Catherine Ann Janvier ( née Drinker; May 1, 1841 – July 19, 1922) was an American artist, author, and translator. Before she married, she had an established career as an artist and teacher under the name Catherine Ann Drinker .
91-699: Eliza Cecilia Beaux (May 1, 1855 – September 17, 1942) was an American artist and the first woman to teach art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts . Known for her elegant and sensitive portraits of friends, relatives, and Gilded Age patrons, Beaux painted many famous subjects including First Lady Edith Roosevelt , Admiral Sir David Beatty and Georges Clemenceau . Beaux was trained in Philadelphia and went on to study in Paris where she
182-800: A Duncan Phyfe rosewood secretaire made for her father to her cherished nephew Cecil Kent Drinker , a Harvard University physician whom she had painted as a young boy and who later founded the Harvard School of Public Health . Beaux was included in the 2018 exhibit Women in Paris 1850-1900 at the Clark Art Institute. Though Beaux was an individualist, comparisons to Sargent would prove inevitable, and often favorable. Her strong technique, her perceptive reading of her subjects, and her ability to flatter without falsifying, were traits similar to his. "The critics are very enthusiastic. (Bernard) Berenson, Mrs. Coates tells me, stood in front of
273-486: A consolidated facility. The inside of the building is equally varied, combining "gilt floral patterns incised on a field of Venetian red; ... [a] cerulean blue ceiling sprinkled with silver stars", and plum, ochre, sand and olive green gallery walls. The building's structure combines brick, stone and iron; because of fire-proofing concerns, some of the iron i-beams were left uncovered. The book A Century After, picturesque glimpses of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania includes
364-563: A coordinated Bachelor of Fine Arts program from the University of Pennsylvania . The BFA degree program is also offered in-house, and a Master of Fine Arts program, post-baccalaureate certificate in graduate studies, and other education offerings are now offered. In 2005, the academy received the National Medal of Arts in recognition of its role as a national leader in fine arts education. In January 2007, in association with
455-582: A decade later. At 18, Beaux was appointed as a drawing teacher at Miss Sanford's School, taking over Drinker's post. She also gave private art lessons and produced decorative art and small portraits. Her own studies were mostly self-directed. Beaux received her first introduction to lithography doing copy work for Philadelphia printer Thomas Sinclair and she published her first work in St. Nicholas magazine in December 1873. Beaux demonstrated accuracy and patience as
546-558: A friend of Eakins and a New York artist invited to Philadelphia to teach a group of art students, starting in 1881. Though Beaux admired Eakins more and thought his painting skill superior to Sartain's, she preferred the latter's gentle teaching style which promoted no particular aesthetic approach. Unlike Eakins, however, Sartain believed in phrenology and Beaux adopted a lifelong belief that physical characteristics correlated with behaviors and traits. Beaux attended Sartain's classes for two years, then rented her own studio and shared it with
637-426: A group of women artists who hired a live model and continued without an instructor. After the group disbanded, Beaux set in earnest to prove her artistic abilities. She painted a large canvas in 1884, Les Derniers Jours d'Enfance , a portrait of her sister and nephew whose composition and style revealed a debt to James McNeill Whistler and whose subject matter was akin to Mary Cassatt 's mother-and-child paintings. It
728-569: A growing clientele. Drinker became Beaux's role model, and she continued lessons with Drinker for a year. She then studied for two years with the painter Francis Adolf Van der Wielen, who offered lessons in perspective and drawing from casts during the time that the new Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts was under construction. Given the bias of the Victorian age , female students were denied direct study in anatomy and could not attend drawing classes with live models (who were often prostitutes) until
819-723: A marriage between Janvier and his son. The Drinkers were living in the orient during the Opium Wars when the relationships between foreign traders and the Chinese was difficult. The Drinkers lived in Macao by 1857. In January 1857, Sandwith Drinker was poisoned and died of dysentery, believed to be the result of a politically motivated mass poisoning of bread at a bakery . About 400 foreigners "suffered great impairment of health" due to arsenic poisoning. Susannah Drinker sailed with her children from China to Baltimore. During
910-463: A museum in 1807 and held its first exhibition in 1811, where more than 500 paintings and statues were displayed. The first school classes held in the building were with the Society of Artists in 1810. The academy had to be reconstructed after the fire of 1845. The new building by architect Richard Arthington Gilpin opened in 1847 and was demolished in 1870, following damage by a storm. The leaders of
1001-424: A number of different historical styles, including Second Empire , Renaissance Revival and Gothic Revival , amalgamated in an "aggressively personal manner". The building's exterior coloration combines "rusticated brownstone, dressed sandstone, polished pink granite, red pressed brick, and purplish terra-cotta." It was the first structure in the U.S. specifically designed for fine arts instruction and exhibition in
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#17327761144231092-512: A partnership called James and Drinker in Hong Kong and Macao . He was a merchant or adjacents-ports agent for organizations in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. Janvier was the oldest of four children. She had a sister and two brothers. Her brother Robert was born in 1845, Henry was born in 1850, and Elizabeth in 1853. Sandwith Drinker lived in Hong Kong by 1845 and the rest of
1183-403: A scientific illustrator, creating drawings of fossils for Edward Drinker Cope , for a multi-volume report sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey. However, she did not find technical illustration suitable for a career (the extreme exactitude required gave her pains in the "solar plexus"). At this stage, she did not yet consider herself an artist. Beaux began attending the Pennsylvania Academy of
1274-468: A small black cat perched on her shoulder, both gazing out mysteriously. The mesmerizing effect prompted one critic to point out "the witch-like weirdness of the black kitten" and for many years, the painting solicited questions by the press. But the result was not pre-planned, as Beaux's sister later explained, "Please make no mystery about it—it was only an idea to put the black kitten on her cousin's shoulder. Nothing deeper." Beaux donated Sita and Sarita to
1365-493: A transition between 19th- and 20th-century art movements. In 2010, the academy acquired the Linda Lee Alter Collection of Art by Women, including nearly 500 works by female artists, from collector Linda Lee Alter . Artists in the collection include Louise Bourgeois , Judy Chicago , Louise Nevelson , Kiki Smith , Kara Walker , and Philadelphia artists Barbara Bullock and Elizabeth Osborne . In 2012,
1456-471: A volunteer. Fairman Rogers , chairman of the Committee on Instruction from 1878 to 1883, appointed Eakins a faculty member in 1878, and promoted him to director in 1882. Eakins revamped the certificate curriculum to its current format. Students in the certificate program learned fundamentals of drawing, painting, sculpture, and printmaking, including relief , intaglio , and lithography , for two years. For
1547-403: Is built of brick, the principal entrance, which is two stories high, being augmented with encaustic tiles , terra-cotta statuary, and light stone dressings. The walls are laid in patterns of red and white brick. Over the main entrance on Broad Street there is a large Gothic window with stone tracery. The Cherry Street front is relieved by a colonnade supporting arched windows, back of which
1638-468: Is set apart for the exhibition of statuary , busts , small statues , bas-reliefs , etc. On each side of this hall are picture galleries, which are so arranged in size and form as to admit of classification of pictures, and which can be divided into suits where separate exhibitions may be held at the same time. The art collections of the gallery are considered the most valuable in America. They comprise
1729-525: Is the transept and pointed gable . Beyond the entrance vestibule is the main staircase, which starts from a wide hall and leads to the galleries on the second floor. Along the Cherry Street side of the Academy are five galleries arranged for casts from the antique; and, further on, are rooms for drapery painting, and the life class. These have a clear north light which can never be obstructed. On
1820-522: The Community College of Philadelphia , Montgomery County Community College , Atlantic Cape Community College , and Northampton Community College . In 2013, the academy received Middle States Commission on Higher Education accreditation. In 2024, the academy announced plans to terminate their degree granting programs. After 2025, the academy will no longer grant BFA or MFA degrees to students. Continuing education, certificate programs, and
1911-482: The Musée du Luxembourg , but only after making a copy for herself. Another highly regarded portrait from that period is New England Woman (1895), a nearly all-white oil painting which was purchased by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts . In 1895, Beaux became the first woman to have a regular teaching position at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts , where she instructed in portrait drawing and painting for
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#17327761144232002-837: The Philadelphia Museum of Art , the academy purchased Thomas Eakins's work The Gross Clinic from the Jefferson Medical School . This work is displayed at both institutions on a rotating basis. In January 2009, the academy signed a transfer agreement with Camden County College in New Jersey , known as the Camden Connection, which allows for the transfer of liberal arts and studio classes and partial merit scholarships for qualified Camden County College students. Other transfer agreements are now in place with community college art departments at
2093-559: The "New Woman" in his painting, The Reason Dinner was Late , which is "a sympathetic portrayal of artistic aspiration on the part of young women" as she paints a visiting policeman. This " New Woman " was successful, highly trained, and often did not marry; other such women included Ellen Day Hale , Mary Cassatt , Elizabeth Nourse and Elizabeth Coffin . Beaux was a member of Philadelphia's The Plastic Club . Other members included Elenore Abbott , Jessie Willcox Smith , Violet Oakley , Emily Sartain , and Elizabeth Shippen Green . Many of
2184-410: The Academy marked the period of its greatest prosperity. Rich endowments were made to the schools, a gallery of national portraiture was formed, and some of the best examples of Gilbert Stuart 's work acquired. The annual exhibitions attained a brilliancy and éclat hitherto unknown ... Mr. Coates wisely established the schools upon a conservative basis, building almost unconsciously the dykes high against
2275-615: The Athens of the Western World in all that can give polish to the human mind." Harrison S. Morris, managing director from 1892 to 1905, collected contemporary American art for the institution. Among the many masterpieces acquired during his tenure were works by Cecilia Beaux , William Merritt Chase , Frank Duveneck , Thomas Eakins , Winslow Homer , Childe Hassam , and Edmund Tarbell . Work by The Eight , which included former academy students Robert Henri and John Sloan , provides
2366-626: The Carnegie Institute's Gold Medal to Beaux in 1899, William Merritt Chase stated "Miss Beaux is not only the greatest living woman painter, but the best that has ever lived. Miss Beaux has done away entirely with sex [gender] in art." During her long productive life as an artist, she maintained her personal aesthetic and high standards against all distractions and countervailing forces. She constantly struggled for perfection. "A perfect technique in anything," she stated in an interview, "means that there has been no break in continuity between
2457-736: The Countess of Tripoli (1870), James Madison (1875), Daniel at Prayer (1876) and the lithograph Blessed Are the Meek (1871), all helped to develop her reputation as an artist. Geoffrey Rudel and the Countess of Tripoli was exhibited at the Union League of Philadelphia and James Madison was purchased by the city of Philadelphia and is now in the collection of the Independence National Historical Park . She exhibited her works of art at PAFA from 1876 to
2548-626: The Fine Arts in Philadelphia in 1876, then under the dynamic influence of Thomas Eakins , whose work The Gross Clinic had "horrified Philadelphia Exhibition-goers as a gory spectacle" at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876. She steered clear of the controversial Eakins, though she much admired his work. His progressive teaching philosophy, focused on anatomy and live study and allowed the female students to partake in segregated studios, eventually led to his firing as director of
2639-510: The Fisher Brooks Gallery, named after James R. Fisher, an artist who attended the academy in the late 1880s, and Leonie Brooks. They are the grandfather and mother, respectively, of Marguerite Lenfest , a philanthropist and academy board member. The Hamilton building also houses Portfolio, the museum's gift shop. In 2013, the academy sold East Wind Over Weehawken , a 1934 portrait that is among two Edward Hopper portraits in
2730-541: The United States in 1889, Beaux proceeded to paint portraits in the grand manner , taking as her subjects members of her sister's family and of Philadelphia's elite. In making her decision to devote herself to art, she also thought it was best not to marry, and in choosing male company she selected men who would not threaten to sidetrack her career. She resumed life with her family, and they supported her fully, acknowledging her chosen path and demanding of her little in
2821-474: The academy featured the collection in the exhibition The Female Gaze: Women Artists Making Their World. Since its founding, the academy has collected works by leading American artists, as well as works by distinguished alumni and faculty of its school. The academy maintains its collecting tradition with the inclusion of works by modern and contemporary American artists. Acquisitions and exhibition programs are balanced between historical and contemporary art, and
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2912-448: The academy then raised funds to construct a building more worthy of its treasures. They commissioned the current Furness-Hewitt building, which was constructed from 1871. It opened as part of the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition . The Chestnut Street site was leased to the vaudeville entrepreneur Robert Fox, who opened Fox's New American Theatre there in 1870. In 1876, former academy student and artist Thomas Eakins returned to teach as
3003-423: The academy's collection, to start an endowment fund. About 25 percent of the fund will be used to fill gaps in the collection of historic art, with most of the rest to buy contemporary art of undetermined value with hopes for dramatic increases in the future. The painting was sold at auction for $ 40,485,000, resulting in a boost to the museum's endowment by approximately $ 23.5 million, but raised new questions about
3094-520: The academy's library and gallery. Life classes, the study of the nude body, were available to women in the spring of 1868 with female models; male models were added for study six years later. This came after much debate on whether it was appropriate for women to view the nude male form. In 1878, Catherine Drinker , at the age of 27, became the first woman to teach at the academy. In 1895, one of her pupils, her younger cousin Cecilia Beaux , became
3185-537: The academy, the 24-year-old Beaux decided to try her hand at porcelain painting and she enrolled in a course at the National Art Training School. She was well suited to the precise work but later wrote, "this was the lowest depth I ever reached in commercial art, and although it was a period when youth and romance were in their first attendance on me, I remember it with gloom and record it with shame." She studied privately with William Sartain ,
3276-504: The academy. She did not ally herself with Eakins' ardent student supporters, and later wrote, "A curious instinct of self-preservation kept me outside the magic circle." Instead, she attended costume and portrait painting classes for three years taught by the ailing director Christian Schussele . Beaux won the Mary Smith Prize at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts exhibitions in 1885, 1887, 1891, and 1892. After leaving
3367-623: The bachelor's degree in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania will still be hosted by the institution. The current museum building began construction in 1871 and opened in 1876 in connection with the Philadelphia Centennial . Designed by the American architects Frank Furness and George Hewitt , it has been called "One of the most magnificent Victorian buildings in the country." The building's façade draws from
3458-492: The bachelor's program in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania ) by 2025. The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts was founded in 1805 by painter and scientist Charles Willson Peale , sculptor William Rush , and other artists and business leaders. Its first building on Chestnut and 10th Streets in Center City Philadelphia was designed by John Dorsey and opened in 1806. The academy opened as
3549-764: The book Practical Keramics for Students was published. Janvier translated two books by Felix Gras: The White Terror and The Reds of the Midi. They royalties for the books went to Gras, which helped to fund the education of his sons. Janvier enjoyed Homer and had an interest in Greek history, partially realized in her manuscript Captain Dyonisius ;[ sic ] , which was published in 1935 as Captain Dionysios , A Romance of Old Marseilles under Janvier's name by her brother Henry. In 1904, her book London Mews
3640-471: The common man and paint the common man, in total opposition to Cecilia Beaux's artistic methods and subjects. The clash of Henri and William Merritt Chase (representing Beaux and the traditional art establishment) resulted in 1907 in the independent exhibition by the urban realists known as "The Eight" or the Ashcan School . Beaux and her art friends defended the old order, and many thought (and hoped)
3731-545: The conception and the act of performance." She summed up her driving work ethic, "I can say this: When I attempt anything, I have a passionate determination to overcome every obstacle…And I do my own work with a refusal to accept defeat that might almost be called painful." Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts ( PAFA ) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania. It
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3822-507: The country, they lived in New York City. They were close friends of William Sharp , who they met in 1892. Catherine was among the first to know that Fiona Mcleod was his secret pseudonym. Janvier translated a book about painting china that French ceramist Camille Piton-who moved to Philadelphia in 1878 and established an art school- wrote in 1878. Janvier titled the book China Painting in America (1879). She taught pottery. In 1880
3913-465: The elite, American art was advancing into urban and social subject matter, led by artists such as Robert Henri who espoused a totally different aesthetic, "Work with great speed..Have your energies alert, up and active. Do it all in one sitting if you can. In one minute if you can. There is no use delaying…Stop studying water pitchers and bananas and paint everyday life." He advised his students, among them Edward Hopper and Rockwell Kent , to live with
4004-461: The end he always had in view—the honour and the glory of the Academy. It was under Mr. Coates' enlightened direction that was fulfilled the expressed wish of Benjamin West , the first honorary Academician, that "Philadelphia may be as much celebrated for her galleries of paintings by the native genius of the country, as she is distinguished by the virtues of her people; and that she may be looked up to as
4095-523: The extended family survived despite little emotional or financial support from Beaux's father. After the war, Beaux began to spend some time in the household of "Willie" and Emily, both proficient musicians. Beaux learned to play the piano but preferred singing. The musical atmosphere later proved an advantage for her artistic ambitions. Beaux recalled, "They understood perfectly the spirit and necessities of an artist's life." In her early teens, she had her first major exposure to art during visits with Willie to
4186-509: The family was there about 1849. Janvier was a friend and correspondent of student Townsend Harris , who became the first Minister to Japan for the United States. Janvier studied oriental arts, the French and Latin languages, literature, and mathematics. She was also interested in horse-back riding and dancing. At ten or fifteen years of age, one of her father's business associates and a powerful merchant, Hukwa, tried unsuccessfully to arrange
4277-579: The family, including her grandmother. Janvier, who studied and worked under the name Catherine Ann Drinker, studied art at the Maryland Institute with Adolf van der Whelan. In 1865, Janvier and the other Drinker children moved to their cousin Ann Elmslie's house in Philadelphia at 1906 Pine Street. Cathrine Drinker took classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts , where she studied under Thomas Eakins . A life drawing class
4368-415: The first female faculty member at the academy to instruct painting and drawing. From 1890 to 1906, Edward Hornor Coates served as the tenth president of the academy. In 1915, he was awarded the academy's gold medal. In 1921, painter John McLure Hamilton , who began his art education at the academy under Thomas Eakins, described the contributions Coates made during his tenure: The reign of Mr. Coates at
4459-584: The first major retrospective of her work. Also in 1933 Eleanor Roosevelt honored Beaux as "the American woman who had made the greatest contribution to the culture of the world". In 1942 The National Institute of Arts and Letters awarded her a gold medal for lifetime achievement. Beaux died at the age of 87 on September 17, 1942, in Gloucester, Massachusetts . She was buried at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania . In her will she left
4550-455: The following on the 1876 opening: The newly-built Academy of Fine Arts will bear comparison with any institution of its kind in America. It has a front of one hundred feet on Broad Street and a depth of two hundred and fifty-eight feet on Cherry Street. Its situation, with a street on each of its three sides, and an open space along a considerable portion of the fourth, is very advantageous as regards lighting, and freedom from risk by fire. It
4641-534: The following two years, they conducted independent study, guided by critiques from faculty, students, and visiting artists. The 1844 board of directors' declaration that women artists "would have exclusive use of the statue gallery for professional purposes" and study time in the museum on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings began an incremental step of inclusion of women in the academy. In 1860, female students were allowed to take anatomy and antique courses, drawing from antique casts, and they were afforded access to
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#17327761144234732-834: The gold medal of the Philadelphia Art Club , and also the Dodge prize at the New York National Academy of Design . She exhibited her work at the Palace of Fine Arts and The Woman's Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. Her portrait of The Reverend Matthew Blackburne Grier was particularly well-received, as was Sita and Sarita , a portrait of her cousin Charles W. Leavitt's wife Sarah (Allibone) Leavitt in white, with
4823-774: The grief of his loss, and feeling adrift in a foreign country, returned to his native France for 16 years, with only one visit back to Philadelphia. He returned when Cecilia was two, but left four years later after his business failed. As she confessed later, "We didn't love Papa very much, he was so foreign. We thought him peculiar ." Her father did have a natural aptitude for drawing and the sisters were charmed by his whimsical sketches of animals. Later, Beaux would discover that her French heritage would serve her well during her pilgrimage and training in France. In Philadelphia, Beaux's aunt Emily married mining engineer William Foster Biddle, whom Beaux would later describe as "after my grandmother,
4914-544: The home and studio she had built in Gloucester, Massachusetts . Beaux's friendship with Richard Gilder, editor-in-chief of the literary magazine The Century , helped promote her career and he introduced her to the elite of society. Among her portraits which followed from that association are those of Georges Clemenceau ; First Lady Edith Roosevelt and her daughter; and Admiral Sir David Beatty . She also sketched President Teddy Roosevelt during her White House visits in 1902, during which "He sat for two hours, talking most of
5005-608: The institution's fixed site while maintaining the buildings' historic details. In 2002, Dorrance H. Hamilton made a large donation to the academy for its expansion, and the academy purchased the former automobile factory at 128 N. Broad Street , next to the original building. Designed by Charles Oelschlager, the building was formerly a federal government building. The structure was renamed in memory of her husband, Samuel M.V. Hamilton. The academy completed its move there in September 2006. The new building includes an exhibition space,
5096-400: The lady who has given us this year the portrait of Dr. Grier. Composition, flesh, texture, sound drawing—everything is there without affectation, and without seeking for effect." Cecilia Beaux considered herself a " New Woman ", a 19th-century woman who explored educational and career opportunities that had generally been denied to women. In the late 19th century Charles Dana Gibson depicted
5187-559: The masterpieces of Stuart , Sully , Allston , West , and others of our early artists, the Gilpin gallery, fine marbles, and facsimiles of famous statues, as well as a magnificent gallery from the antique. The building is now considered one of the most notable buildings in Philadelphia and one of Furness' greatest works. In 1971, the building was named to the National Register of Historic Places . Four years later, in 1975, it
5278-579: The mid-1880s, the Janviers had moved to New York City and Catherine has begun a transition from artist to writer. The Janviers enjoyed a happy marriage in which they lived in England among literary circles and in Provence between 1883 and 1890. Their friends included poets and writers Roumanille , Felix Gras , and Mistral . Besides Europe, the Janviers also traveled to Mexico. When they were not out of
5369-675: The mid-1880s. Drinker won the Mary Smith Prize in 1880 for The Guitar Player , which in 1922 was among the collection of the Neighborhood Guild at Peace Dale, Rhode Island . At the age of 27, she was the first woman to teach at the academy in 1878. Janviers gave lectures about perspective and wrote the book Lessons in Perspective . On September 26, 1878, Catherine Ann Drinker married journalist Thomas Allibone Janvier in Drifton, Pennsylvania at St. James Church. By
5460-465: The mornings and enjoying a leisurely life the rest of the time. She carefully regulated her energy and her activities to maintain a productive output, and considered that a key to her success. On why so few women succeeded in art as she did, she stated, "Strength is the stumbling block. They (women) are sometimes unable to stand the hard work of it day in and day out. They become tired and cannot reenergize themselves." While Beaux stuck to her portraits of
5551-404: The museum continues to show works by contemporary regional artists and features annual displays of work by academy students. The collection is installed in a chronological and thematic format, exploring the history of American art from the 1760s to the present. The academy has a longstanding four-year certificate program. Beginning in 1929, qualified students have been able to apply for and receive
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#17327761144235642-567: The museum's mission and whether such deaccessionings are in the public interest. Notable students and faculty of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts include: Notes Bibliography Catherine A. Janvier Catherine Ann Drinker was born on May 1, 1841, in Philadelphia to (Henry) Sandwith Drinker and Susannah Budd (née Shober) Drinker. Her father commanded ships involved in East India trade and then established
5733-460: The nearby Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts , one of America's foremost art schools and museums. Though fascinated by the narrative elements of some of the pictures, particularly the Biblical themes of the massive paintings of Benjamin West , at this point Beaux had no aspirations of becoming an artist. Her childhood was a sheltered though generally happy one. As a teen she already manifested
5824-634: The new movement to be a passing fad, but it turned out to be a revolutionary turn in American art. In 1910, her beloved Uncle Willie died. Though devastated by the loss, at 55 year old, Beaux remained highly productive. In the next five years she painted almost 25 percent of her lifetime output and received a steady stream of honors. She had a major exhibition of 35 paintings at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. , in 1912. Despite her continuing production and accolades, however, Beaux
5915-573: The next twenty years. That rare type of achievement by a woman prompted one local newspaper to state, "It is a legitimate source of pride to Philadelphia that one of its most cherished institutions has made this innovation." She was a popular instructor. In 1896, Beaux returned to France to see a group of her paintings presented at the Salon. Influential French critic M. Henri Rochefort commented, "I am compelled to admit, not without some chagrin, that not one of our female artists…is strong enough to compete with
6006-819: The objections of her family. There she trained at the Académie Julian , the largest art school in Paris, and at the Académie Colarossi , receiving weekly critiques from established masters like Tony Robert-Fleury and William-Adolphe Bouguereau . She wrote, "Fleury is much less benign than Bouguereau and don't temper his severities…he hinted of possibilities before me and as he rose said the nicest thing of all, 'we will do all we can to help you'…I want these men…to know me and recognize that I can do something." Though advised regularly of Beaux's progress abroad and to "not be worried about any indiscretions of ours", her Aunt Eliza repeatedly reminded her niece to avoid
6097-487: The oncoming flow of insane novelties in art patterns ... In this last struggle against modernism the President was ably supported by Eakins, Anschutz , Grafly , [Henry Joseph] Thouron, Vonnoh , and Chase ... His unfailing courtesy, his disinterested thoughtfulness, his tactfulness, and his modesty endeared him to scholars and masters alike. No sacrifice of time or of means was too great, if he thought he could accomplish
6188-530: The plein-air painting techniques used by the Impressionists to her own landscapes and portraiture, with little success. Unlike her predecessor Mary Cassatt , who had arrived near the beginning of the Impressionist movement 15 years earlier and who had absorbed it, Beaux's artistic temperament, precise and true to observation, would not align with Impressionism and she remained a realist painter for
6279-453: The portraits – Miss Beaux's three – and wagged his head. 'Ah, yes, I see!' Some Sargents. The ordinary ones are signed John Sargent, the best are signed Cecilia Beaux, which is, of course, nonsense in more ways than one, but it is part of the generous chorus of praise." Though overshadowed by Mary Cassatt and relatively unknown to museum-goers today, Beaux's craftsmanship and extraordinary output were highly regarded in her time. While presenting
6370-746: The remainder of her life. That same year Beaux was asked to produce a self-portrait for the Medici collection in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. In 1930 she published an autobiography , Background with Figures . Her later life was filled with honors. In 1930 she was elected a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters ; in 1933 came membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters , which two years later organized
6461-414: The rest of her career, even as Cézanne , Matisse , Gauguin , and Picasso were beginning to take art into new directions. Beaux mostly admired classic artists like Titian and Rembrandt . Her European training did influence her palette, however, and she adopted more white and paler coloration in her oil painting, particularly in depicting female subjects, an approach favored by Sargent as well. Back in
6552-405: The south side, there is a large lecture room, with retiring rooms, and back of these are the modeling rooms and rooms devoted to the use of students and professors. On the second floor is the main hall, which extends across the building, and is intended for the exhibition of large works of art. This story is divided into galleries, which are lighted from the top. Through the center runs a hall which
6643-477: The strongest and most beneficent influence in my life." For fifty years, he cared for his nieces-in-law with consistent attention and occasional financial support. Her grandmother, on the other hand, provided day-to-day supervision and kindly discipline. Whether with housework, handiwork, or academics, Grandma Leavitt offered a pragmatic framework, stressing that "everything undertaken must be completed, conquered." The Civil War years were particularly challenging, but
6734-626: The temptations of Paris, "Remember you are first of all a Christian – then a woman and last of all an Artist." When Beaux arrived in Paris, the Impressionists , a group of artists who had begun their own series of independent exhibitions from the official Salon in 1874, were beginning to lose their solidarity. Also known as the "Independents" or "Intransigents", the group which at times included Degas , Monet , Sisley , Caillebotte , Pissarro , Renoir , and Berthe Morisot , had been receiving
6825-411: The time, reciting Kipling , and reading scraps of Browning." Beaux also became very close with Gilder's daughter Dorothea, and the two women exchanged affectionate letters for many years. Her portraits Fanny Travis Cochran , Dorothea and Francesca , and Ernesta and her Little Brother , are fine examples of her skill in painting children; Ernesta with Nurse , one of a series of essays in luminous white,
6916-515: The traits, as she described, of "both a realist and a perfectionist, pursued by an uncompromising passion for carrying through." She attended the Misses Lyman School and was just an average student, though she did well in French and Natural History. However, she was unable to afford the extra fee for art lessons. At age 16, Beaux began art lessons with a relative, Catherine Ann Drinker , an accomplished artist who had her own studio and
7007-607: The trip, when the captain was drunk, Janvier navigated the ship because the First Officer did not have sufficient ability to read the charts. Her mother established Mrs. Drinker's Academy for Young Ladies in Baltimore. Susannah Drinker was diagnosed with a uterine tumor and died in March 1860. Janvier kept the school open for a time, and then closed it to pursue a career in art. She took the responsibility for providing for
7098-481: The way of household responsibilities, "I was never once asked to do an errand in town, some bit of shopping…so well did they understand." She developed a structured, professional routine, arriving promptly at her studio, and expected the same from her models. The five years that followed were highly productive, resulting in over forty portraits. In 1890 she exhibited at the Paris Exposition, obtained in 1893
7189-399: The women who founded the organization had been students of Howard Pyle. It was founded to provide a means to encourage one another professionally and create opportunities to sell their works of art. By 1900 the demand for Beaux's work brought clients from Washington, D.C. , to Boston , prompting the artist to move to New York City, where she spent the winters, while summering at Green Alley,
7280-433: The wrath of the critics for several years. Their art, though varying in style and technique, was the antithesis of the type of Academic art in which Beaux was trained and of which her teacher William-Adolphe Bouguereau was a leading master. In the summer of 1888, with classes in summer recess, Beaux worked in the fishing village of Concarneau with the American painters Alexander Harrison and Charles Lazar. She tried applying
7371-697: Was a highly original composition, seemingly without precedent. She became a member of the National Academy of Design in 1902. and won the Logan Medal of the arts at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1921. By 1906, Beaux began to live year-round at Green Alley, in a comfortable colony of "cottages" belonging to her wealthy friends and neighbors. All three aunts had died and she needed an emotional break from Philadelphia and New York City. She managed to find new subjects for portraiture, working in
7462-768: Was awarded a gold medal for lifetime achievement by the National Institute of Arts and Letters , and honored by Eleanor Roosevelt as "the American woman who had made the greatest contribution to the culture of the world". Beaux was born on May 1, 1855, in Philadelphia , the younger daughter of French silk manufacturer Jean Adolphe Beaux and teacher Cecilia Kent Leavitt. Her mother was the daughter of prominent businessman John Wheeler Leavitt of New York City and his wife, Cecilia Kent of Suffield, Connecticut . Cecilia Kent Leavitt died from puerperal fever 12 days after giving birth at age 33. Cecilia and her sister Etta were subsequently raised by their maternal grandmother and aunts, primarily in Philadelphia. Her father, unable to bear
7553-407: Was awarded a prize for the best painting by a female artist at the academy, and further exhibited in Philadelphia and New York. Following that seminal painting, she painted over 50 portraits in the next three years with the zeal of a committed professional artist. Her invitation to serve as a juror on the hanging committee of the academy confirmed her acceptance amongst her peers. In the mid-1880s, she
7644-501: Was designated a National Historic Landmark . In 1976, the building's exterior and interior was refurbished to coincide with its centennial and with the United States bicentennial. The restoration work was conducted through Day and Zimmerman Associates , and headed by Human Myers. In 2019, architectural firm DLR Group completed another renovation on both the Furness-Hewitt and Hamilton buildings to accommodate growth within
7735-471: Was established for women at the school in 1868. Ida Waugh and Emily Sartain were among her fellow students. Janvier taught art at Miss Sanford's School in 1870 and through private lessons. One of her private students was Cecilia Beaux , with whom she had much in common and became good friends. Cecilia's sister, Aimée Ernesta Beaux, married Henry Sturgis Drinker, Janvier's brother. From 1873 to 1874, she ran Francis Adolf Van der Wielen's school, and Beaux
7826-507: Was founded in 1805 and is the first and oldest art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum is internationally known for its collections of 19th- and 20th-century American paintings, sculptures, and works on paper. Its archives house important materials for the study of American art history, museums, and art training. It offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts , Master of Fine Arts , certificate programs, and continuing education. The academy will cease to offer degrees (except for
7917-471: Was her student at that time. In the mid 1870s she studied under Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy. In New York, she studied at the Art Students League . Aside from teaching, Janvier also created marketable paintings of people, still-life, and genre scenes that sold for about $ 300 (equivalent to $ 8,324 in 2023) each painting in New York City. The paintings of Geoffrey Rudel and
8008-443: Was influenced by academic artists Tony Robert-Fleury and William-Adolphe Bouguereau as well as the work of Édouard Manet and Edgar Degas . Her style was compared to that of John Singer Sargent ; at one exhibition, Bernard Berenson joked that her paintings were the best Sargents in the room. Like her instructor William Sartain , she believed there was a connection between physical characteristics and behavioral traits. Beaux
8099-643: Was published. Both Thomas and Catherine Janvier wrote for Harper's Weekly . Janvier was a member of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, London's Pioneer Club, and the Woman's Cosmopolitan Club in New York City. Thomas died on June 18, 1913. Catherine lived on 59th Street in New York from 1913 to 1918 and with her brother Dr. Henry Drinker in Merion, Pennsylvania , by 1921, when she appeared on
8190-624: Was receiving commissions from notable Philadelphians and earning $ 500 per portrait, comparable to what Eakins commanded. When her friend Margaret Bush-Brown insisted that Les Derniers was good enough to be exhibited at the famed Paris Salon , Beaux relented and sent the painting abroad in the care of her friend, who managed to get the painting into the exhibition. At 32, despite her success in Philadelphia, Beaux decided that she still needed to advance her skills. She left for Paris with cousin May Whitlock, forsaking several suitors and overcoming
8281-536: Was working against the current of tastes and trends in art. The famed "Armory Show" of 1913 in New York City was a landmark presentation of 1,200 paintings showcasing Modernism . Beaux believed that the public, initially of mixed opinion about the "new" art, would ultimately reject it and return its favor to the Pre-Impressionists. Beaux was crippled after breaking her hip while walking in Paris in 1924. With her health impaired, her work output dwindled for
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