Cecilia Beaux AMERICAn: 1855–1942 NOMINATED BY MARY SAUER The realist portrait painter Cecilia Beaux split her time between Paris and Pennsylvania. The artist considered her- Meet 10 women artists whose talents and pioneering self a “new woman” and declared she’d never marry, choosing instead to devote spirits continue to inspire and influence today. her time to painting, which she did with great success. Before encountering Beaux’s work, artist Mary Sauer had always pointed to John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) as her favorite painter, and Beaux’s exquisite brushwork could easily be mistaken for that of the prolific portrait painter. “I love Beaux’s loose style and the drama in her portraits,” Sauer says. “When I learned about her in college, I couldn’t believe she hadn’t received more credit for her work, compared to Sargent. When I first saw her WOMEN Portrait of a Young Girl [or Portrait of a Young Woman?], in Philadelphia, part of a traveling exhibit, I felt a huge rush. I knew this was the direction my art was supposed CELEBRATING to be taking, and I was excited.” Sita and Sarita By Cecilia Beaux 1921; oil on canvas, 445/8x33) NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON, D.C. Mary Cassatt AMERICAn: 1844–1926 NOMINATED BY MARY WHYTE WOMEN Mary Cassatt—along with her peers, by Cynthia Close Edgar Degas and Berthe Morisot— created some of the best-loved paintings from the Impressionist period. Although born in Pennsylvania, Cassatt is often considered to be On August 26th, 1920, the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to a French artist, having spent most of her adult life in Paris. Her genteel vote, became law in the United States. In celebration of this centennial year upper-middleclass life is reflected in her work, which focused on intimate we invited 10 award-winning women artists (see page 00) to nominate a scenes of families in wallpapered sitting rooms and sunny gardens. female artist from history whom they’ve admired and from whom they’ve Watercolor artist Mary Whyte reflects drawn inspiration directly or indirectly. While some of the names have on her long attachment to the artist: “Throughout my career, I’ve admired become as familiar as many of their male contemporaries, others are less the work of Cassatt largely because of her expressive and tenderly observed known and illuminate the struggle for recognition that many talented women renderings of women and children. Many of her models were relatives Tea artists experienced in the past—a reality that is slowly being rectified today. or close friends, adding a particular by Mary Cassatt freshness and honesty to her paintings.” 1880; oil on canvas, 25½x36¼ MusEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON 2 Artists Magazine October 2020 ArtistsNetwork.com 3 WOMEN CELEBRATING WOMEN Gwen John WELSH: 1876–1939 NOMINATED BY ELLEN EagLE Helene Gwen John’s artistic life was over- Schjerfbeck shadowed by her brother, the FINNISh: 1862–1946 post-impressionist painter Augustus NOMINATED BY CAROLYN ANDERSON John (1878–1961), and the renowned French sculptor Auguste Rodin At the age of four, Finnish-born (1840–1917) with whom she had a love artist Helene Schjerfbeck, suf- affair. She studied at the Slade School fered a serious hip injury that of Art, in London, developing a limited impacted the direction of her life palette and stylistic approach uniquely and her career as an artist. Her her own. Modesty aptly describes her creative talent was recognized 158 works that survive today, none at the tender age of 11 when she of which are larger than 24 inches. was enrolled at the Finnish Art Figural artist Ellen Eagle is captivated Society Drawing School. Her by the “quiet demeanor and muted artwork, including portraits, tonalities” in John’s work. “The spare still lifes and landscapes, have compositions. The directness of her been compared to the work of presentation. The ordinariness of her American artist James Abbott gestures. With what looks like minimal McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) and modeling, she created fully realized the Norwegian painter Edvard faces,” says Eagle, who only recently— Munch (1863–1944). long after she’d found her own artistic Carolyn Anderson has found voice—became aware of John. “Still, inspiration in the trajectory of I strongly, and warmly, relate to her Scherfbeck’s career. “She was, aesthetic,” she says. without a doubt, a skillful and technically proficient painter,” Young Woman Holding a Black Cat says Anderson, “but it was her by Gwen John single-minded focus on finding ca 1920–25; oil on canvas, 18¼x113/4 her own vision that became her TATE BRITAIN greatest asset and produced her strongest work.” Self-Portrait, Black Background by Helene Schjerfbeck 1915; oil on canvas, 18x141/5 FINNISH NATIONAL GALLERY Käthe Kollwitz GERMAn: 1867–1945 NOMINATED BY SHARON SPRUNG Käthe Kollwitz is usually identified as a German Expressionist, known more for her The Mothers (Die Mütter) printmaking than painting and sculpture, although she created in all three media. She by Käthe Kollwitz was the first woman to achieve honorary professor status at the Prussian Academy of 1921–22; woodcut, 13½x153/4 Arts. Having lived through the trauma of two world wars, Kollwitz stated that she was MusEUM OF MODERN ART “attracted to the representation of proletarian life,” because she found it “beautiful.” Figurative artist Sharon Sprung expressed appreciation for Kollwitz’s life as well as her art: “Kollwitz’s work came from a place of deep emotion, reflecting her inner life as well as the conflicts of the world she occupied. Her work is very personal, yet she brilliantly addresses universal issues—sexuality, motherhood, class differences and death. Her journey to become an artist and maintain her life as an artist is unique to being female and struggling to maintain autonomy.” 4 Artists Magazine October 2020 ArtistsNetwork.com 5 WOMEN CELEBRATING WOMEN Georgia O’Keeffe AMERICAn: 1887–1986 NOMINATED BY FRAN BULL Bettina Steinke Not surprisingly, Georgia O’Keeffe, the widely celebrated AMERICAn: 1913–99 NOMINATED BY SUSAN LyON and perhaps most famous female artist of the 20th century, Successful as both a portrait painter and muralist, Bettina Steinke was able was mentioned by several of to straddle the worlds of fine art and commercial art. Her first major mural the artists on our nominating commission was for the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) where she panel. Her legendary life, first as worked as a resident artist, creating portraits of celebrities such as comedian a muse for photographer Alfred Fred Allen, vocalist Kate Smith and singer Rudy Vallée. In 1996, three years Stieglitz (1864–1946) and later before her death, at the age of 86, she was honored with the John Singer Sargent as a painter of iconic abstract Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Society of Portrait Artists. North Carolina flowers and landscapes of the artist Susan Lyon, who was introduced to Steinke in art school, admires the Southwest, is well documented. artist for her talent and for the respect she garnered for her abilities, including Multimedia artist Fran Bull a large retrospective at the Cowboy Hall of Fame, in Oklahoma City, in the admires O’Keeffe’s work but mid-90s, which Lyon was able to see. “She was a woman in a man’s career, and concedes it’s more her life every man around her idolized her,” says Lyon. “Back in the ‘50s, it was almost story that particularly inspires impossible for a woman to make it as an illustrator or realistic fine artist.” her. “[It’s] the example she sets for a woman artist in her fervent dedication to making art,” Bull says. “I have a sort of mystical relationship with her. ... When I need counsel, I ‘intuit’ her response to my questions, and she is unfailingly uncompromising and wise.” Rachel Ruysch Lake George Reflection DUTch: 1664–1750 Georgia O’Keeffe NOMINATED BY MARGRET SHORT ca 1921–22; oil on canvas, 34x58 CHRISTIe’S In the Golden Age of Dutch still life paint- ing, Rachel Ruysch was a standout. Her father was a botanist, which afforded her an opportunity as a young artist to study plant and insect forms. This formed the foundation for her impressive skill paint- ing the delicate wings of a butterfly or the soft petals of a peony in full bloom. Still life painter Margret Short, who has explored authentic primary source pigments, has found much to admire in Ruysch’s life and work. “During my pigment research, I became familiar with Ruysch and her stunning still life paint- ings,” Short says. “She was a formidable and successful artist who gained fame and financial independence through her art. In her personal life, she managed to have a career along with a family of 10 children. Her paintings show a deft skill in the handling of detail, expert control Father and Daughter of chiaroscuro and the ability to create at the Crow Fair realistic but gracefully formed scenes.” by Bettina Steinke 1978; oil on canvas, Vase with Flowers With a Cricket in a Niche 28x22 by Rachel Ruysch NATIONAL CowboY & 1700; oil on canvas, 31¼x233/4 WESTERN HERITagE MusEUM MauRITSHUIS, THE HaguE 6 Artists Magazine October 2020 ArtistsNetwork.com 7 WOMEN CELEBRATING WOMEN Jane Freilicher AMERICAn: 1924–2014 Élisabeth Louise NOMINATED BY SALLY STRAND Educated in art at Brooklyn College and Columbia Vigée Le Brun French: 1755–1842 University in the 1940s, Jane Freilicher became NOMINATED BY SOON WARREN part of the New York School, a movement active in the 1950s and 60s. Initially influenced by the A precocious talent from a young age, abstraction of Hans Hofmann (1880–1966), it was Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun is one of ultimately the French Impressionist Pierre Bonnard the few female artists in history who was ((1867–1947) who had the most lasting impact on famous in her own time, enjoying the Freilicher’s handling of color and light.