. SUS'I'JI! NINC A GREAT/If-' SPIH IT were intensely committed to their Hoooier women at the turn ot the century experi­ careers and, very often, remained mented comparatively little with their artwork. They unmarried. Ada Walter Shulz preterred, inotead, to engage in traditional kindo ot ( 1870-1928) , though, found her­ self caught between her family and art. Perhapo their artiotic otteringo were more her art. Mter studying at the Art reotrained in hopeo ot oecuring a opot in the con­ Institute of , at the Academie oervative marketplace, but, more likely, thio work Vitti in Paris, and in Munich, she wao related to cultural expectationo ot the day. retired for ten years to be a "good mother" to her son. When Shulz returned to painting, she by teaching. Olive Rush (1873- 1966) , though, not only made sure not to compete with her husband, landscapist taught but also worked as a portraitist, as an illustrator, Adolph Robert Shulz (1869- 1963) . She limited her sub­ and as a mural painter when the need arose. Mter train­ ject matter to what she knew best: the mothers, children, ing at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C., and day-to-day happenings in Nashville, . and at the Art Students League, she settled in Santa Fe, espite their focus on genre scenes, Shulz's pieces New Mexico, in 1920. According to art historian William very often drew more critical praise than those of H. Gerdts, Rush was the first important American her spouse. Mter a lengthy separation (perhaps woman artist to locate there. Dedicated to her art and fueled,D in part, by this unspoken competition), the cou­ the disciplined, single-minded life it required, this ple divorced in 1926. Seeking to heal from the breakup painter from Fairmount never married. of her marriage, as well as the death of her son eight years The sweeping vistas of the Southwest also shaped the earlier, Shulz found refuge in her artwork. Her creativity work of Constance Forsyth ( 1903-1987) . The middle soared as she allowed herself to focus solely on her paint­ daughter of Group artist William Forsyth, ing. Like Lucie Hartrath and , two women "Connie" was first exposed to painting as a youngster in artists then working in and around Nashville, she was an her family's home in Irvington, then on the outskirts of integral part of the Brown County art colony. . She later trained at the John Herron Art Both professional painters, Lucie Hartrath (1868-1962) Institute, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in and Marie Goth (1887- 1975) elected to work in genres Philadelphia, and the Broadmoor Art Academy in that were customa1ily favored by men. Both of these unmar­ Colorado. A professor at the University of Texas in ried women carried impressive academic credentials in Austin for nearly thirty-five years, Forsyth initially favored art. Mter study at the Art lnsti tute of Chicago and the Art working in watercolor. As she matured artistically, Students League in New York, Hartrath sought additional though, she developed an expertise in lithography that training with master artists in both Paris and Munich. She defined a significant portion of the output during her was particularly skilled with the nuances of landscape. productive years. Routinely found in juried national and international exhi­ Like Forsyth, Carolyn Bradley (1898- 1954) was bitions (and often among the prizewinners), her pieces another remarkably resilient single woman. Born in were sought after by public and private collectors alike. Richmond, she accepted a position with the art faculty Choosing portraiture for her life's work, Goth was of Ohio State University in 1932 after training at the prolific. She completed hundreds of paintings during John Herron Art Institute. Her summers were devoted a career that spanned more than a half century, most to private study and far-flung teaching assignments as a of which was spent in the wilds of southern Indiana. guest lecturer in Honduras, Costa Rica, Haiti, Guatemala, Goth was certain of her career choice early on; she Chile, and the Dominican Republic. These exotic posts "knew that 'portraits' were to be my future" soon after clearly made their mark upon Bradley and her evoca­ coming under the influence of Frank Vincent DuMond tive oils and watercolors. Stripped of details, vibrant with at the Art Students League in New York. She also stud­ color, her paintings became less representational and ied at the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis. more abstract with time. This Brown County-based painter gave pause to the Unlike the female artists who taught, Janet Scudder popular notion that a single woman artist could not (1873- 1940) supported herself through commissioned develop a career based upon her own artwork. Goth statuary works. This Terre Haute sculptor became the could-and did. darling of her medium as museums and municipalities At the turn of the century, the most socially permis­ worldwide competed to obtain her statues for use in sible way for a woman to support herself in the arts was garden settings. Widely recognized for her fountain

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