. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That Berthe Morisot was able to combine life as an artist
with a family testifies to her dedication and determination, as it meant
flouting the conventions of the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Her advantages, of having domestic help to deal with the mundane matters
of life, were offset by the expectations of society toward women of that time,
which took great resolve to oppose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tragically,
she met an early death from pneumonia at age 54, leaving behind a legacy of work
dedicated to Impressionism and her own poetic vision.</div>Cecilia Beaux Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16111394369017816865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6420108373598900306.post-72274749719514291712012-07-17T10:37:00.004-07:002012-07-17T10:37:42.878-07:00Mary Minifie<!--[if !mso]>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
By Luana Luconi Winner</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>The Art of the Portrait Journal</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Issue 39, 1st Quarter 2008</span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMNZ5rpBonRL9BNYPJdbvPltLxEqJ7cyLt550qtlKw0SKM10VIBZb3QX9ssFG_zA6nOnjOkYfxDjwJwIiByJSEueAM0VexY0sO_QFTAVBRKpTEeZXsuqvhxJDddNyzcAb3hRJLxWd_4Ck/s1600/minifie+mary+hampton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMNZ5rpBonRL9BNYPJdbvPltLxEqJ7cyLt550qtlKw0SKM10VIBZb3QX9ssFG_zA6nOnjOkYfxDjwJwIiByJSEueAM0VexY0sO_QFTAVBRKpTEeZXsuqvhxJDddNyzcAb3hRJLxWd_4Ck/s1600/minifie+mary+hampton.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Mary Hampton</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mary Minifie’s greatest lessons came not from Wellesey
during her undergraduate studio art degree, nor her advanced work in art at
Boston University. They came from nearly ten years of study in Boston with Paul
Ingbretson who attended the atelier of R.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>H. Ives Gammell… who studied with Paxton… who studied with
Gerome…leading to David, as the pedigree goes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Living modestly as the wife of a secondary school teacher,
she had sought out instruction during her 10 years in Europe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But sales of her fine art and illustrations
became their sole income when she and her husband moved from Cairo to Oxford to
pursue an additional advanced degree. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next move took her to Vienna.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though looking forward to the art, museums, and
new experiences, she felt disconnected with the place, the nasty weather, and
the people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two years after returning to
Massachusetts, and now with two sons, 5-1/2 and 2-1/2, she found Paul Ingbretson,
the mentor who would change her life; however, this meant expensive daycare and
an hour and a half drive each way from<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Boston for her “visual training” three times a week for nine years. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With Mr. Ingbretson standing over her shoulder encouraging
her to see with precision every nuance of shape, color, and lighting
characteristic of the rigorous and exacting Boston School tradition, Mary
developed the keen skills for which she is known today.<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During those same years, she endured several personal
tragedies including the loss of her husband at a very young age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mary then began to depend on her newly
gathered knowledge to solely support her family. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today she says, “Finally, I feel like I know what I am
doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used to paint thinking…Can I
pull this off? Can I do it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the more
you do it, the more you can do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The more
you recognize what needs to be done and find a way to do it more efficiently.”</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrKi9utDN4PN-9JLYcAh3YXHeBQWYxfPRgLh-vDdVSOkp42drqxxteuX-iCHTE6Na9BDXy_W9b3Sf6-YQhPVO4zzy7_MTmNjYEtMP3xkRPXE47R9kiV27Kp7z7jtHYl8LeJuKiBSMv8Sc/s1600/minifie+woman+with+pearls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrKi9utDN4PN-9JLYcAh3YXHeBQWYxfPRgLh-vDdVSOkp42drqxxteuX-iCHTE6Na9BDXy_W9b3Sf6-YQhPVO4zzy7_MTmNjYEtMP3xkRPXE47R9kiV27Kp7z7jtHYl8LeJuKiBSMv8Sc/s1600/minifie+woman+with+pearls.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Woman with Pearls</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But now I ask… What
do I really want to do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is no longer
just getting to know the subject and their looks and making a good
painting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But instead now… How do I want
to show this form? Do I want the light to break this way or emphasize
that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, what do I really
want to say through all of this?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mary’s philosophy is that every portrait is designed to meet
the needs and purpose of the sitter. She believes the best portraits are done
from life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It is the whole
philosophy of portrait painting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am
much more interested now in how the people see themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do we as an artist get to that so when
they look at it they can say, I love it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is really me.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She is beginning to teach workshops wedged into her busy
family and corporate portrait schedule. Recent week-long workshops and
demonstrations were held at the Vermeer Academy in St. Louis, at Mona Lisa in
central North Carolina, and at the Connecticut Society of Portrait Artists.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mary’s newest projects include her first full length,
standing, life size portrait of a woman created on location,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a group portrait of two grandparents and
their seven grandchildren, the retired chairman of the board of Montefiore
Hospital in the Bronx, and the recent head of Joslin Clinic in Boston.</div>Cecilia Beaux Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16111394369017816865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6420108373598900306.post-37139686951729003692012-07-17T10:31:00.001-07:002012-07-18T08:22:23.736-07:00Elizabeth Vigee LeBrun<br />
<div style="mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-linespan: 2; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: dropcap-dropped; mso-height-rule: exactly;">
<table align="left" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" hspace="0" vspace="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
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<span style="font-size: 32pt;"><br /></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">By Angelo Fernandez</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Edited by Lauren Harris</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The Art of the Portrait Journal</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Issue No. 36, 2nd Quarter 2007</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT3MwaHeLLE7Tk7VQfP9E9bow5ruSl73gKJk1Ek8KhO93DtdxdYo-64tXykQjKRtTiycL2OCZ-aht-qhra81i-XzamM7sAD-78ywlCvuPeB73sJTV__GJExpf98hzx_bgFpti-os9s6iw/s1600/Marie+Antoinette+a+la+rose+1785+replica+of+the+original+of+1783+oil+on+canvas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT3MwaHeLLE7Tk7VQfP9E9bow5ruSl73gKJk1Ek8KhO93DtdxdYo-64tXykQjKRtTiycL2OCZ-aht-qhra81i-XzamM7sAD-78ywlCvuPeB73sJTV__GJExpf98hzx_bgFpti-os9s6iw/s200/Marie+Antoinette+a+la+rose+1785+replica+of+the+original+of+1783+oil+on+canvas.jpg" width="150" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Marie Antoinette a la rose, 1783</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;">In a society that idolized love and feminine beauty, Madame Vigée-Lebrun
(1755-1842) shone as one of Europe’s finest artists. Her first teacher was her father, pastel
portraitist Louis Vigée. She studied
under many well-known painters, including J.B. Greuze and Joseph Vernet. Professionally, Vigée-Lebrun earned a
substantial sum of money painting portraits and flowers, considered the most
appropriate subjects for women artists at the time. By the time Vigée-Lebrun married
at age 20, she was overwhelmed with commissions. In 1779, Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun became
Marie-Antoinette’s personal portraitist, going on to produce at least 25
portraits of the Queen during her lifetime.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Vigée-Lebrun was inducted into the Académie Royale de la Peinture et
Sculpture</span><span class="txtcontent" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">in
1783, in a unique and unorthodox fashion.
Her application was initially rejected because of her husband’s business
dealing art, but was reconsidered with royal intercession. Her salon submissions, <i>Venus Tying Cupid’s Wings </i>and <i>Peace
Bringing Back Abundance,</i> circumvented the traditional procedure of
submitting a reception piece for membership consideration. </span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: small;">The practice of accepting reception pieces
adapted the tradition of guilds using masterpieces to confirm competency of
guild members seeking promotion from the rank of journeyman to master. Artists seeking admission to the Académie offered
small-scale renditions of prospective reception pieces for initial consideration. If a concept was approved, the artist was
then asked to execute the reception piece with a specific set of requirements. Often, the Academy even dictated the subject
and dimensions of the work. Election to the Academy would then be decided by
vote of the Assembly. None of these norms
prevailed in Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun’s acceptance as <i>Academicienne, </i>which was a source of much resentment by the
establishment.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Her
memoirs give perspective to many of the challenges she faced, not the least of
which was her husband whose passion for extravagant women and gambling
decimated both his and her fortunes. When escaping the French Revolution in
1789, she was left with less than twenty francs, despite having earned millions
from her paintings.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQeY30rSdAycptba7JHLt1QLJgWXp1UHYmd47HDltub0KrPj7gfw4zUYbHrXiFgpdBv_qE0L3LHity6YyLlnfIpVb_wtwyDKSKl1arnWWZ2wBOHECe7jJLKIbU2LjXfgNCQxmXenazQjA/s1600/LeBrun+Self-Portrait+in+a+Straw+Hat+1782+oil+on+canvas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQeY30rSdAycptba7JHLt1QLJgWXp1UHYmd47HDltub0KrPj7gfw4zUYbHrXiFgpdBv_qE0L3LHity6YyLlnfIpVb_wtwyDKSKl1arnWWZ2wBOHECe7jJLKIbU2LjXfgNCQxmXenazQjA/s200/LeBrun+Self-Portrait+in+a+Straw+Hat+1782+oil+on+canvas.jpg" width="144" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Self Portrait in a Straw Hat, 1782</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> M. Le Brun insisted she take pupils to bolster
their income. Her house filled with young ladies “learning how to paint eyes,
noses, and faces.” This distraction from
her own work only increased her eagerness to paint, and she often refused to
leave her easel until nightfall. Unprepared for their first child, she worked
in her studio between labor pains on the day her daughter was born. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Elizabeth
Vigée-Lebrun’s court affiliation was used to expel her in the Revolution of
1789. After her escape, Vigée-Lebrun moved on to paint portraits of former
French Court members, such as the Duchesse de Polignac, Madame Germaine de
Staël, and Lord Byron in London, as well as other nobility in Rome, Berlin,
Vienna, and St. Petersburg. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Her
works now reside in collections in the Louvre, National Library in Paris, the
Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Geneva Musëe des Beaux-Arts, the Uffizi
in Italy, and many private collections throughout the world. Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun’s work is exemplary of
talent superseding institutionalized bias, culturally imposed limitations, and
accepted societal mores. Vigée-Lebrun’s determination allowed her to overcome
these limitations through will-power, energy, and persistence. </span></div>Cecilia Beaux Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16111394369017816865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6420108373598900306.post-37264816238092549802012-07-17T09:55:00.003-07:002012-07-17T09:57:10.849-07:00Malvina Hoffman<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWixHoTbVM2uuxwZL6gUgD4fJEtOmXObjF336fH13waS11P-bYzesupnXm6ClAd3QQxk6AWKNLDDWTSujN-h0UI9N5_5JznZoydFqbAo_ihTjYebvWFpRexuprkeGCN_LN0vydm_OBNyA/s1600/MH1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWixHoTbVM2uuxwZL6gUgD4fJEtOmXObjF336fH13waS11P-bYzesupnXm6ClAd3QQxk6AWKNLDDWTSujN-h0UI9N5_5JznZoydFqbAo_ihTjYebvWFpRexuprkeGCN_LN0vydm_OBNyA/s200/MH1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Struggle of Elemental Man</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">University of Syracuse</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">New York</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
By Luana Luconi
Winner<br />
<i>The Art of the Portrait Journal</i><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Issue No. 33, 3rd Quarter 2006</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Malvina Hoffman was
43 when she received a wire from the Field Museum in Chicago, “Have proposition
to make…”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;">When she received the commission,
this New Yorker, daughter of pianist Richard Hoffman and dedicated interpreter
of the human form, was already a monumental woman of the arts and sculptor in
demand. She set out, traveling the world for five years and sculpting 104
life-sized figures, busts, and heads in bronze and stone for the "Races of
the World" Hall of Man at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. The project
became her crowning contribution to the art world and combined knowledge of
anthropology, art history, ethnicity and modern culture. The sculptures
are still housed at Chicago's Field Museum.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;">Malvina’s early childhood was
filled with visiting musicians and artists at her family home. She
entered the Art Students League by age 14. When, at age 21, she became
dissatisfied with her oil portrait of her ill father, she turned to clay.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFj4zdjVw5yCHULkEIqXWH6h6x2ugqmWiQ_cwujQoTzcnF38gBQDLkhv-IhsHPhwsRCdad62-PLQYsepTw6Dv6rCXZr3ScCBYvuU7W0kR7JUsuhjMpswKmDiIrEg237NipPDBGv1M3C84/s1600/MH43.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFj4zdjVw5yCHULkEIqXWH6h6x2ugqmWiQ_cwujQoTzcnF38gBQDLkhv-IhsHPhwsRCdad62-PLQYsepTw6Dv6rCXZr3ScCBYvuU7W0kR7JUsuhjMpswKmDiIrEg237NipPDBGv1M3C84/s200/MH43.jpg" width="163" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Tamil Man of Southern India</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Malvina Hoffman</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Chicago Field Museum</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;">At 23, Malvina traveled to France
with a letter of recommendation from her teacher, Gutzon Borglum, sculptor of
Mount Rushmore. Auguste Rodin repeatedly refused her as a student, but
finally succumbed to her persistence. After five years in Paris she
established her own foundry, became a master founder, and wrote her book, <i>Sculpture
Inside and Out</i>, on bronze technique.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;">Malvina created a large oeuvre
based on her friend, the famed Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova. The
bas-relief frieze of Russian dancers Malvina created became legend. Other
large scale works included a memorial group in Harvard's War Memorial Chapel
for Robert Bacon, Ambassador to France, and the heroic stone figures and an
altar for the entrance to Bush House in London.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With her commitment to capturing the individual spirit of
every person, Malvina wrote: “To
understand the submerged passion that burns in the human eye, to read the
hieroglyphs of suffering etched in the lines of a human face….to watch the
gesture of a hand or listen for the false notes and the true in a human voice,
these were the mysteries that I found I must delve into and try to unravel when
I made a portrait.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bibliography for Malvina Hoffman</b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006AONRU/sr=1-1/qid=1153564483/ref=sr_1_1/104-2037899-8603140?ie=UTF8&s=books"><span class="srtitle1"><span style="color: windowtext; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">Sculpture Inside and Out</span></span></a></i>
</b>by Malvina Hoffman, W.W. Norton Company Publisher, New York, <span class="bindingblock1">1939</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 7.5pt 22.5pt 10.5pt 0in;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006AQ756/sr=1-2/qid=1153564483/ref=sr_1_2/104-2037899-8603140?ie=UTF8&s=books"><span class="srtitle1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">Heads and Tales</span></i></span><span class="srtitle1"><span style="color: windowtext; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">,</span></span></a> by Malvina
Hoffman, Bonanza Books, Crown Publishers, Inc., <br />
New York, <span class="bindingblock1">1943</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007DX2KU/sr=1-3/qid=1153564483/ref=sr_1_3/104-2037899-8603140?ie=UTF8&s=books"><span class="srtitle1"><span style="color: windowtext; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;"><br />Yesterday is Tomorrow: A
Personal History</span></span></a></i> by Malvina Hoffman Crown Publishers,
Inc., New York, <span class="bindingblock1">Jan 1, 1965</span><span class="moz-txt-underscore"><i> <br />Malvina Hoffman</i> by Malvina Hoffman</span><span class="moz-txt-tag">_</span>
June 1992<span class="bindingblock1"></span><i>American Women Sculptors</i> by Charlotte Rubinstein
(1990) <br />
<i>Rediscoveries in American Sculpture</i> by Janis
Conner & Joel Rosenkranz (1989) <br />
<i>Dictionary of American Sculptors</i> by Glenn Opitz <br />
<i>Masters of American Sculpture</i> by Donald M.
Reynolds <br />
<i>American Sculpture</i> in The Metropolitan Museum of
Art (1965) <br />
<i>Exhibition of American Sculpture</i> Catalogue by
the National Sculpture Society (1923)</div>Cecilia Beaux Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16111394369017816865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6420108373598900306.post-27783261285751333012012-07-17T09:13:00.002-07:002012-07-17T09:13:35.839-07:00Cecilia Beaux<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;">By Luana Luconi Winner <br />Edited by Lauren Harris</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: black;">The Art of the Portrait Journal</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Issue No. 32, 2nd Quarter 2006</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2iVtAIj7DH5ZTrPdTzKZb4QOJAAth_iihq3Ibj1V07Pca42HGcTgSM5l5Qtks5RhiDB8F7jlxazQXMRA-n-Nw9QWAKn1QTgEtrL4r94moCJ8eR9yCpL8N0BfNsYWq3WUodbskKVOEpcQ/s1600/03390007+small.tif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2iVtAIj7DH5ZTrPdTzKZb4QOJAAth_iihq3Ibj1V07Pca42HGcTgSM5l5Qtks5RhiDB8F7jlxazQXMRA-n-Nw9QWAKn1QTgEtrL4r94moCJ8eR9yCpL8N0BfNsYWq3WUodbskKVOEpcQ/s200/03390007+small.tif" width="98" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Portrait of Mrs. Larz Anderson</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: black;">Eliza Cecilia
Beaux and her older sister grew up in the care of their maternal grandmother
and aunts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the mid 1800’s. The family home schooled the girls and
encouraged them to be creative and imaginative while instilling a strong work
ethic. When Cecilia turned 14, she spent two years at a Philadelphia finishing
school before beginning her formal art training with her distant cousin, author
and painter, Catherine Ann Drinker Javier.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;"> An
uncle then underwrote her classes at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. While Cecilia’s
early subjects were family members, she became particularly fond of double
portraits, allowing her to create inventive compositions that explored
relationships between the sitters. With
the creation of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Les derniers jours
d’enfance</i>, a loving, tender painting of her sister and first-born nephew,
Cecilia’s life changed forever. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Les derniers</i> won the Mary Smith Prize in
1885 at the PAFA and launched her career. </span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: black;">At 32,
Cecilia went to France to study at the Academie Julian and the Atelier
Colarossi, and studying also with Charles Lazar and Alexander Harrison. Traveling to France at least seven times
throughout her life, she is said to have felt greatly indebted to the French in
the development of her art. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: black;">Her
reputation grew quickly as this business-wise artist deliberately chose notable
men and glamorous society women as her subjects. “It doesn’t pay to paint everybody,” said
Beaux. Her subjects grew to include
Theodore Roosevelt, Mrs. Andrew Carnegie, Georges Clemenceau, Admiral Lord
David Beatty, and Henry James. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: black;">Throughout
her last 18 years, Cecilia struggled with poor eyesight and arthritis. When a
broken hip crippled her and prevented her from painting, she chose to write her
autobiography and lecture.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent2">
<span style="color: black;">Beaux holds the honor of
being the first full time female instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of the
Fine Arts, and was honored with membership in prestigious organizations
including the Societe des Beaux-Arts in Paris, American Academy of Arts and
Letters, and the National Academy of Design.
Appointed the official portraitist by the U. S. War Portraits
commission, she received honorary degrees from Yale and the University of Pennsylvania.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent2">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: black;">When
William Merritt Chase presented Cecilia Beaux with the Carnegie Institute’s
Gold Medal in 1899, he said, “Miss Beaux is not only the greatest living woman
painter, but the best that has ever lived.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: black;">Recommended reading:</span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Out of print</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Background with
Figures, Cecilia Beaux</i>, The Riverside
Press, 1930</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cecilia Beaux,
Portrait of an Artist</i>, Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts,
1974</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cecilia Beaux and the
Art of Portraiture</i>, Tara Leigh Tappart, Smithsonian/National Portrait
Gallery, 1995</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Available by
appointment</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The papers of Cecilia Beaux, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine
Arts, Philadelphia, PA</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">In print</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cecilia Beaux: A Modern Painter in the Guilded Age, Alice A.
Carter, Rizzoli, 2005</div>Cecilia Beaux Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16111394369017816865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6420108373598900306.post-53246680062101185562012-07-17T07:19:00.003-07:002012-07-17T07:43:44.728-07:00Juliette Aristedes<br />
<div class="WordSection1">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-size: small;">By Pat Aube Gray</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>The Art of the Portrait Journal</i> </span></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Issue No. 35, 1st Quarter 2007</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNuQ6O5R1fZJjUVWSUadQ8fHlb7cxhlQAXioEUVeQhRqPKeayupUOnqKz9hpAebkP-s4nJayHGAQT5lyHHTKFfUkbkiYDmA7U_eplWXHMKuSmRT-JPPzZvp3Exw8Tv5wGpx1-M5T9lV9c/s1600/Aristides+The+Artists+oil+on+canvas+48+x+36.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNuQ6O5R1fZJjUVWSUadQ8fHlb7cxhlQAXioEUVeQhRqPKeayupUOnqKz9hpAebkP-s4nJayHGAQT5lyHHTKFfUkbkiYDmA7U_eplWXHMKuSmRT-JPPzZvp3Exw8Tv5wGpx1-M5T9lV9c/s200/Aristides+The+Artists+oil+on+canvas+48+x+36.jpg" width="160" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>The Artist</i><br />oil on canvas, 48 x 36"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Born in 1971 in South Africa, Juliette Aristides immigrated
with her parents at age two to the Pennsylvania countryside. She recalls spending more time in her
imagination during her childhood than in reality. “Drawing,” she says, “gave me a way of
engaging.”<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An extraordinary draughtsman, Aristides is the
product of many years of study at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, the
more traditional National Academy of Design, and the studios of Myron
Barnstone, Atelier (formerly Atelier Lack), Jacob Collins, and the Water Street
Atelier. The artist has embraced the
methods of working through the skill and craft building disciplines of creating
art under the tutelage of a single instructor. </div>
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<br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDYAno5G_R9axTJRPXp6ev3w37R21lP12W9Fudfr_Yv-6i8uqZSFXpWLnnPGVMiW18ETYZvo93xvM3eEhBgGiMxRyZ8zBAblPt29-3whQf-v_DQeQ-5oZpSikV1M9WAYXhvwPcKaxFgOc/s1600/Aristides+The+Bowl+oil+on+canvas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDYAno5G_R9axTJRPXp6ev3w37R21lP12W9Fudfr_Yv-6i8uqZSFXpWLnnPGVMiW18ETYZvo93xvM3eEhBgGiMxRyZ8zBAblPt29-3whQf-v_DQeQ-5oZpSikV1M9WAYXhvwPcKaxFgOc/s200/Aristides+The+Bowl+oil+on+canvas.jpg" width="137" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>The Bowl</i><br />oil on canvas</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Today this shy, though highly focused and driven, young
mother of three is an accomplished and highly acclaimed artist who founded the
four-year Aristides Classical Drawing Atelier at the Gage Academy of Art in Seattle, Washington
in 1999. Gary Faigin, Artistic Director
at Gage, states Juliette “…possesses a rare and critically important ability to
inspire her students to extremely high levels of effort and productivity…” and,
“sets extremely high standards for accomplishment.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Aristides has authored <i>Classical Drawing Atelier: A
Contemporary Guide to Traditional Studio Practice,</i> which was released in
the fall of 2006. For the practicing
artist, student, and teacher, this new tome provides a strong framework in the
disciplines of the classical tradition, and an insightful history of its
development, demise, and current rebirth.
It also contains the author’s persuasive, philosophical, and logical
discourse supporting the belief that to achieve artistic greatness we must
understand and build upon knowledge of the achievements already attained
throughout art history. Her second book, <i>Classical Painting Atelier</i>, is
due out in the fall of 2007.</div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: auto;" />
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<br /></div>Cecilia Beaux Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16111394369017816865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6420108373598900306.post-70374080621851693152012-07-17T06:37:00.004-07:002012-07-17T07:50:41.904-07:00Sophonisba Anguissola: Discrezione & Portraiture<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
By Kate Price</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>The Art of the Portrait Journal</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Issue No. 46, 4th Quarter 2009</span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2E9-kTZs-eZ1HBu3-_itEGufiWi5tMAHe2wQWEeeEAAO4bEyL9C75eJzFvBd94a_IAUz3G0aQTDIWFfGFfWl6A6hh0oI_WDatG6JfBdJWGBvEDGCKkFT_VEbpbzM3hGo-xkX1v-yHGIM/s1600/The_Chess_Game,_by_Sofonisba_Anguissola,_1555._Oil_on_canvas._Museum_Navrodwe,_Poznan,_Poland_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2E9-kTZs-eZ1HBu3-_itEGufiWi5tMAHe2wQWEeeEAAO4bEyL9C75eJzFvBd94a_IAUz3G0aQTDIWFfGFfWl6A6hh0oI_WDatG6JfBdJWGBvEDGCKkFT_VEbpbzM3hGo-xkX1v-yHGIM/s200/The_Chess_Game,_by_Sofonisba_Anguissola,_1555._Oil_on_canvas._Museum_Navrodwe,_Poznan,_Poland_01.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>The Chess Game</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Sofonisba Anguissola was a prodigy in portraiture and politics. Born into the Cremonese minor nobility in
1535, she faced a harsh and vivid time, where the average Italian lifespan of
30 years intersected with the achievements of Michelangelo, Titan, Correggio, and da Vinci. Her life embodied both the exhilarating and
bitter aspects. Destined to be
recognized internationally within her lifetime as a portrait painter of
incredible skill, she would also face poverty.
Friend and instructor to royalty, she would also mourn their deaths, as
well as the deaths of two husbands, parents, and sisters. Yet she remained undaunted until her death at
the venerable age of 96. Her city, her
era, and her family connections all set the stage for her unique and richly
productive life, but above all her <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">discrezione</i>,
her clever courage, made it possible.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
As is often the case, remarkable people begin with
remarkable parents. Sofonisba’s father,
Amilcare Anguissola, was a humanist as well as a cynical feminist. Cynical in that he had both admirable and
practical reasons for his decision to educate his six daughters. The nobility had embraced a new definition of
an ideal courtier<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6420108373598900306#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">[1]</span></span></span></a> which
proposed that women should be as well educated as men, albeit in ‘appropriate’
subjects. Amilcare knew that if his
daughters were to make advantageous matches, they would need reputations as
close to this ideal as possible to reduce the need for dowries, of which they
had none. His decision to educate his
daughters in painting, however, caused quite a stir. Angissola’s reasoning was, “the nobility and
worth of his two children should make the profession of the painter noble and
respected in this city,”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6420108373598900306#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">[2]</span></span></span></a>
elevating it from hobby or craft.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhduTjiYDbyrpm2_XpAf1ZYdHX8FuG9f9Jl1slDTHyZJTPeVNUDKIivG7Trxr9roC5dKjgjrF3FEyTIRCZMoV669gRU3fxVnuat-cb3G6R_nleQqXGLMShq2eltgdTKZcLVmw4Za5xzNe0/s1600/Sofonisba+Anguissola,+Self+Portrait,+oil+on+canvas,+66x57cm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhduTjiYDbyrpm2_XpAf1ZYdHX8FuG9f9Jl1slDTHyZJTPeVNUDKIivG7Trxr9roC5dKjgjrF3FEyTIRCZMoV669gRU3fxVnuat-cb3G6R_nleQqXGLMShq2eltgdTKZcLVmw4Za5xzNe0/s200/Sofonisba+Anguissola,+Self+Portrait,+oil+on+canvas,+66x57cm.jpg" width="171" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Self Portrait</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
At the age of 10<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6420108373598900306#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">[3]</span></span></span></a>,
Sofonisba was apprenticed to Bernardo Campi, though not as a boy might have
been. She did not work in the workshop,
but rather in a sequestered part of the artist’s home, chaperoned by his wife. This was one of the prices Sofonisba was to
pay for her gender: she could not study anatomy as men might, she worked
primarily on a smaller scale, she could not sell her art but only give it as
gifts, and much of popular subject matter was inappropriate for a lady to
paint. Instead of dwelling on her
limitations, Sofonisba maintained an educational correspondence with
Michelangelo facilitated by her father, mailing drawings to him, and receiving
drawings which to paint in return. A
series of instructors and influences came and went: Campi, Michelangelo, and Bernardino
Gatti, each with their own widely varied and distinct influences. Sofonisba was able to make use of the most
cutting edge painting styles and techniques, such as the new practice of painting
on canvas, and the style of Northern European genre painting almost a century
before it was popular. Yet her voice was
unique. </div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
By 18, Sofonisba was a lady-in-waiting and painting
instructor to the young queen, Isabel of Valois (de la paz). Her entry to court was both bold and
deft. Girolamo Neri, the duke of
Mantua’s envoy to court, described the event:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left: .5in;">
On the night of the wedding, the
king proposed to dance [...] since no
one wanted to begin, Signore Ferrante Gonzaga [...] asked the young Cremonese
who paints and who came to stay with the queen, which opened the way for many
who danced after them.</div>
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Sofonisba, on her first night in court, danced with a Prince,
a duke, and then asked King Philip II himself to join her. This began a close relationship with the
king, his wives and offspring, which would last until her death. It also marked a shift in her painting style;
the formal constraints of court portraiture marked her work, just as her dress
in her numerous self-portraits became more ornate. Still, she strove to portray her subjects with
unaffected humor, warmth and humanity, focusing on their personalities and the
beauty of their features without degrading her art with falsehood.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhNiliylTB4LGYqvt7VnScGlGmYSx8i0K_2R6cmniaF-mAigQgmtVGU4B5k8Kqp2sSLmubzaK5NRcPLJAjn0g7q-aNXvOJmC2hdNc0dPyjx4l4AlQXVqrSPkbgjZwRmGtFvc3n7M5GC88/s1600/BernardinoCampiPaintingSofonisbaAnguissolaRemastered.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhNiliylTB4LGYqvt7VnScGlGmYSx8i0K_2R6cmniaF-mAigQgmtVGU4B5k8Kqp2sSLmubzaK5NRcPLJAjn0g7q-aNXvOJmC2hdNc0dPyjx4l4AlQXVqrSPkbgjZwRmGtFvc3n7M5GC88/s200/BernardinoCampiPaintingSofonisbaAnguissolaRemastered.jpg" width="194" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Bernardo Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">As her
life went on, Anguissola endured the deaths of beloved monarchs, sisters and
husbands, erratic pay, hostile in-laws and the loss of her sight. However, in love and painting she
triumphed. Sofonisba's’ second husband
was her choice, a freedom she earned
through political and social standing, and by all accounts a happy union. More importantly for us, she never stopped
painting or teaching others. Her
painting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Chess Game</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bernardo Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola</i>
are truly marvels of skill. When Anthony
Van Dyke visited her in her old age, she held his paintings very, very close to
her face and gave him advice regarding his paintings, and to show his regard,
he painted her portrait.</span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">Now, after
her name was lost for four centuries and her work misattributed to the male
artists who influenced her and the male artists that she in turn influenced, Sofonisba's
art and biography have finally enjoyed a resurrection through the dedicated
work of scholars and museums.</span> </div>
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<br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6420108373598900306#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt;">[1]</span></span></span></a>
Castiglione’s <i>Il libro del Cortegiano</i></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6420108373598900306#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt;">[2]</span></span></span></a> As
reported by Alessandro Lamo, a Cremonese contemporary</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6420108373598900306#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt;">[3]</span></span></span></a> This is
disputed...the age ranges from 10 to 14</div>
</div>
</div>Cecilia Beaux Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16111394369017816865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6420108373598900306.post-35569347846450228852011-07-13T13:27:00.000-07:002011-08-22T08:00:41.088-07:00Apply for the Mentoring Program Now!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiXVcystaDcxiQ48AB9vjJ2ehDAnAN8cyfvqerE9wu7Ycq0DvJKiHH4XFpL9t8JBry7joM9N5tAZ4jrF5MJwUC1Nn1CcGGYXDGmKQTJqK5LmJkCezxbJn4vMo7ctRV5mqyF6OfuOfhaCk/s1600/IMG_7750.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiXVcystaDcxiQ48AB9vjJ2ehDAnAN8cyfvqerE9wu7Ycq0DvJKiHH4XFpL9t8JBry7joM9N5tAZ4jrF5MJwUC1Nn1CcGGYXDGmKQTJqK5LmJkCezxbJn4vMo7ctRV5mqyF6OfuOfhaCk/s320/IMG_7750.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>The Mentoring Program is now taking applications for the 2010-11 program year.</b> The application postmark deadline is August 15, 2011. Visit the Mentoring page on this blog to read in-depth about the application process.<b><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Who Participates in the Mentoring Program?</span></b><br />
Protegees for the 2010-11 program year included:</div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<ul style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><li><a href="http://www.deborahallison.blogspot.com/">Deborah Allison</a></li>
<li><a href="http://imata.myexpose.com/">Yuka Imata</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.leahmantini.com/biography/">Leah Burchfield Mantini</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.art.appstate.edu/faculty/pett.htm%27">Una Pett</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.cathypriest.com/">Cathy Priest</a></li>
<li><a href="http://lindaharrisreynolds.com/bio.html">Linda Harris Reynolds</a></li>
<li>Judy Takacs</li>
</ul><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
Check out their websites and consider applying for the 2011-12 program year.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Have questions?</b> Email Lauren, the Cecilia Beaux Forum Coordinator, at lauren@portraitsociety.org or call toll-free 1-877-772-4321. <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1jEJ112VnKFYWRhNzFhNjItYmJiYi00MTRhLWI0YWQtZmFkYzg5NDQ1Mzgx&hl=en_US">Download the program prospectus here.</a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></div>Cecilia Beaux Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16111394369017816865noreply@blogger.com0