SISTERHOOD AS STRATEGY: THE COLLABORATIONS OF AMERICAN WOMEN ARTISTS IN THE GILDED AGE _____________________________________________________ A Dissertation presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School at the University of Missouri-Columbia _____________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy _____________________________________________________ by KELSEY FRADY MALONE Dr. Kristin Schwain, Dissertation Adviser MAY 2018 ã Copyright by Kelsey Frady Malone 2018 All Rights Reserved The undersigned, appointed by the dean of the Graduate School, have examined the dissertation entitled SISTERHOOD AS STRATEGY: THE COLLABORATIONS OF AMERICAN WOMEN ARTISTS IN THE GILDED AGE presented by Kelsey Frady Malone, a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, and hereby certify that, in their opinion, is worthy of acceptance. _________________________________________ Professor Kristin Schwain _________________________________________ Professor James A. van Dyke _________________________________________ Professor Michael Yonan _________________________________________ Professor Joanna Hearne ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am thankful to many people and institutions who have provided support and assistance throughout the dissertation process. My very sincerest gratitude goes to my adviser Kristin Schwain, a brilliant scholar who has consistently challenged me to do my best work while also giving me the freedom and guidance I needed to find my own voice as an art historian. I am forever thankful for her compassion, patience, and relentless intellectual and emotional support as my professor, advocate, mentor, and friend. Without her, this project would not have been possible. I am also indebted to the members of my dissertation committee, James van Dyke, Michael Yonan, and Joanna Hearne, whose insightful advice and endless encouragement has been invaluable to me over the past four years. I am a better writer, researcher, and teacher because of each of them. I would also like to thank Elisa Glick, an incredible professor whose graduate seminar on feminist theory helped to shape this dissertation, and Anne Stanton, who, though not directly tied to my project, nevertheless supported me throughout my academic journey at Mizzou with her constant optimism and thoughtful feedback. I am grateful to the Department of Art and Archaeology and the School of Visual Studies at the University of Missouri who provided financial aid that helped to fund both the research and writing stages of my dissertation. Several travel grants subsidized my research in Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C., while the Herbert W. Schooling Dissertation Fellowship allowed me to write full-time during the last year of my tenure as a graduate student. Special thanks to the staff of the Department of Art and Archaeology, particularly June Davis and Lisa Garrison, for their assistance in all ii departmental matters and for the perpetual positivity they brought to the Department each and every day. During the course of this project, I was fortunate to have received feedback from many scholars at various conferences and symposia. Thank you to LeeAnn Whites and the staff at The Filson Historical Society, who shared insights into Yandell’s life and career while I was visiting as a Filson Fellow in March 2017. Andrea Friedman’s perceptive comments at The Graduate History Association Conference at Washington University in St. Louis in April 2017 helped me to shape Chapter One. I am also grateful to Betsy Fahlman and Helen Langa, whose feedback at the 2017 Southeastern College Art Conference and afterwards has been very influential as I continue to think about the ways that Yandell’s and Johnston’s art was influenced by their experiences as unmarried women. I would also like to thank those who participated in the Newberry Library American Art and Visual Culture seminar in January 2018 for their thoughtful feedback and helpful commentary on a working draft of Chapter Two, particularly Alexis Boylan, Sarah Burns, Diane Dillon, Erika Doss, Sarah E. Kelly, Elizabeth McGoey, Patricia Scanlan, and Kay Wells. There have been many archivists, curators, librarians, and staff members who have greatly facilitated my research during the course of this project. Special thanks to Christopher A. Brown and Joseph Shemtov at the Free Library of Philadelphia; Gail Stanislow at the Brandywine River Museum; Sarah J. Weatherwax at The Library Company of Philadelphia; Jennifer Cole and Heather Potter at The Filson Historical Society; Lisa Parrott Rolfe and Hannah Zimmerman at the Speed Art Museum; Marilyn iii Ibach at the Prints & Photographs Division at the Library of Congress; and Chloe Ruab at the Newcomb College Institute. I consider myself extremely blessed to have a long list of women whose friendship has been a major source of inspiration for this project. Over the past four years, I have been lucky to have a graduate cohort of amazingly talented and incredibly kind women who have provided me with endless encouragement, understanding, laughter, and, when necessary, Beyoncé memes. I am especially and forever grateful to Lorinda Roorda Bradley, Lauren DiSalvo, Kalina Irving, Katie Iselin, Stephanie Kimmey, Brittany Rancour, and Christina Wytko for their friendship, empathy, and wisdom. Special thanks are also due to my own personal, life-long-sisterhood-on-speed-dial, best friends who have turned into my favorite family: Meagan Langford Humphries, Bailey Mazik, Meredith Cheney Phillips, and Kimberly Young. I am always amazed but never surprised by their talents, wit, and compassion. Thanks to each of these women for proving my thesis correct on a daily basis. I could not have completed this dissertation without the love and support of the Frady, Powell, and Malone families, who have been a never-ending source of emotional support and stability. My parents and grandparents, especially, have never stopped cheering me on as I have navigated this weird, long journey to becoming an art historian. The love, admiration, and appreciation I have for them cannot adequately be described here. My deepest love and affection belong to Patrick and Winslow, who have been my constant and steady source of strength since before this project began. For this, I am eternally grateful. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ii List of Illustrations vi Abstract xviii Introduction: “A Band of Independent Partners in Talent” 1 Chapter One: Alice Barber Stephens, the “Leader of Her Class”: Creating a Space for Women Artists in Philadelphia 30 Chapter Two: Enid Yandell: Negotiating Independent and Collective Agency as a “Famous Lady Sculptor” 80 Chapter Three: Frances Benjamin Johnston and Her “Sisters of the Camera” 143 Conclusion 199 Illustrations 212 Bibliography 306 Vita 349 v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure: 1. Elizabeth Shippen Green, Life Was Made for Love and Cheer, 1904, watercolor and charcoal on illustration board. Cabinet of American Illustration, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Originally published in Harper's Magazine vol. 109, no. 501 (September 1904): 506, to accompany Henry Van Dyke’s poem “Inscriptions for a Friend’s House.” 2. Elizabeth Shippen Green, Life Was Full of Love and Cheer (detail), 1904. 3. Unidentified photographer, photograph of Violet Oakley, Jessie Willcox Smith, Elizabeth Shippen Green, and Henrietta Cozens, c. 1901, photographic print. Violet Oakley Papers, Archives of American Art, Washington, D.C. 4. Unknown artist, photograph of Alice Barber Stephens, c. 1893. Published in “Alice Barber Stephens: Illustrator,” Woman’s Progress vol. 2, no. 2 (November 1893): frontispiece, and in Harold Payne, “American Women Illustrators,” Munsey’s Magazine vol. 11, no. 1 (April 1894): 56. 5. Alice Barber Stephens, The Women’s Life Class, 1879, oil on cardboard, 12 x 14 in. Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 6. Alice Barber Stephens, The Women’s Life Class, c. 1879, engraving. Published in William C. Brownell, “The Art Schools of Philadelphia,” Scribner’s Monthly, vol. 18, no. 5 (September 1879): 743. 7. Walter M. Davis, The Male Life Class, c. 1879, engraved by Alice Barber Stephens. Published in William C. Brownell, “The Art Schools of Philadelphia,” Scribner’s Monthly, vol. 18, no. 5 (September 1879): 741. 8. Philip B. Hahs, The Antique Class, c. 1879, engraving. Published in William C. Brownell, “The Art Schools of Philadelphia,” Scribner’s Monthly, vol. 18, no. 5 (September 1879): 737. 9. Frances Benjamin Johnston, Art Students League, c. 1900, photograph, 8 x 10 in. Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 10. Alice Barber Stephens, The Women’s Life Class (detail), 1879. 11. Thomas Eakins, William Rush Carving His Allegorical Figure of the Schuylkill River, 1876-1877, oil on canvas, 20 1/8 x 26 1/8 in. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. vi 12. Alice Barber Stephens, The Chess Players, 1880, wood engraving after Thomas Eakins, The Chess Players, 1876, oil on wood, 11 ¾ x 16 ¾ in. Cabinet of American Illustration, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Published in William C. Brownell, “The Younger Painters of America,” Scribner’s Monthly vol. 20, no. 1 (May 1880): 8. 13. Alice Barber Stephens, On the Harlem, 1880, wood engraving after Thomas Eakins, The Biglin Brothers Turning the Stake, 1873, oil on canvas, 40 x 60 in. Published in Clarence Cook, “Spring Hereabouts,”