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Women Artists of Birmingham 1890-1950

Vicki Leigh Ingham ATCTV"* NEW SOUTH Women Artists 0/Birmingham, 1890-1950

Vicki Leigh Ingham

Birmingham Historical Society Birmingham Historical Society One Sloss Quarters Birmingham, Alabama 35222 Tel. 205 251 1880 . Fax 205 251 3260

This book was published in conjunction with the exhibition: "Art of the New South: Women Artists in Birmingham 1890-1950," organized by the Birmingham Historical Society at the Birmingham Public Tibrary from November 7 to December 31, 2004.

Copyright © 2004 by Birmingham Historical Society

ISBN 0-943994-29-2 (hardcover) ISBN 0-943994-30-6 (softcover)

Tibrary of Congress Control Number: 2004108328

Frontispiece: Delia Dryer, Self Portrait, Illustration Class at the New York School of Art, 1904-1906, pastel on paper, 18 x 24", unsigned, collection of Janie Morgan Johansen.

Binding: Carrie Hill's Palette, collection of Tloise Hill Jones.

Designed by Scott Fuller Tdited by Marjorie T.White

ORIGINAT TIMITTD TDITION Printed in Hong Kong Tabte of Contents

Preface 3 Introduction 7 Caroline Lovell 20 Carrie Montgomery 36 Carrie Hill 40 Lucille Douglass 90 Alice Edith Rumph 122 Delia Dyer 136 Hannah Elliot 170 Willie McLaughlin 182 Endnotes 187 Index 197 Acknowledgements 201

VxeidiCe

rt of the New South is published because of a fortunate coincidence of events and conditions. The Birmingham Historical Society, and in particular Society Trustee A Pat Camp, has long wanted to tell the story of Birmingham artists. A few years ago, librarian and Society Trustee Regina Amnion was writing descriptions of the collec­ tions of the Birmingham Public Library and was attracted to the paintings and papers of Carrie Hill, one of the principal women artists of Birmingham during the period 1890 to 1950. Regina wrote a short article on Carrie Hill for the Society's Newsletter. Dr. Julius Tinn Jr., grandnephew of Carrie Hill and a member of the Society, saw the Newsletter and called Regina and Pat to tell them of his collection of Carrie Hill paintings. Together with Regina and Pat, the late Martin Hames, Margaret Tivingston and I visited Julius in his home to view his Carrie Hill collection, and Julius agreed to help publish a book featuring the works of Carrie Hill and other Birmingham artists. Initially the book was to have described a large number of Birmingham artists, some of them active to the present day. As research on Carrie Hill and her contemporaries pro­ gressed, however, the history of the Birmingham Art Club emerged as a fascinating story and an important chapter in the history of Birmingham. The scope of the book narrowed to eight women artists who were important in establishing the Art Club in 1907 and con­ tinuing its work into the 1950s. The Birmingham Art Club sponsored art exhibits at the Birmingham Public Tibrary, helped stimulate a market for works of art by women artists, encouraged art in the public schools (donating paintings to many of them), lobbied for the establishment of the Birmingham Museum of Art, and acquired works of art for a perma­ nent collection. Interestingly, many of the source documents for the story of the Birmingham Art Club were collected by the Society in 1950 and deposited in the Birmingham Public Tibrary in the Hill Perguson Collection. An important collection of letters from artist Delia Dryer was located by Society research assistant Peggy Balch through an on-line search of the data base of the National Museum of Women and the Arts. The letters had been discovered, tran­ scribed, and distributed to the National Museum and other interested parties by Janie Johansen of Tallahassee, Plorida, grandniece of Delia Dryer. A search for existing works by the artists was initiated. An exhibit program found in the Hill Perguson Collection described a 1950 exhibit at the Birmingham Public Tibrary of etchings by Tucille Douglass then and now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which has agreed to lend the etchings for a second exhibit at the Library. In addition to the collections of the Metropolitan and Julius Linn Jr., works of art 4 -Art of the New South

in several media (oil and watercolor paintings, etchings, pastels, painted china, pen and brush, and charcoal sketches) by seven of the eight women were found at the Birmingham Public Library, the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Alabama Pederation of Women's Clubs, the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, and in the private collections listed in the acknowledge­ ments at page 201, most notably relatives of the artists including Lesley Collins of Largo, Florida, Janie Johansen of Tallahassee, Florida, and Henry Yarborough of Akron, Ohio, all of whom went to great lengths and considerable expense to provide photographs of their treas­ ures. In many ways a book on art history is a grown-up's picture book, and we have been fortunate to have so many works of art made available to us for imaging. Most of the pic­ tures are due to the efforts of Marc Bondarenko who photographed all of the art work in the Birmingham area, making himself available to do the photography at odd hours in pri­ vate homes. A most fortunate coincidence was the discovery in the early fall of 2003 at the Birmingham Public Tibrary of "Women, Art, and the New South: From the Birmingham Art Club to the Birmingham Museum of Art," the thesis ofVicki Teigh Ingham submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the masters degree in art history from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, awarded while Vicki was an editor at Birmingham's Southern Progress Corporation. In her thesis,Vicki made the case for the importance of the Birmingham Art Club to the history of Birmingham and the establishment of the Birmingham Museum of Art, as well as the connections of some of the eight women artists to the international art world. After visits from her present home in Des Moines, Iowa, to Birmingham to see Julius Tinn's Carrie Hill paintings, Vicki agreed to write an expanded version of the story of the women artists of the Birmingham Art Club. Perhaps she was influenced to do so by the fact that she too has been a Birmingham woman artist with paint­ ings in galleries in Birmingham and other cities. Her path-finding thesis coupled with the additional research conducted by Vicki and the Birmingham Historical Society as well as the inclusion of images of many works of art by the women artists studied has resulted, we believe, in a compelling treatment of the subject. In addition to being an accomplished editor with many books to her credit, Vicki is a wonderful writer. She has a high energy level and writes speedily, attributes which permitted her to finish her work in a few months, working at night and on weekends while performing her daytime job as an editor. Her style is direct and unobtrusive, drawing the reader's attention to the subject matter, and relying for impact on her ability to draw out the interesting facts about her subject rather than on rhetorical devices. Vicki is also a good sport, and responded patiently to the Society's unusual team of mostly amateur editors who "edited the editor" in a group participation process that is likely unique to publishing (and made possible by the availability of e-mail for communicating edits rapidly and at all hours). Publications of the Birmingham Historical Society are a collaborative effort. Since the market for our books is not large enough to support all the costs of publication, the Society is grateful for the financial support it has received from Julius Tinn Jr., Pat and Ehney Camp, Teslie Collins, Tyndra Daniel, Stewart Dansby Dodie and Corbin Day, Henry Tynn,Jr., and Henry Yarborough. A great many other people have helped with the project, and I hope that Preface — 5 all of them have been listed in the acknowledgements at page 201. One of the strengths of the Society's publication program is the willingness of its members to participate in the edit­ ing process. Julius Linn Jr., an important writer and editor in the medical and medical research fields, not only inspired this book, supported it financially, and made available much of its content, he also helped research and edit the copy. Other editors include Regina Amnion, Stewart Dansby Alice Ottewilfjoe Strickland, and James White, III. Producing an art book with copy set in type (which must then be changed, more than once, to satisfy the editors), pictures reproduced with appropriate color values, and the whole laid out in a logical and aesthetically pleasing scheme requires a combination of tech­ nical skill and aesthetic judgment beyond most mortals. The Society has been fortunate to have had available through many years the services of Scott Fuller, graphic designer extraor­ dinaire, whose talent is reflected on every page. With all of this creative energy fully engaged, I acknowledge, as principal editor and publisher, that the merits of this book are due to the efforts of others, and that the remain­ ing deficiencies are my responsibility.

Marjorie Tongenecker White Birmingham, Alabama June 17,2004

Introduction

stablished in 1871,Birmingham was by 1900 the South's largest industrial workplace, OPPOSITE PAGE: with a bustling city center at the core of an industrial region. From across the South, View of the Birmingham City Center Looking South to the "Heaviest from the Northeast and foreign nations, businessmen, skilled craftsmen, and laborers Corner on Earth" at First Avenue E North and 20th Street and Across came seeking opportunity and work in the region's fast-growing mines and mills. In the eyes Southside to Red Mountain, 1914. of one young woman, newly transplanted from Mississippi, Birmingham was youthful, for­ From the Catalogue of the Seventh ward-looking, and vigorous, unburdened by an antebellum past. Annual Exhibition of the Birmingham Art Club, Birmingham Public This young bride, Caroline Tovell, together with a group of artistic friends she met in Tibrary Tutwiler Collection of Birmingham, would make substantial contributions to the cultural life of early 20th Southern History and Titerature. century Birmingham. The women—together with their parents and spouses—came to the Magic City during the boom years of the 1880s and 1890s. Their love of art drew them together. Initially, they sketched outdoors in parks and painted in third-floor studios. In 1907, they formed an association. A newspaper account, written several years later, charts the beginnings of the Birmingham Art Club: "Miss Alice Rumph was there, and Mrs. Joseph Montgomery, Miss Dryer and Miss McTaughlin. It was a bleak November day, and, sitting around a little barrel stove [in Delia Dryer's studio] with unfinished canvases on the easels and others on the walls and with a confusion of brushes and tubes about them, these ambitious lovers of art organized the club, which was to keep the spark [of art in Birmingham] alive."1 The following January, they elected Caroline Tovell president, "know­ ing that anything she would undertake would be a success and that she had always been a patron of the arts and an artist herself." Hannah Elliott and Carrie Hill immediately became charter members, along with nine other women. Tucille Douglass was out of town but joined upon her return. Caroline Montgomery signed on before the first annual exhibition in April 1908, as did five men, among them architects Hugh Martin and William Teslie Welt on and Vulcan sculptor Giuseppe Moretti.The fact the art club welcomed male mem­ bers underscores the founders' emphasis on professionalism over gender and their claim to equality with men in the art enterprise. Tike the literary and music clubs to which several of the women belonged, the Birmingham Art Club would be educational and social. Unlike the other clubs, it would also be professional—providing opportunities to exhibit and sell art, as well as promote its appre­ ciation. In 1908, Birmingham had neither an art museum nor a public art gallery, nor were there art fairs where potential patrons could see and buy original paintings, drawings, or fine crafts. The women addressed this opportunity. The Birmingham Art Club held its first annual exhibition in April 1908. For the next 50 years, art club members presented opportunities to view the work of local and national artists and architects. Members became the leading proponents for an art museum in the city 8 -Art of the New South Introduction — 9 and began purchasing paintings and sculpture three decades before the Birmingham Museum of Art officially opened in 1951. They were on hand in Montgomery in 1931 to celebrate the first anniversary of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. The importance of the Birmingham Art Club to the cultural life of the city is well doc­ umented. Tess known are the stories of the artists who founded the club and shaped its activities over a half century. This book showcases the lives and work of eight charter art club members. Recognized and respected during their lives, they have been forgotten since their deaths in the 1950s. In this volume, for the first time, information is assembled into narratives that place their careers in the context of national and international artistic activity of the early 20th century. The eight women artists of this study were not the only women artists working in Birmingham at the time, but they do emerge as a cohesive, core group. Their names appeared repeatedly in newspaper stories and minutes of club activities. Reviews of club exhibitions selected them for praise. Considering them as a group permits presentation of the variety of media in which women engaged in the visual and decorative arts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.2 These women benefited from new opportunities for art education made available to women after the Civil War. As early as 1848, women had received instruction and jobs in the decorative and industrial arts. In the 1860s, American art academies, where aspiring artists pursued training in painting and drawing, first opened their doors to women. United States Census statistics record the phenomenon of women availing themselves of this training. In 1870, the census listed 414 women practicing as artists, sculptors, and art teachers. By the

Miss Sarah Neill,Art Club President in her Studio, 1916, The Birmingham News, April 16, 1916, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.2.4.32.

OPPOSITE PAGE: Birmingham Art Club Founders Hannah Elliott Painting (Look closely!) Lucille Douglass, c. 1908, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.6.7.9. 10 - Art of the New South

1890 census, 11,000 women listed artistic careers. As historian Karen Swinth notes, "Proportionally, the increase was just as striking: women had been merely 10 percent of artists in 1870; in 1890 they reached nearly one-half of all those counted (48.1 percent).... These numbers reflected major inroads into the profession by women. In painting, the highest end of the pro­ fession, directories of artists and exhibitions indicated that women represented fully one-third of those active in the coun­ try at the turn of the century"3 The influx of women into the field of art during this period was a direct result of what Swinth describes as a late 19th-century obsession with art.4 "Beginning with the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, critics and commentators subjected CATALOGUE the late nineteenth century's world's fairs to intense scrutiny, SEVENTH ANNUAL EXHIBITION assessing America's place on the artistic world stage and also BIRMINGHAM ART CLUB disseminating and popularizing aesthetic norms and genteel and the FIRST ANNUAL EXHIBITION 5 OF THE standards of taste." Art education began to be offered in pub­ ATELIER of the BIRMINGHAM lic schools in the conviction that it not only promoted man­ SOCIETY of ARCHITECTS ual skills but also encouraged "tasteful consumption and an CLARK if JONES HALL 'art spirit' that fostered individual development and social APRIL 30th TO MAY 3rd. NINETEEN FOURTEEN harmony. Gilded Age Americans, particularly the middle " class, placed extraordinary faith in the power of art (and high culture generally) to instill values and unify society"6 The members of the Birmingham Art Club thoroughly embraced this late 19th-century faith in art, and their Cover, Catalogue of the Seventh convictions determined how they defined the purposes of the club and conducted Annual Exhibition of the Birmingham their careers. Art Club, 1914, Birmingham Public Tibrary Tutwiler Collection of To appreciate the work of these women, it is also important to understand the society Southern History. in which they lived. In late 19th- and early 20th-century America, a woman's place was essentially in the home. The most conservative view held a woman's highest duties were to her husband and children, and her role in life was "to uphold morality, instill virtue, and expend herself in nurturing, self-sacrificing maternal love."7 A second view allowed women to extend their nurturing activities to charitable and philanthropic work outside the home. The most radical position declared that women were actually morally superior to men and therefore entitled to a leadership role in the world.8 Writers such as activist Catharine E. Beecher and Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of the popular women's magazine Godey's Lady's Book, urged women to exercise their moral leadership by becoming teachers, missionaries, charity workers and proponents of reform.9 As art came to be equated with high moral purpose,10 women could legitimately extend their activities into the public sphere of art galleries and museums in the name of moral education and cultural refinement. Art- making became an acceptable profession for women. None of the Birmingham women artists followed the first model for womanly behav­ ior. Caroline Tovell and Carrie Montgomery exemplify the second. They viewed themselves Introduction — 11 as professional artists, but as married women, they placed fam­ ily before career, as society expected. Both made significant contributions as cultural leaders who promoted art as part of a broad civic agenda. Hannah Elliott straddled the divide between the late-19th- century and modern woman, adopting the persona of a bohemian eccentric but living at home with her parents in aristocratic gentility. She became well known as a miniature painter, as well as an influential and well-loved teacher. Delia Dryer and Willie McTaughlin may also be considered in this light; both pursued professional education but, as was custom­ ary for unmarried southern women, they lived with family members throughout their adult lives. Neither exhibited widely nor depended on their art to make a living. They were, however, not genteel dabblers; they took themselves seriously as artists and were active participants in the work of the Birmingham Art Club. fill I I- IL'IIPV F but Carrie Hill, Tucille Douglass, and Alice Rumph represent the "20th-century New Woman," who sought a professional J ' J" 'jTJU. 11 education "and the right to earn an income." These women — ODU ' lULJJ received training in art to further their careers, not as wealthy . iaum: leisured women seeking self-improvement. All three combined • ft: teaching with making art to support themselves and lived • \t _ .

- • independently. Tucille Douglass and Alice Rumph left Birmingham for opportunities elsewhere—Tucille in China and

Tugene H. Knight, Beaux Art Problem, Class A Project — "Interior State Capitol," From the Catalogue of the Seventh Annual Exhibition of the Birmingham Art Club, 1914, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives Tutwiler Collection L— H of Southern History.

Dean Parmelee, Beaux Art Problem — Class B Analitique - "A Monumental Lea House," From the Catalogue of the Seventh Annual Exhibition of the Birmingham Art Club, 1914, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives Tutwiler Collection of Southern History. *m 12 - Art of the New South

Cambodia and Alice in Virginia and New Jersey—but Birmingham's artistic milieu supported and nurtured them early in their careers. To achieve professional status, each of the Birmingham women left the city to obtain training. Although the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, and the Boston Museum School offered excellent academic training, Birmingham artists opted for schools in New York and the popular summer schools in Provincetown, Massachusetts. European study, considered an essential addition for serious artists of the era, followed for most of the women. Two headed to Europe within a few years of completing their secondary education: Alice Rumph was 23 when she went to Paris in 1900 to study art on a three- year scholarship. Hannah Elliott went the same year with a chaperone and two friends; she was 24. The other women were older by the time they had the resources and the opportunity to travel abroad. Caroline Tovell was 34 when she accompanied a student to Paris in 1896 and enrolled in the Academie Colarossi. Tucille Douglass supported herself by painting china and traveled frequently to New York and Chicago to learn new techniques and acquire new patterns. She went to Europe to study fine

Delia Dryer, A Study in Rose, Birmingham Art Club Catalogue, 1914, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives Tutwiler Collection of Southern History.

Douglass, Tucille, A Monterey Oak, Birmingham Art Club Catalogue, 1914, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives Tutwiler Collection of Southern History. Introduction — 13

• I l| | art in 1909, when she was 31 years old. Delia Dryer enrolled at the New York School of Art "Table of Arts and Crafts Display," in 1903 when she was 36, then had her first opportunity to study in Parisian art academies Birmingham Art Club Catalogue, 1914, Birmingham Public Tibrary in 1911. Neither Carrie Montgomery nor Carrie Hill studied in any of the Parisian ateliers. Tutwiler Collection of Southern Carrie Montgomery attended the National Academy of Design in New York before mar­ History. rying in 1888. Carrie Hill studied at summer workshops in North Carolina, Martha's Vineyard, and Provincetown. She was in her late 40s and already a successful artist when she came under the influence of the American Impressionist painter George Elmer Browne in the 1920s. She traveled to Europe with Browne's painting classes on three occasions. Each of the artists of this book, except Willie McTaughlin, can be found in Who Was Who in American Art and the Dictionary of Women Artists. Who Was Who presents almost 25,000 biographical entries from 30 volumes of American Art Annual (1898-1933) and four volumes of Who's Who in American Art (1935-1947). The editors of the American Art Annual combed the membership lists of art societies and their exhibition catalogues to find the names of working artists; they sent these individuals "data blanks," which the artists filled out and returned. Thus, inclusion was open only to professionals, but it was also voluntary. Even though little of Caroline Tovell's work survives and nothing is known about Carrie Montgomery's, the fact that they sent in their data indicates they wished to assert their sta­ tus as professionals. In light of her education and participation in art club activities, Willie McTaughlin's failure to seek inclusion is curious; but perhaps she simply saw it as self-pro­ motion that was irrelevant to her goals. Although Birmingham Art Club members intended to sell their members' work, only 12 of those entering the first annual exhibition listed prices. That Tucille Douglass was appreciated as a professional is evident from the prices she could command for paintings 14 - Art of the New South

($75 for Yellow Roses) and painted china ($50 for a Colonial tea set, $50 for a plaque decorated with roses).12 By comparison, Alice Rumph's prices ranged from $15 to $25, and Carrie Montgomery's pieces were $3 each. By 1914, however, most of the artists listed in the catalogue attached prices to their work. Tucille still charged the most, $150 for the club prizewinner Cathedral in Spain. Carrie Hill's painting The Fire of Spring, which won honorable mention, cost $75. Delia priced her oil painting In the Luxembourg, Paris at $15 and A Study in Rose at $40. As modest as these prices seem, it puts them in perspective to realize that in 1903, the average annual income for the manager of a manufacturing factory was about $1,530. A family might spend about $180 a year for clothing, $85 for rent, and $355 for groceries.13 Thus Tucille Douglass's Yellow Roses cost almost as much as an entire year's rent. If buyers were restricted to Birmingham's elite, the art club tried to address a broader audience by making the annual exhibitions free to the public. They were challenged to find locations for the display. Tacking a home, the club found gallery space in local art supply stores and at the Birmingham Public Tibrary, which was located in the Birmingham City Hall at 19th Street and 4th Avenue North until it burned in 1925. Thus began a long partnership between the public library and

Carrie Hill, Woman with the the art club. The leaders of these institutions cooperated over the next decades to present Cloche Hat, 1920s, charcoal sketch, local and national art exhibitions and later to lobby for a separate art museum. A new 13V4 x 103/4", collection of Julius T. Tinn Jr. Central Tibrary, built in 1927, and known today as the Tinn-Henley Research Tibrary, included a combination museum-art gallery on the fourth floor that accommodated chang­ ing exhibitions, including the art club's annual juried shows. Twice—in 1928 and 1933—the Central Tibrary played host to the annual convention of the Southern States Art Teague.The League formed in 1921 when members from local art associations in several southern states met in Charleston just before the opening of an invitational exhibit. They decided to form an organization whose purpose was "to encour­ age art and its appreciation in the South."14 Specifically, the group sought to help southern artists widen their patron base and "to maintain a link between such Southern artists who have left home to seek the training and recognition they required, and their native South."15 Members were to be practicing artists born in the South or having lived there for at least five years. By 1931, the Teague's 653 members numbered 526 individual artists and 127 organizations and associations. The institutional total included 57 associations, 15 museums or galleries and 15 art schools and college art departments. Each annual conference of the Southern States Art Teague featured a juried exhibition. From the entries in the exhibition, judges chose large paintings for the Circuit Exhibition A and small paintings for Circuit Exhibition B. The circuit exhibitions traveled around the South, giving each artist a chance to reach a regional audience. Prices were described as "in Introduction — 15 most instances reasonable," and a New Orleans Times-Picayune reporter suggested museums and collectors both should take advantage of the opportunity to acquire "representative Southern work."16 Hosting the conferences also gave participating cities an opportunity to impress regional representatives with their cultural advantages. Carrie Hill was quick to point out in 1933 that, "Birmingham should be proud of the beautiful art gallery at the Public Tibrary where the exhibition will be held. It is pronounced one of the prettiest and most satisfactory art galleries in the South by exhibitors and its lighting effects particularly are to be commended."17 The Southern States Art Teague achieved its greatest success in 1935, when the exhibition held in Nashville brought in more than 12,000 visitors. The organization ceased functioning in 1946.18 Exhibitions were a primary means of increasing art appreciation in Birmingham. To this end, the Birmingham Art Club supported the exhibitions of the Southern States Art Teague; the club also offered its own annual juried show and brought traveling exhibitions and solo shows to the city. In the 1930s, the club also instituted a non-juried show. Teaching was another means of increasing art appreciation, one student at a time. Of the eight women in this study, six taught during part or all of their careers. Caroline Tovell helped start the first art school in Birmingham in the 1890s. Delia Dryer, Hannah Elliott, Alice Rumph, and Carrie Hill studied with Mrs. Tovell. Tucille Douglass was a popular teacher of china painting before she left Birmingham. In the 1920s, Carrie Hill set up her own school in the Studio Arts Building on the circle in Five Points South. Hannah Elliott taught china painting in the early 1900s, and with Delia Dryer and Mamie Montgomery, she established an art school at the Margaret Allen School for girls in 1912. Hannah Elliott went on to teach in her home and at Brooke Hill School, a private school for girls. But teaching did not suit Delia Dryer, who left the Margaret Allen enterprise after two years. Alice Rumph devoted her entire career to teaching at girls' schools along the eastern seaboard. Two of Caroline Montgomery's sisters were art teachers, but Caroline spent her

Southern States Art Teague, Exhibition Label, 1933, Julius T. Tinn Jr. Collection. From 1921 through World War II, the Southern States Art Teague hosted juried exhibitions of the work of southern artists in cities across the South. Birmingham artist Carrie Hill both exhibited and served as a juror, working with Newcomb Art School Director Tllsworth Woodward, founder and president of the league. 16 - Art of the New South

Fourth Floor Art Gallery, time raising her family. Willie McTaughlin did not mention teaching in the biography she Birmingham Public Tibrary submitted to the Birmingham Historical Society in 1950 when the Society collected Central Tibrary at its opening, 1927. Photograph by Tebbs Knell. records on prominent individuals of the era. New York, Birmingham Public Donations of paintings to public schools and libraries represent a third educational Library Archives 10.89. venue these women used to extend the uplifting effects of art. Carrie Hill was particularly generous, and many schools in the city had at least two pieces of her work and often more. In 1927, the Birmingham Art Club purchased one of her paintings and gave it to the pub­ lic library as part of its program to build a permanent art collection for the city. (At about the same time, the club purchased and donated The Loggers by George Elmer Browne, an American Impressionist with ties to Birmingham through his friendship with Carrie Hill.) The choice of a Hill painting indicates the high level of respect she enjoyed locally. Delia Dryer also presented paintings to the Birmingham Public Tibrary, her church (Highlands Methodist), Pratt City School and Ramsey High School. In 1935, she also gave the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts her painting Street Corner in Sartene, which had been included in the Southern States Art Teague annual exhibition.19 Introduction — 17

It might be assumed that having work in public institutions such as schools and libraries would guarantee the preservation of an artist's reputation, but such was not the case. Why did these eight women (and their peers) slip from memory after their deaths? One reason is their conservatism in terms of subject matter and medium. They painted figuratively, etched, and did miniature portraits. Most worked in an essentially impressionist style, which in the early 1900s was the established academic mode. Their artistic heroes and mentors were the great American painters of the late 19th century: William Merritt Chase, John Singer Sargent, and Robert Henri, as well as others who are less recognized now but were highly successful in that period, including George Elmer Browne, Charles Hawthorne, and George Timer Browne, The Loggers, Jonas Tie. Although these women saw the work of Fauve, Cubist and other 20th-century 1920s, oil on canvas, 45 x 58", European and American painters during their travels, they rejected it as faddish. So did their Birmingham Public Tibrary. In 1926, the Birmingham Art Club patrons. Artists, male and female, who wanted to make a living selling art dealt with the real­ purchased this painting and gave it ity that the tastes of most American art buyers were conservative. Once modernism became to the public library as part of its established as the standard for 20th-century art, the works of conservative, local, and lesser program to build a permanent art collection for the city. The Loggers known artists moved to museum basements and storage areas. Many were deaccessioned was the first acquisition; others from institutional collections. followed. 18 - Art of the New South

Delia Dryer, Alice Rumph, Willie Another reason for the obscurity of these women lies in the shifting popularity of cer­ McLaughlin, left to right, 1950s, tain forms of art. Hannah Elliott and Caroline Tovell painted miniature portraits, an art that collection of Betty Jones. nearly died out early in the 19th century, and then revived at the end of the century. By the middle of the 20th century, patrons seeking miniature portraiture declined as Brownie cam­ eras permitted everyone to capture family photographs. Tikewise, Alice Rumph and Tucille Douglass established their reputations as painter-etchers, artists who discovered in etching a versatile and expressive medium for creating original work (as opposed to photographic reproductions which achieved less expensive distribution). In the mid-1920s, etching enjoyed a revival just as Tucille and Alice learned the technique. By World War II, the mar­ ket for etchings had vanished. The conservative nature of the women's work opens them to the charge so often made against women artists, "that they are derivative and therefore insignificant."20 But "depend­ ence on another is seen as a fault only if stylistic or formal innovation is the exclusive stan­ dard of evaluation in art."21 If other standards may be applied—such as technical excellence, freshness of personal expression, or the power to evoke a response in the viewer—the work produced by these women may prosper with reevaluation. By the 1940s, new leaders ran the Birmingham Art Club. Their focus turned to the establishment of a permanent art museum. Founding members of the club still participated Introduction — 19 and were recognized on landmark occasions such as the opening in 1951 of the Birmingham Museum of Art in a wing of the new Birmingham City Hall. As City Hall neared completion, the Birmingham Historical Society collected information about the city's cultural, civic and political leaders for deposit in a cornerstone box of the new build­ ing. Each of the living founders of the Birmingham Art Club responded to requests from Hill Ferguson, the president of the Society, and forwarded information on their family education, professional life, exhibitions, and also lists of their paintings in public and private collections. Copies of the papers were deposited with the Birmingham Public Tibrary, catalogued under Hill Ferguson's name. These invaluable records, along with extensive clipping files created and maintained by the librarians at the library, form the basis for the stories that follow. The Birmingham Historical Society and the Birmingham Art Club organized an exhibit of Tucille Douglass etchings at the Birmingham Public Tibrary in 1950. The Art Club and the Museum showcased Hannah Elliott's miniature portraits at the Museum in City Hall in 1955, just a year before her death. The Birmingham Public Tibrary organized a small exhibit of the work of Carrie Hill in 1978, following the deposit by Dr. Julius E. Tinn Jr. of the Emond, Burgin and Hill Papers in the newly formed Department of Archives and Manuscripts. Most of the known work of the artists in this study remains in private collections, where it is unavailable (and unknown) to scholars and dealers. Thanks to the private collectors, many paintings, drawings and etchings are intact and being enjoyed—adding beauty to daily life, just as their creators intended. The willingness of these collectors to permit the repro­ duction of their treasures in this volume enables you to enjoy them as well.

Caroline Lovell

very movement needs a leader, someone whose energy, vision, and commitment can OPPOSITE PAGE: motivate and inspire others to act. For Birmingham's cultural community at the turn Caroline Tovell, Frontispiece, "fac-similies of paintings in of the 20th century, Caroline Couper Stiles Tovell was that leader. By early 1862, water-color," from Fair Women of E Today, by Samuel Minturn Peck, Union gunboats were threatening Savannah, and Tt. Robert Mackay Stiles felt that his preg­ 1895, Frederick A. Stokes nant wife and their young son would be safer in north Georgia. Margaret Wylly Couper Company Publishers, Tutwiler Stiles and her son Mackay traveled to her father-in-law's plantation in Etowah Cliffs. On Collection of Southern History May 7, Caroline was born. Within two years of her birth, however, Union troops occupied Birmingham Public Tibrary. the estate, stabling horses in the house, breaking out stained glass windows, and scattering the library across the fields.1 Caroline's grandfather, Col. William Henry Stiles, died in 1865, broken by loss and the effort to make a new start in south Georgia. His two sons inherited the now-ruined estate and, after the war, the two young men decided to return to Etowah Cliffs and farm the land. "Within a few years, Robert Mackay Stiles built a new home for his family with financial assistance from two unmarried aunts. The family christened the house Malbone "after a Mackay cousin, the famous eighteenth-century miniaturist Edward Green Malbone."2 Only a few years after its completion and two days after Caroline's twelfth birthday, Robert died in a carriage accident. His widow, Margaret, was left to run the estate and raise her eight children alone—although the presence of aunts, uncles, and cousins meant that she was never truly isolated.3 Caroline and her brothers and sisters grew up spending part of the year on the farm and part in Savannah with the maiden aunts. The family knew economic hardship, but they also maintained a sense of their identity as members of the antebellum elite. Indeed, her childhood, described in her memoirs, The Light of Other Days, illustrates how that elite maintained its cultural identity and influence "even in the face of the decline of... [the] economic and social privilege that had given those cultural values birth in the first place."4 Caroline attended the Massie School in Savannah, then entered Oglethorpe Academy. "If I did any studying I do not remember it," she wrote, "and my time seemed to be spent draw­ ing in the autograph albums of my friends, and writing what I thought was poetry"5 Caroline's literary ambitions were fed by constant reading. "Though I did not study much when I was a child," she later wrote, "I read everything I could put my hands on." From Grimm's Fairy Tales to The Arabian Nights and everything by Touisa May Alcott and the Brontes, Caroline devoured stories. Her mother also read aloud to the children every night in the dining room, choosing popular sagas such as Ivanhoe and David Copperfield.6 Tike rain on thirsty soil, the stories fed Caroline's already fertile imagination. One of the results 21 22 - Art of the New South

was The Malbone Bouquet, a monthly magazine edited by the budding artist/writer. Each contributor (mostly cousins and other relatives and a few friends) was assigned the name of a flower as his or her pen name. Caroline's pen name was "Clover;" her cousin, Daisy Gordon (who would grow up to organize the first Girl Scout troop in America) was "Shrub." The magazine was written in long hand with illustrations provided primarily by Daisy and Caroline, and then passed by hand from sub­ scriber to subscriber. The content of this magazine foreshadows the imaginative and enchanting spirit with which Caroline would captivate generations of Birmingham children at the turn of the 20th century. The news section included advertisements: "There were notices of 'French Millinery on the Garden Walk. Fine and Inexpensive.'We made hats of leaves and trimmed them with flowers," she explained. "Of a 'Grand Bakery. Operated every Saturday by Tulip and Daisy' and of 'Madame Scribble's Drawing School. Opened with reduced terms at Malbone.'"7 Of the illustrations, Caroline wrote, "Daisy's drawings were far better than my own.... Neither of us had ever taken a drawing lesson, and this was quite obvious in my work."8 Caroline's parents both could draw well, and her uncle, Robert Couper, "drew and painted with delicate accuracy," devoting his talents to botanical sub­ jects.9 Caroline recalled, "The first thing that I ever drew was the profile of a girl with a full-faced eye and corkscrew curls. A genuine Egyptian head, typical of the childhood of art. Caroline Lovell, 1887, from The I drew it on my slate at school and was enraptured by its beauty. And from that day on Light of Other Days by Caroline until I finally painted miniatures, the head of a beautiful girl was what I loved most to draw Couper Tovell, 1932. Reprinted 10 by permission of Mercer and paint." University Press, 1995. She had no opportunity for art instruction, however, until she was sent to boarding school in Baltimore, Maryland. She was 15 years old and had just spent the summer in OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP: Ethel Hansell Sharpe (later Mrs. A.M. Sewanee, Tennessee, where she met and fell in love with Tod (William Storrow) Tovell of Lynn) as Princess Amoret, 1889. Natchez, Mississippi. Her mother and aunt declared her far too young for such an attach­ Unidentified newspaper clipping, Birmingham Public Tibrary ment, and her aunt paid the fee for her to attend Madame Tefebvre's School. It was one of Archives 56.6.3.18. Miss Sharpe two fashionable institutions for girls in Baltimore (the other was Mrs. Pegram's), and the starred in Prince Charming's Fate, an family may have chosen it on the recommendation of a family friend whose daughter had operetta written and produced by Caroline Tovell, at O'Brien's Opera just finished her education there. "Almost all of the boarders were from the South," wrote House, October and November Caroline, "and several like Hagee and myself, were taken at reduced rates. We were never 1889. The princess is pictured 11 in her wedding dress at the home made to feel this, however, nor do I think it was known to the other girls." of J. S.Weatherly on 20th At Madame Tefebvre's, classes included botany, astronomy, physiology, English literature, Street South. and drama. Here Caroline also received her first drawing lessons, given by Mrs. Cuyler, an 12 OPPOSITE PAGE, BOTTOM: artist from Savannah who was living in Baltimore at the time. "If only I could have gone Caroline Tovell, Ethel Hansell on studying after this good start," she lamented, "I might have become a real artist."13 Sharpe (Mrs. A. M.) Lynn, c. 1889, miniature painting, collection Caroline wrote these words in 1933, a poignant judgment of her youthful efforts. of Henry Sharpe Tynn. On her graduation in 1882, however, her goal of becoming a famous portrait painter still seemed achievable. She and Tod Tovell married in 1884. The grandson of Maj. Gen. John Quitman and Eliza Turner Quitman, Tovell had attended the Virginia Military Institute in Texington, Virginia, and the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. According to a relative, he "would be the center of Caroline's universe as she was to his. Though their Caroline Tovell — 23 sixty-year marriage was childless, there was an open affection and ten­ derness between them that they carried to their graves."14 In a photo­ graphic portrait of the couple taken in 1887, they lean close together, looking out of the picture, not at the viewer; she is beautiful, he is handsome, and unlike the solemn gaze captured in most formal pho­ tos of the period, they look relaxed and content. The couple spent their first three years at his family's plantation near Natchez, but "working with his querulous father proved taxing, so the young couple made a decision to relocate to the town of Birmingham in 1888."15 Caroline's perspective on the city is instruc­ tive: "It was eminently a young man's town," she later wrote, "for what counted most in Birmingham was neither wealth nor family, but abil­ ity.... Birmingham. ..had nothing of the bitterness of war, and its peo­ ple, coming from the north, south, east and west, have here become devoted friends. With none of the restrictions of petrified conventions, everyone can lead his own delightfully independent life."16 Caroline's husband formed a partnership with his brother-in-law and a businessman from Chicago to found the Western Grain Company, which dealt in hay, grain, and feed. During their first year in Birmingham, Tod was absorbed in starting the new business, so the couple agreed that Caroline should go north to pursue her art train­ ing. The options in New York City at that time were the National Academy of Design and the Art Students Teague, and Caroline appar­ ently chose the latter.17 In 1888, the Art Students Teague was a popu­ lar and progressive school where students were expected to learn as much from each other as from the professional artists who critiqued their work at regular intervals. After less than a year away, Caroline came home and immersed herself in the cultural life of her new hometown. The couple had set­ tled in the South Highlands area of the city. They became active members of St. Mary's on-the-Highlands, an Episcopal parish formed in 1887 to serve the families in the well-to-do Highlands section. Caroline participated in the Tadies Aid Society at St. Mary's and started children's art classes there.18 In 1889, she wrote an operetta titled Prince Charming's Fate which was produced in the fall at O'Brien's Opera House. For this clever entertainment, Caroline used familiar tunes but set new words to them to tell the story. "It was acted and sung entirely by children," wrote one of the participants, "and Mrs. Tovell directed and trained them, planned the costumes and scenery and produced the play"19 She later sold magazine rights to the operetta to St. Nicholas Magazine. For the children living in the newly developed South Highlands area, "Mrs. Tovell" was magical—a grown-up who welcomed them with open arms and intro­ duced them to the enchanted world of the imagination. One of those children, Carrie Sharpe Shook, later wrote,"We were very little girls.. .when Mr. Tovell brought Mrs. Tovell 24 - Art of the New South

a bride, into our neighborhood. We quickly discovered her, annexed her to ourselves, and together with groups of neighborhood children we proceeded to settle on her premises, in her yard, in her house and on her veranda."20 The Tovell home was an exciting playground where Caroline taught her young devotees "all kinds of interesting things, how to make pretty paper dolls of cardboard, how to paint their faces and dresses with water col­ ors, how to blow Easter eggs, painting on them posies of violets and roses, surrounded with decorations of gilt."21 Under her guidance, they drew silhouettes of each other, using a lamp to cast a shadow onto paper and filling in the shape with black paint. Caroline nurtured the creativity of her "children friends" and affirmed their efforts, and her involvement continued into the next generation. Carrie Shook wrote, "When my daughters were little girls, Mrs. Tovell formed a club of children. They met regularly at her house with roll call, by-laws and refreshments. The name of this club was, 'Society For Prevention of Cruelty to Fireflies.'"22 A newspaper writer who was also a member of this club wrote, "With solemn oath, the very, very young pledged themselves never, never to destroy, bottle or harm in any way whatsoever the 'lightnin' bug.' In the background of this awesome ceremony Mrs. Tovell's delicious cakes and candies and ice cream and lemon­ ade gave the assurance of immediate reward for righteous resolution...the glimpse of a firefly in the dark has given pause to more than one wild impulse as a result of Mrs. Tovell's S.P.C.F."23 Following the rapid success of Tod's first business venture, he invested in a new busi­ ness, the Kohinoor Coal Mining Company, which contracted labor for the coal mines.24 City directory entries suggest that he also had an interest in the Bessemer Tand Company (later Bessemer Tand & Improvement and, finally, Bessemer Coal, Iron & Tand Company). The couple prospered and, in 1893, they built a large home on Rdge Park Avenue.25 Sadly, the house and most of their possessions were lost in a fire the following year. One source maintains they rebuilt the house, "and this structure served as their primary residence for the remainder of their lives."26 The city directories, however, indicate that the couple lived on Underwood Hill in 1895, Highland Avenue in 1898, and back to Ridge Park Avenue in 1904. Carrie Shook remembered the Underwood Hill home as a place of beautiful and frequent entertainments and the repository of "many things...with fascinating histories. There was the huge white Polar bear rug on the floor sent from the Arctic by Mr. Tovell's brother; the beautiful original miniatures done by Malbone, her famous kinsman. On her walls were portraits of ancestors and gold-framed watercolor paintings done by [Tawrence] Buck, herself and others."27 In her bedroom, the bureau held a toilet set of carved ivory and a velvet-lined mahogany box containing gold toiletry articles. The silver tea service on her sideboard had belonged to John and Eliza Quitman and had been buried during the Civil 28 OPPOSITE PAGE: War to preserve it from looters. Caroline Tovell, Lily of the Valley, The nature of Caroline's artwork during this period is characterized by a series of from Fair Women of Today, 1895, Tutwiler Collection of Southern watercolor paintings she made of young women. The paintings were used to illustrate History, Birmingham a calendar of "Southern Beauties" which was published by Frederick Stokes Co. of New Public Tibrary. York in 1895 and sold at the Atlanta Exposition. The publisher used the same paintings to illustrate a book of poems, Fair Women of Today, by Samuel Minturn Peck. Between the calendar and the book, Caroline's paintings received broad exposure. Some of these Caroline Tovell — 25

-R*±t*^' -A ' 26 - Art of the New South Caroline Tovell — 27

Caroline Tovell, Rose of the South, from Fair Women of Today, 1895, Tutwiler Collection of Southern History, Birmingham Public Tibrary.

OPPOSITE PAGE: Caroline Tovell, Little Girl in Green, from Fair Women of Today, 1895, Tutwiler Collection of Southern History, Birmingham Public Tibrary. idealized paintings seem to have been done from photos, others from life; some were formally posed, others more casual. To achieve delicate color balance in each portrait, she rendered clothing and accessories in combinations of peach or soft rose and sage green with avocado shadows; for variety among the portraits, she introduced fashionable, warm-cool 28 - Art of the New South Caroline Tovell — 29 combinations such as blue-green and brownish pink, blue and yellow, and yellow with green.29 Painting was more than a genteel pastime for Caroline, but her greatest impact on the art community of Birmingham came through her teaching and club activi­ ties. In 1895 and again in 1897, she served as vice president of the BirminghamArt Teague which was founded in 1891. Unlike the city's literary clubs, the league welcomed both men and women as members. It served social and educational purposes, and members, including Caroline Tovell, offered lessons. An exhibition of league members' work featured crayon drawings, oils, watercolors, and orna­ mental china.30

"When the art league disbanded, Caroline helped organize the Birmingham Art w School and persuaded Yale-trained William D. Parrish to serve as instructor. During the / school's short life, most of the young women who would become the city's best-known artists came under Caroline's influence: Carrie Hill, Alice Rumph, Delia Dryer, Tucille Douglass, Willie McTaughlin, and Carrie Shook's sister, Tutie Sharpe. Perhaps because of Caroline Tovell, Mary Hooper Shaw Fleming, miniature painting Caroline's long friendship with the Sharpe sisters (there were four), she was particularly watercolor and oil on ivory, inclined to further Tutie's education in art. In 1896, when the young woman was 18, 1 x 1", Birmingham Museum of Art 1957.126. Gift of Ellen Caroline took her to Paris to study at the Academic Colarossi for a year. Caroline seized the Percy Murphy. opportunity to study as well and, in Paris, she learned miniature painting, the art for which her ancestor Malbone was famous. On returning to Birmingham, Caroline didn't abandon larger-format painting. She organized an outdoor sketch class with watercolorist Tawrence Buck as its instructor. "The little class took many happy jaunts with their watercolor paints and pads, board­ ing the street car and going to some distant spots like Village Creek or East Take to paint the pretty forest scenery"31 But for the next decade, Caroline dedicated her most serious efforts to miniature portraits until eyestrain forced her to stop. By 1907, Parrish had returned north, and Caroline opened yet another school, the Birmingham School of Art, with studios in the Watts Building. She was abroad when Delia Dryer, Mamie Montgomery, and Willie McTaughlin met to form the Birmingham Art Club, but it is a sign of their high regard for her leader­ ship that they promptly elected her president when she returned in early 1908. In the club's first annual exhibition, Caroline showed two miniatures—one of her sister and one of her nephew.32 As painting on a tiny scale became impossible, Caroline turned to creating living paint­ ings through tableaux vivants. Recruiting the loveliest young women of Birmingham's elite, Caroline Tovell, Mrs. Stiles, she would fashion costumes and backgrounds and pose the women (and occasionally men) miniature painting, watercolor and oil on ivory, l3/i6 x l3/i6", as characters in a famous painting or in groupings expressing a historical or moral theme. Birmingham Museum of Art The tableaux were staged as fund raisers for charities or as uplifting entertainment and 1957.17. Gift of Joseph Muir Mercer. involved an enormous amount of organizational effort. One such occasion, held at the

Jefferson Theatre on April 27, 1909, celebrated the "Great Religions of the World." Each OPPOSITE PAGE: tableau presented characters embodying a theme of a world religion: "Hindoo," for exam­ Caroline Tovell, Masquerade, from Fair Women of Today, 1895,Tutwiler ple, presented Miss Tucile Gaston dressed as "The Dawn"; Egyptian religion showed the Collection of Southern History "Unveiling of Isis"; Judaism was represented with "The Sacrifice of Isaac." Chinese religion Birmingham Public Tibrary. 30 - Art of the New South

was depicted with a tableau of ancestor worship, Buddhism with "The Beatific Vision"; Islam with "The Angel of the Darker Drink"; and Christianity with "Peace on Earth—Good Will to All Men." Before each tableau, Caroline lectured on the theme that would be expressed in the living painting: "The Reality of Spirit," "The Divine in Nature," "The Spirit of Sacrifice," and so on. Following each tableau, an orchestra played a suitable musical selection.33 Caroline's fellow art club members Delia Dryer, Alice Rumph, Hannah Elliott, Carrie Hill, Willie McTaughlin, and Tucille Douglass assisted with the scenery and helped make posters "representing the nations whose religions will be depicted."34 Phis particular series of tableaux had originally been staged for the Cadmean Circle, a literary club to which Caroline belonged. It was so successful that she undertook to make a pub­ lic presentation. Preparations for the show were extensively cov­ ered in the newspapers, which published photos of the women in their costumes to entice the public to attend. The press emphasized the careful historical accuracy of the costumes and the educational value of the experience, assuring readers that the entertainment would "place Birmingham audiences on as high planes of culture as those of any city in the United States. The appreciation shown bespeaks for the city a mental culture far above the average."35 The Birmingham Art Club mounted a similar entertain­ ment in 1914, presenting The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam for the edification of the community In this show, vocalists performed songs based on the poems, with artistically painted curtains as scenic backdrops. According to the Birming­ ham Age-Herald reviewer, "The Art Club of Birmingham in presenting the 'Rubaiyat' in especially artistic style was Delia Dryer, Poster for the Great warmly commended.... No such beautiful tableaux were ever seen in Birmingham as Religions of the World Tableaux those witnessed here this week.... The Art Club has done much to foster esthetics in Vivants, April 27, 1909, 36" tall, printed in The Birmingham News, Birmingham, and the 'Rubaiyat' is regarded by those in art circles to have marked a April 17, 1909, Birmingham Public distinct advance."36 Library Archives 56.6.3.13. The members of the Music Study Club, to which Caroline also belonged, were so impressed that they asked the art club to join them in repeating the performance. The artists declined, but lent the music club the backdrops to put on their own presentation. This form of cultural entertainment perpetuated a 19th-century tradition of high-brow parlor games with an uplifting purpose. Prince Napoleon's Pompeiian House was the setting for neoclas- sically inspired tableaux put on by Parisian intellectuals and aristocrats.37 At Shinnecock, the site ofWilliam Merritt Chase's summer school on Tong Island, Chase's family and friends amused themselves by dressing up as characters in old master paintings.38 Caroline Tovell - 31

Caroline Tovell, Chinese Religion- Confucianism—The Spirit of Reverence. Tableau—Ancestor Worship, Mrs. W M.fordan, Mrs.fohn Warren, Mrs. Frederick foy, Miss Louise Walker, Miss Florence fordan, Miss Louise Agee, photo by Peddinghaus, Birmingham Age-Herald, April 21, 1909, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.6.3.13.

Caroline Tovell, Roman Religion— The Worship of Law. Tableau— Imperial Rome, Mrs. WPG Harding posed as The Winged Victory of Samothrace, photo by Peddinghaus, Birmingham Age- Herald, April 1909, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.6.3.13.

The tableaux were Caroline's specialty, but she brought much more to the art club than an enthusiasm for arranging artistic events. In 1913, on the occasion of the sixth annual exhibition, a review of the show noted that "Mrs. W S. Tovell has been the chief spirit of the organization since the death of Mrs. J. B. Raulston [Carrie Hill's first studio partner], whose memory will always be dear to the club, and she [Caroline] always takes special pride in the local artists."39 Year after year, the Birmingham Art Club turned to Caroline to serve as program chair. During the 1914-1915 sea­ son, when Alice Rumph served as president and Carrie Hill as vice president, Caroline assigned papers to various members focusing on the subject of "The Art of Today." The following year, she arranged for programs on the topic of applied arts. For 32 - Art of the New South

Caroline Tovell, Scandinavian Religion Tableau—The Watch of the Valkyries, Miss Vernon Marks photo by Peddinghaus, Birmingham Age-Herald, April 24, 1909, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.6.3.13.

Caroline Tovell, Egyptian Religion—The Divine in Nature. Tableau—The Unveiling of his, Mrs. Ross C Smith, photo by Peddinghaus, Birmingham Age-Herald, April 21, 1909, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.6.3.13.

Caroline Tovell, Egyptian Religion—The Divine in Nature. Tableau—The Unveiling of his. Mrs. Ross C Smith with Miss Sara Wilson and Miss Virginia White as Harpists, photo by Peddinghaus, Birmingham Age-Herald, April 21, 1909, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.6.3.13. Caroline Lovell — 33

the 1916-1917 season, she recruited various speakers to address the topics of their choice; Caroline Tovell, Roman Religion— she spoke on "The Rudiments of Architecture."40 In 1917, Delia Dryer served as club pres­ The Worship of Law Tableau— Imperial Rome, Miss Alabama King, ident and Caroline Tovell as vice president. Tucille Douglass was to be program chair but Mrs. Robert Cotton and Mrs. WPG. resigned after the first meeting, and Caroline took over. Harding, photo by Peddinghaus, Birmingham Age-Herald, April 1909, The Birmingham Art Club was only one sphere of activity for Caroline. A charter Birmingham Public Tibrary member and two-term president of the music club, she invited members of the art club to Archives 56.6.3.13. help her decorate the Jefferson Theatre for the biannual meeting of the Federation of Music Clubs being held in Birmingham in 1917. Through her design, "tons of hanging moss were brought here—palms were made—yellow jasmine was used—the background was painted by members—all the decoration for [the] stage was to show a typical Southern Setting."41 She also served as president of United Charities and the Cadmean Circle, was active in the Tittle Theatre, the Drama Teague, and the Nineteenth Century Club, and helped establish a Red Cross chapter in Birmingham. By 1912,Tod Tovell had bought the Montevallo Mine in Aldrich, Alabama. In addition to serving as president of Montevallo Mining Co, he acted as general agent for Coosa Portland Cement Co. The mining company prospered through the World War I period, but 34 - Art of the New South

investing profits back into the operation proved to be a mistake. In 1922, excess supplies of coal and an unseasonably warm winter caused sales to decline, and Montevallo Mining Co. could not meet its obligations. The result was a financial disaster for the Tovells (and the company's employ­ ees). Unable to honor its contract with the state for employing convict labor in the mines, Montevallo Mining declared bankruptcy. In 1923, the Tovells rented their home and retreated to Malbone where "they lived a meager existence trying to raise chickens and turkeys and bartering for their needs."42 It was a rude and radical change from the comforts of Birmingham and the intensely active social and cultural life to which the Tovells were accustomed. Malbone had never been modernized and was in disrepair. Across the fields at Etowah Cliffs, Caroline's cousins and invalid aunt were also struggling. "To fill the long hours of rural isolation, she took to keep­ ing a daily journal starting 1 January 1924 and continuing through 20 August 1925. This candid account reflects the sadness of the sixty-one- year-old author who was far from accustomed to deprivations and was resigned 'to come back to my days where I began them.'"43 Birmingham felt the loss keenly and mourned her absence in a newspaper article titled, "Her Absence Felt in Music, Art and Club Circles." Happily for the Tovells, friends helped Tod secure an appointment as clerk of the United States District Court, and the couple returned to Birmingham in late 1925. Caroline became the librarian for the Birmingham Bar Association and resumed her participation in the Birmingham Art Club, again serving as program chair. Along with Carrie Hill, she was the dependable backbone of the group, regularly appointed to jobs involving aesthetic judgment: committees charged with choosing work for the club's permanent collection, judging the Dahlia Show for artistic arrangements, and nominating jurors for the annual Southern States Art Teague exhibition. In the late 1930s, when the club was in turmoil over the changed will Caroline Tovell, Christianity—The of deceased member Mamie Fogarty, Caroline was called on to testify in the case. Mamie Spirit of Love. Tableau—Peace on Fogarty had studied in Birmingham and in Paris, but "painted for her own satisfaction," Earth, Good Will to Men. Mrs. WE. 44 B. Davis in The Flight of the Angels, rather than professionally In 1928, she made a will leaving her estate to a committee (com­ photo by Peddinghaus, Birmingham posed of the library board president, the art club president, and the president of Birmingham Age-Herald, April 1909, Trust and Savings Company); the money from the estate was to be used for the establish­ Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.6.3.13. ment of a public art gallery. Eventually, however, when Mamie didn't receive the recogni­ tion she felt she deserved, she grew bitter about the club and its members. In 1935, two months before her death at age 81, she wrote a new will, leaving her entire $40,000 estate to the woman who had been caring for her for the previous three years. At Mamie Fogarty's death, the art club and library board presidents contested the second will. Mrs. Tovell testi­ fied that Miss Fogarty "hated the Art Club. She thought they had been unjust to her in not hanging her pictures.... On cross-examination...Mrs. Tovell said the club had exhibited Caroline Lovell — 35 some of Miss Fogarty's paintings but not as many as the artist wished. 'Miss Fogarty painted very badly' she told the jury. 'A great many of her paintings couldn't possibly have been hung.'"45 The court found in favor of the art club and, in 1937, Caroline Tovell explained the facts of the case to the club members: Mamie and her sister had left their estates to different causes, and Mamie's original will had left her estate not to the art club or the city, but to a committee of three to carry out her wishes—that the money be used to help found an art gallery46 Over the next 20 years, the distinction became blurred, and the art club assumed a definite proprietary stance toward the estate. Caroline's journal keeping at Malbone revived her interest in writ­ ing. She began editing her great-uncle's memoirs, and the pro­ ject grew into a much larger one of assembling memoirs and letters from the prominent families along the Georgia coast. The resulting BIRMINGHAM work, The Golden Isles of Georgia, was published by Tittle, Brown in 1932.47 Tewis Follett, writing for a Birmingham newspaper, noted that PUBLIC the book "all but walked away with The Atlantic Monthly annual LI prize."48 Four or five years earlier, at the request of the Girl Scouts of America, she had contributed a chapter to a memorial book on founder Juliette Gordon Tow (her cousin Daisy).At the urging of fam­ ily and friends, Caroline delved even more extensively into the past, writing the memoir titled The Light of Other Days. She completed the manuscript in 1933 and continued the story with an account of her early years with Tod in Mississippi titled The Bend of the River.49 On the dedication page of The Bend in the River, Caroline wrote, "To my husband, Caroline Tovell, Birmingham Public William Storrow Tovell, who said on our golden wedding day, in answer to a toast, 'No place Library Book Plate, 1916, 4V2 x 2V2". Birmingham Public Tibrary 50 need be reserved for me in Heaven. I've had my Heaven here.'" The couple enjoyed almost Tutwiler Collection of Southern another decade together. In 1942, Tod passed away. History. According to a Birmingham News account of March 11, 1916, Caroline sold the house on Rdge Park Avenue and moved to Savannah to live with her "The Art Club has just presented sisters. Her departure from Birmingham was considered newsworthy. "Surrounded by books the library with a book plate, the original design having been drawn rapidly going into packing cases and with ... prints, paintings and etchings by artist friends by Mrs. W S. Tovell. It incorporates waiting to be taken from the walls, Mrs. W S. Tovell greeted and said goodbye to many the source of Birmingham's wealth friends last week...Her departure is a loss to the entire community where she has been a in blast furnaces, with a conven­ tional setting and will be used in 51 great worker for church and charity and all excellent things." In the winter of 1947, all volumes of the library." The Caroline passed away at the age of 85. original printing is still in use. Her impact on Birmingham was profound. In 1908, an Age-Herald reporter had written, "No movement involving the intellectual interests of the community is quite com­ plete without her cooperation or, at least, her approval or sanction."52 That might suggest a matronly authoritarianism, but Caroline's leadership was of another sort—her enthusiasm, energy, and imagination were infectious and carried others along with her, whether they were children swearing to protect the lives of fireflies or grown women pursuing their passion for art. Her visual legacy as an artist is slim, but her influence as an artistic leader is lasting.

Carrie Montgomery

aroline (Carrie) Garland Tewis Montgomery left few traces of her artistic activity. OPPOSITE PAGE: Tike Caroline Tovell and Delia Dryer, Carrie Montgomery was about 10 years Carrie Montgomery, Blount Springs, Alabama, c. 1914, "water color C older than the other artists in the group of founding and charter members of the sketch". From the Catalogue of the Birmingham Art Club. Carrie belonged to a generation of women who could take advan­ Seventh Annual Exhibition of the Birmingham Art Club, Birmingham tage of widening educational and professional opportunities after the Civil War; but if they Public Tibrary Tutwiler Collection chose to marry would cut short or sharply curtail a career. This generation could still engage of Southern History. in the arts. Indeed, in the late 19th century, society expected middle class women "to per­ petuate aristocratic traditions, to be beautifiers, civilizers, orderers in the face of the social mobility and economic instability of a chaotic and threatening world."1 This seems to have been the path Carrie Montgomery chose. Carrie was one of seven sisters, four of whom were artists. (A fifth was a bacteriologist.) One, Touise, studied in Paris and returned to teach in Birmingham before 1908; Alice Rumph was among her students. (Touise later headed the art department at Agnes Scott College.) Another sister, Rose, also taught in Birmingham and included Carrie Hill among her pupils. Carrie Montgomery attended the Tuscaloosa Female College, then went to New York to study at the National Academy of Design. Records do not indicate how long she attended or with whom she studied, but her classes would have followed traditional meth­ ods. The National Academy offered courses in optics, perspective, and anatomy along with drawing classes that emphasized copying engravings and drawing from antique casts. Only students who mastered these would be allowed to enter the life drawing classes and work from a nude model.2 Fees were low, and women had been completely integrated into all classes by 1865.3 By 1880-1881, women made up 42 percent of the student body in the Antique class and 25 percent of those in the Fife School.4 Carrie returned to Birmingham and married Col. John Alexander Montgomery in 1888. Born in West Virginia, he was 10 years older than she and had two sons by a former marriage. He came to Birmingham as a consulting engineer for the Georgia Pacific Railroad Company. The couple had three daughters and a son. If Carrie did not pursue art as a full-time profession, she nevertheless took it seriously. Along with a number of other married women, she participated in the Sketch Club, which "antedated the Art Club five or six years," she recalled. "It was organized by Miss Morison, sister of Mrs. T. H. Aldrich; Mrs. Tutie Sharpe Eastwood, and her sister, Mrs. Ethel Sharpe Tynn, about 1901.1 enjoyed it more than any club we had here, as it meant work and growth for us all."5 In 1908, Carrie became a charter member of the Birmingham Art Club and served as its president in 1920-1921. She also belonged to the Alabama Art Teague and the Southern States Art Teague. 37 38 - Art of the New South

Although records suggest Carrie did not exhibit widely, she entered the Alabama State Fair exhibitions where she won prizes. In the Birmingham Art Club's first annual exhibi­ tion, she entered two watercolors, Willows and A Deserted Cabin, which were offered for sale at the modest price of $3 each. In 1913, a review of the sixth annual exhibition noted that, " Trees at Lake Mentone and five others of Mrs. J. A. Montgomery are good." Another review was more enthusiastic: "Mrs. J. A. Montgomery did what is acknowledged one of the best bits in the entire exhibit, a study of tree trunks."6 In 1914, her watercolor sketch of Blount Springs was included in the catalogue. Carrie was widowed in 1917 when she was just 51. At that age, Carrie Hill was ventur­ ing abroad and discovering new directions as an artist. It would seem that Carrie Montgomery could have chosen a similar path, to immerse herself in art and to develop as a professional, but she did not. Her six children were grown, and there were grandchildren to claim her time. She was also committed to a variety of cultural and philanthropic activ­ ities. In addition to membership in the art club and other art associations, she belonged to the Shakespeare Club and the Teague of Women Voters, was a longtime member of First Presbyterian Church, and served as president of United Charities (a predecessor of the Jefferson County Community Chest).7 Her social position and leadership were such that she merited her own entry in the 1929 Alabama Blue Book and Social Registry. Not surprisingly, she also belonged to the United Daughters of the Confederacy and Daughters of the American Revolution. With her ancestry, she could hardly avoid it. Her mother's great-grandmother was the sister of Patrick Henry. Her mother's father, Tandon Cabell Garland, served as president of Randolph Macon College for 10 years before coming to Alabama in 1847.8 After a short stint as professor of English literature and history at the University of Alabama, he was elected to the chair of mathematics. Following the resignation of Dr. Basil Manly in 1854, Dr. Garland was elected president. Dr. Garland and his wife, Touisa Frances, had 10 children, of whom Carrie Montgomery's mother, Rose Garland, was the oldest. Carrie's father was Burwell Boykin Tewis, son of a Mobile physician famed for his suc­ cessful treatment of yellow fever and for his books on the history of medicine in Alabama. Burwell Boykin Tewis graduated from the University of Alabama at age 18 and studied law in Selma. In 1860, he opened his own practice in Montevallo.Thus established, he went back to Tuscaloosa to marry Rose. The wedding took place in the President's Mansion at the University of Alabama which Rose, at least for a time, had called home. Soon after, Tewis and his brothers joined the Confederate Army. Tewis held the rank of First Tieutenant of Company B, Second Regiment Alabama Cavalry, "often acting as cap­ tain of the company, as the captain was often unable to lead the company himself"9 According to family history, "he had several horses shot from under him and was distin­ guished for his bravery and kindly consideration for his men." Meanwhile, in Tuscaloosa, Gen. John T. Croxton's calvary attacked the town and set about destroying it. Carrie's grandfather, Dr. Garland, sent his wife and children to safety and went out with the students to oppose the Union forces, but when Mrs. Garland heard that the soldiers were setting fire to the President's Mansion, she rushed to find the officer in charge and demanded he put out the fire. His instructions were to burn public buildings, Carrie Montgomery — 39 she said, but not residences, "and that was her home!"10 He was sufficiently impressed to comply. After the war, Carrie's grandparents went to the University of Mississippi where Dr. Garland taught physics and astronomy. In 1875, he was elected the first Chancellor of Vanderbilt University, a post he held until 1894, when he became Chancellor Emeritus.11 Burwell Boykin Tewis came home to his wife in Montevallo. In December 1865, they welcomed their second child, Caroline Garland Tewis, into the world. Speculating about her childhood risks venturing into fiction, but her home environment had to have been cultur­ ally and intellectually stimulating. Her father was elected to the state legislature in 1870 and 1871. In 1872, the family moved to Tuscaloosa where Tewis formed a law practice with Col. A. C. Hargrove. He was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1874 as congressman at large and was re-elected in 1878, but resigned in 1880 to become president of the University of Alabama—a homecoming for Rose, to return to the President's Mansion. Tewis died in 1885 at age 47, three years before Carrie's marriage.12 Carrie submitted an account of her artistic education, memberships, and activities to the American Art Annual which published a "Who's Who in Art" section biennially. The jour­ nal, which had been founded in 1898, scoured membership lists of art societies across the country and studied the societies' exhibition catalogues to find the names and addresses of artists eligible for inclusion. These would receive "data blanks" which they filled out and returned. "Artists of the student or amateur class did not qualify for admission. Thus, the Annual never intended to include all artists but, rather, a selected list of those who had attained a position of some prominence in their special fields."13 That Carrie elected to be included indicates that she did take herself seriously as a professional artist. In her entry, she noted that examples of her work were owned by the Birmingham Public Tibrary and the Alabama State Capitol. Unfortunately, the titles and whereabouts are no longer known. Carrie Montgomery passed away in January 1951 at age 85. Her obituary described her as the widow of "a pioneer Birmingham industrialist and one-time leader of cultural activities in the Birmingham area."14 Any reputation she might have had as an artist was already lost, superseded by her more generalized role as a "civilizer and orderer." She was survived by three daughters, three sons, and three of her sisters; 15 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren, and two nieces.15

Carrie Hill

f the women who were charter members of the Birmingham Art Club, Carrie Hill OPPOSITE PAGE: emerged as the most active and visible. Repeatedly praised in the press for her tal­ Carrie Hill, Road Through the Woods, oil on canvas, 16 x 14' ent, Carrie was also one of the most successful in gaining exposure for her work O Birmingham Public Tibrary. through exhibitions in this country and abroad. Committed to art as a profession, she embraced the late-19th-century view of art as analogous to religion in its morally uplifting effects. This view, preached by John Ruskin, William Morris, Henry Ward Beecher, and other writers, maintained the divine origin of the artistic impulse. The artist's job was to elevate civilization through beauty and to uphold the highest aesthetic standards. Exposed to these standards, people would be morally enriched and spiritually uplifted. Carrie's belief in the edifying effects of art led her to actively support artists throughout the region. Over the course of her career, she became not only one of Birmingham's most highly regarded artists, but also one of the city's leading spokespersons for art. For most of her career, Carrie lived and worked in the Studio Arts Building in Five Points South. Her great-nephew Dr. Julius Tinn Jr. remembers the studio as "a wonderful place, exciting for a child."1 A suite of three rooms with high ceilings overlooked the busy intersection through huge windows that admitted abundant light. In one room were a bed, chaise longue, wicker table, and Tiffany-style lamp which defined the living space; a screen partitioned off a dressing area. The middle room held the kitchen and bath. The largest room was the studio with light-color walls and six or eight large easels, each supporting a paint­ ing, either that of a student or her own. Brushes in all shapes and sizes sprouted from large ceramic jars like bristly bouquets. Palette knives were clustered in vases or lay neatly arranged on flat tin trays. Palettes stained with the day's hues rested on work tables and orange crates or hung on the wall, but were always cleaned at the end of the day. Tubes of paint lay stacked on tables, shelved on easel trays, and stored in the portable paint boxes that Carrie used for outdoor painting treks. The fragrance of turpentine and linseed oil, "per­ fume" to a painter, filled the air. All around the room, still lifes were set up: plaster statues painted gold or white, brass and copper jugs, candlesticks, pottery, shawls, and other sou­ venirs from European travels. These tantalizing objects were clustered artistically on tables and shelves where they served as sources of inspiration and instruction for students and as compositions for Carrie's own work. "She was unique," recalls Dr. Tinn. As a child, he spent many Saturday mornings in her studio while his father saw patients in his office in the Medical Arts Building across the street. "She had had wonderful experiences and traveled extensively." Tike many women artists, she never married. Although growing numbers of women were pursuing professions 41 42 - Art of the New South

at the turn of the 20th century, their independence still defied social norms; women who attempted to combine marriage and career were expected to put duty to family first, so the career almost inevitably suffered. Carrie had no interest in such compromises. Described by one newspaper reporter as charming, gracious, and gentle, she was also outgoing and adventurous, loved to travel, and enjoyed talking about her experiences. Every Sunday, her brother Robert Ernest Hill would pick Carrie up for Sunday lunch with his wife Neat and daughter Janie Tinn, her husband Dr. Julius Tinn Sr. and their son. After lunch they often spent time in the garden. Julius Jr. remembered that Carrie always commented on the colors of trees and sky and flowers, perhaps, he thought, to encourage him to notice colors the way she did. Color and the beauty of the landscape captivated and motivated her as an artist. Journalists commenting on her work repeatedly mentioned the pleasing color contrasts or color tones, her "wonderful sense of color and of design," and the success with which she captured the "presence of atmosphere and the sunlight."2 Unlike many women artists work­ ing in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, Carrie did not pursue portraiture. It was a reliable way for artists of either sex to earn an income from painting but, except for one commission, she avoided it. A few water color studies of women, presumably early student work, show a stylized prettiness but lack the vigor and confidence that characterize her landscapes and flower paintings. She explained her lack of interest in portraiture to a news­ paper reporter in a 1925 interview. "I suppose the reason that I have never specialized in portraits is because I love to do big things, groups of people rather than a single subject— the great out-of-doors—the blue canopy of the heavens, the trees, the herds of cattle, the market place—these attract my brush rather than individuals."3 In a handwritten letter now in the Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives, Carrie Hill wrote, "It seems to me that all my life I had wanted to paint, and from the time I started to school I was always trying to draw." Targe canvases painted by a cousin hung in her great- uncle's parlor, and Carrie would slip away at family gatherings to sit on the horsehair sofa and gaze at the paintings. "I have since learned that they were not very good," she confessed. "But to me then they were wonderful."4 "But the thing that really started me off," she continued, "was a train wreck." An excur­ sion train from Chicago on its way to New Orleans for Mardi Gras derailed just outside her hometown of Vance, Alabama, about 20 miles north of Tuscaloosa. "The passengers were scattered all over the village for several hours, until a rescue train came to take them away. Among the passengers was an artist, who making the most of a bad situation and to while away the time, seated himself under a tree and bringing forth materials, made a watercolor painting of the little school house, much to the awe and admiration of us all." "Next day a pouring rain kept me from school. So I decided that at last I knew how this painting business was done, I would try my hand at it. Needless to say that I had hung over this artist and watched every move he made." She scoured the house for materials: "I tore up a perfectly good clothes brush," she wrote, "and with the bristles wrapped and fas­ tened to a stick with silk thread made really excellent brushes." She found bottles of green, red, and black ink in her father's desk. "The bluing used to blue the clothes, and any other liquid that I could find that had color I appropriated." Carrie told this story many times and, Carrie Hill - 43 in one version, mentioned that she also made her own crimson lake from crushed pokeber- ries. "Then I painted a picture of the school house, with pine trees back of it. I suppose that is where my love of pine trees started." Carrie was the oldest daughter and the second of five children. Her father, John TaFayette Hill, was a clerk with the Vance Mining and Supply Company. Her mother, Nancy Rebecca Vance Hill, was from the family for whom the coal-mining town was named. The couple's first child was Robert Ernest Hill, born in 1872. After Carrie's birth in 1875, John and Nancy had three more children: Phillip Edwin Hill, born in 1877; Sammye Katharine Hill, born in 1880; and John Scott Hill, born 10 years after Carrie. According to the family Bible, Carrie's given name was Caroline Tillian Hill, but she never liked the name Caroline and always went by Carrie. In 1891, when Carrie was 16, the family moved to Birmingham. Here she found a network of artists who would nurture her talent and support her efforts to become a professional painter. Attending public school at Paul Hayne School, she studied art with Rose Lewis. Miss Lewis was a sister of Caroline Garland Lewis Montgomery, a well-known local artist and, later, a charter member of the Birmingham Art Club. From another prominent painter and civic leader, Caroline Lovell, Carrie took les­ sons in watercolor. Mrs. Lovell was a member of the Birmingham Art League, founded in 1891, and was instrumental in bringing to Birmingham a New England artist, William D Parrish, who had studied at Yale University. Together, they estab­ lished the Birmingham Art School in the upper floor of what, later, became the Tovemans, Joseph & Toeb department store on 3rd Avenue North. Mrs. Tovell recalled that "with the proceeds of some theatrical entertainments we bought a fine assortment of casts, even full length figures and for several years we had quite a suc­ cessful school."5 After graduating from Paul Hayne, Carrie continued living with her parents on 22nd Street South. She may have enrolled immediately in the Birmingham Art School, but the first time she appears in the city directory listed as an art student is 1897, at age 22. The classes with William Parrish would probably have been her first taste of traditional aca­ demic training. In America, as in Europe, academic art emphasized the figure, and master­ ing the human form began with drawing from casts of antique sculptures. Those who were proficient moved on to work from live models. Carrie remembered Parrish as a very tall Carrie Hill, 1890s, Emond, Burgin man who "always wore a Prince Albert coat buttoned, and when painting sat upon a high & Hill Papers, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 112.6.2. stool, with his long Ichabod Cranelike legs wrapped around its posts. But he was a splendid painter and teacher and did a great deal for me in the way of laying a foundation."6 In 1898 the school moved to the top floor of the Colby & Rolls art supply store on First Avenue, and in 1899 Carrie herself began teaching classes there. A year later, however, the school closed and Parrish returned to the North. If she did in fact study figure drawing with Parrish, it had little impact on her develop­ ment as an artist. Instead of pursuing traditional academic study, with its emphasis on the figure, she seems to have worked on her own, preferring to paint landscapes en plein air. Sketching and making studies outdoors was established practice for landscape painters work­ ing in the French Barbizon School tradition (1840s-1850s); the studies would be developed 44 - Art of the New South

into finished paintings in the studio. Newspaper accounts of Carrie's working methods indi­ cate she created completed paintings on the spot, as the late-19th-century French Impressionists did, but her style at this time did not reflect the influence of Impressionism. Working en plein air was not an inevitable choice for an artist, nor was it necessarily easier than studio painting. Parrish may have provided Carrie with some guidance, or she may have simply built on the example of that train-wrecked artist in Vance. She continued to seek the company of fellow artists who may have offered insights and shared experiences that were useful to her. The year after the Birmingham Art School closed, she joined a sketch club formed by several former students. Hannah Elliot, Tucille Douglass, and their former teacher Caroline Tovell were also members. After her father passed away in 1901, Carrie continued living at home with her mother, brothers, and sister in a house on Huntsville Avenue in North Birmingham. Ready to enter the work force, she teamed up with a fellow artist to rent space for teaching and working. A newspaper item from her scrapbook reported, "Mrs. J. B. Raulston and Miss Carrie Hill have established themselves very cosily in a studio on the top floor of the Commercial Club Building, where they will have their classes in china painting, oils and water colors."7 Photos accompanying the article show Carrie and Mrs. Raulston in the studio which has large shuttered windows and walls densely hung with Carrie's watercolors, drawings, and landscapes in oil. Mrs. Raulston specialized in china painting. The women wear ankle-length dresses with long sleeves and high collars, sug­ gesting the early-1900s date. Tater, to supplement her income, Carrie worked as a clerk at J. H. Roll in 1907 and as bookkeeper in 1908. Early in 1908, Carrie joined the Birmingham Art Club which was offically organ­ ized in January by Delia Dryer, Willie McTaughlin, Alice Rumph, and Mamie Montgomery. Formed to encourage art appreciation in Birmingham, the club's purpose was also to provide members with opportunities to show and sell paintings and decorative arts. The group wasted no time in assembling its first exhibition. Held April 21-25, 1908, the show included 140 paintings and drawings and 35 examples of decorative arts and crafts. Carrie entered six landscapes done in southern Florida. "What took her to that region is not certain. Her youngest brother, John Scott Hill, had joined the Cole Brothers Circus as an acrobat and clown, and the circus played in south Florida in November 1906. John traveled with the circus through the 1909 season, then joined Rngling Brothers Circus in 1910. It is possible that John told Carrie about the beauty of the Carrie Hill, Plate with Yellow Roses, Targo area, and she made a trip on her own. John and his wife were sufficiently enchanted early 1900s, 7 3/8" in diameter, by the area to buy land in Indian Rocks in 1915 and start a citrus grove.8 (A developer may collection of Julius E. Tinn Jr. have sweetened the attraction: an advertisement for land north ofTampa was directed toward Carrie Hill, Vase with Pink Roses, employees of the Rngling Circus, promising "prime citrus land and a future home for early 1900s, 14" high, collection 'entertainers' of the circus.")9 By the 1920s, their five-bedroom home was a frequent gath­ of Julius E. Tinn Jr. ering place for visiting family, including Carrie, who made many paintings of the area. Robert Ernest bought an adjacent grove, cementing the Hill family ties to the region. Carrie's dedication to painting attracted attention. In 1910, Mrs. Oscar Underwood, also an artist, arranged for Carrie to attend a summer art school in North Carolina led by Elliott Carrie Hill - 45

Daingerfield. Mrs. Underwood saw in Carrie's work "the very spirit of Corot. Some of her Carrie Hill and Mrs. Raulston at pictures have an exquisite delicacy of coloring, and a grace of composition you seldom Afternoon Tea, in their Studio, before 10 1909, Emond, Burgin & Hill find." Choosing Daingerfield as a mentor for Carrie seemed a perfect match. Born and Papers, Birmingham Public Tibrary raised in the South, Daingerfield was a commercially successful and well-known American Archives 112.6.6a. Tonalist. His work reflected the influence of his teacher George Inness and of the French Barbizon School whose best known exponents were Jean Francois Millet and Jean Baptiste Camille Corot. Unlike the American Hudson River School, which celebrated the transcen­ dent glory of wilderness, the Barbizon School looked for the beauty of nature in quiet, pastoral scenes and aimed to capture the changing moods of a domesticated natural world inhabited by man.11 This approach would seem to have suited Carrie's interests well. Daingerfield, sometimes described as the American Millet,12 would likely have introduced her to Tonalist conceptions of landscape painting as well as techniques for capturing atmos­ phere and tonal values. Perhaps as a result of the summer study with Daingerfield, Carrie's work caught the eye o£The Birmingham News society editor, Mrs. Roberta Harris Winn. In an April 1911 article, 46 - Art of the New South

Carrie Hill, Landscape with Palms, she described with glowing praise the 36-year-old artist's native talent, untutored except in Florida, c.1908, oil on canvas, the public schools and "a few years under Mr.W D. Parrish here in Birmingham and one 12 x 16", not signed, collection 13 of Tesley R. Collins. summer's instruction under Elliott Daingerfield." Enthusiastically (and with considerable local pride), Winn predicted "the years will not be many before she takes her place among the recognized landscape painters of America.... All that mother nature did not give her in the beginning has been added right here in Birmingham. Her first inspiration came from the drawing work in the public schools—then in its very beginning. All the rest has been drawn from the hills about us and even from the clay itself for all her best pictures are but little bits of the beauty of our own beautiful section." Winn noted Carrie's ability to capture sunlight and the look of nature. "When Carrie Hill's name becomes a familiar one in New York art circles, these little home studies will be cited as illustrating the unusual beauty of her native South. "Miss Hill's achievements have been won almost single-handed, for she has had little opportunity to study under masters.... But the history of art effort has demonstrated that genius often works wonders of itself, and this girl unquestionably has genius." Carrie Hill - 47

Carrie Hill at the Seashore, Florida, early 1900s, Emond, Burgin & Hill Papers, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 112.6.6a

While predictions of New York fame did not come to pass,Winn did correctly forecast Carrie's success. She also accurately identified the artist's unflagging devotion to the south­ ern landscape which continued to challenge and inspire Carrie throughout her career. With opportunities for continuing education in Birmingham exhausted, Carrie headed to New York in 1912 in search of further instruction. She learned of a plein air school led by Arthur R. Freedlander on Martha's Vineyard and decided to go there. The decision proved to be a turning point for Carrie's development as an artist. Freedlander was only five years older than Carrie but had studied under John Twachtman, William Merritt Chase, and Henry Siddons Mowbray14 He worked in an impressionist style, using a pastel, high-key palette. Carrie's work from that period reflects the influence of his soft, yet sunny color sense. During her four months at Freedlander's school, she produced more than 50 sketches of scenes in and around the little town ofVineyard Haven. A newspaper reporter was struck by the change in her work, noting "a new quality of brightness and broader grip on her capacities at transferring landscapes to the canvas."15 The writer noted that Freedlander admired one study as "especially full of poetic feeling. It is this new element of 48 - Art of the New South Carrie Hill - 49

Carrie Hill, Landscape, Martha's Vineyard, 1912, oil on canvas, 17 x 14", unsigned, collection of Tesley R. Collins.

OPPOSITE PAGE: Carrie Hill, Landscape, Martha's Vineyard, 1912, oil on canvas, 24 x 18", collection of Tesley R. Collins. a deeper appreciation of nature, a more careful attention to every detail that will serve to complete the picture, and a more developed insight into the beauties of nature that one sees in Miss Hill's latest work."16 A Birmingham Age-Herald reporter, commenting on the paint­ ings, noted "Miss Carrie Hill's work has an entirely new atmosphere and is done with a dash and spirit that was lacked by her subdued studies of previous months."17 The summer workshop must have come at a critical time for Carrie. One writer noted, "In many respects the vacation...has been a very important one insofar as her professional career is concerned, for after carefully investigating several branches of art which she had under consideration, she has fully determined to become a specialist of landscapes."18 Since landscapes had been her specialty for at least a decade, the comment is intriguing. Had she become discouraged with the difficulty of selling enough paintings to make a living? Had she toyed with commercial art, poster painting, or china painting as alternatives? The writer 50 - Art of the New South

notes that, "summering close to nature has benefited Miss Hill personally as well as artistically for she has renewed her enthusiasm with a keener belief in her power to express something of that innate love for the mountains, streams and valleys that she has.... Her teacher has given her the encouragement that stimulates to deeper and more self-sacrificing study"19 Whatever the crisis in artistic direction, she emerged from the summer's study with a renewed sense of purpose and commitment.

Carrie Hill, Landscape, Martha's Vineyard, 1912, oil on board, 12 x 8", collection of Tesley R. Collins. Carrie Hill - 51

In the autumn of 1912, Carrie rented studio space in the Hood Building on 4thAvenue Carrie Hill, A Vista Near Birmingham, North, renovating it to make it habitable in winter. The following year, she held a solo exhi­ 1913, oil on canvas, 18 x 26", unsigned, collection of Nancy bition there. Forty paintings bearing titles such as Village Creek in December, Pines near Hill Collins. Osceola, Sycamore on Village Creek, Grey Day in Edgewood, and Twenty-fust Street North indi­ cate her ability to find picturesque compositions in familiar, everyday locations. A review of the show noted, "These paintings were all done on the spot and faithfully reflect the varied beauty of scenery around Birmingham." Her style was described as "dainty and demure," and her paintings as pretty and delicate reproductions of local scenery that "would be ideal household companions to look at over the chimney corner." The writer notes her use of color to evoke the mood of the season: "Men of thoughtful and somber mind will at once choose her Village Creek in December with its brownish tints and its brownish water a trifle lit up by the decadent sun.... In contrast is Village Creek in May, where the grass is intensely green and the trees bending over reflect themselves in the rushing waters and the far off hills suggest the dreaminess that makes one in the springtime linger long afield and wonder if the buttercup and he are not a part and parcel of the same universal intent." The show made such an impression on members of the Chamber of Commerce that they asked the Woman's Committee to help focus attention on other home-grown artistic talent like Carrie's.20 52 - Art of the New South

The writer's evaluation of Carrie's paintings suggests that CATALOGUE what struck a chord with viewers was her ability to call atten­ tion to scenic beauty that most people overlooked or took for 1 Village Creek in December . . . 50.00 2 Pines Near Osceola 15.00 granted. Those with a poetic turn of mind, like the writer, 3 Road to Old Resevoir 10.00 4 Twenty-first Street, North 15.00 could find in the scenes meditations on nature and the mean­ 5 Looking Towards Fountain Heights . . 20.00 ing of life. For an aspiring professional artist, however, being 6 Pink Dogwood in Idlewild . . 20.00 7 Sycamore on Village Creek . . 25.00 admired for daintiness and delicacy was essentially a designa­ 8 Early Spring Near Birmingham . . 20.00 9 Back Yard in North Haven . . . 20.00 tion of second-rank status. Those were the qualities believed 10 On the Way to Green Springs 10.00 to be inherently feminine and therefore inherently inferior. 11 Orchard in Shades Valley 35.00 12 A Sunny Day in Idlewild . 50.00 "Women had been struggling for equality with men in the art 13 Tutwiler Place from Capitol Pari; . 35.00 14 Near Green Springs i 15.00 profession since the middle of the 19th century and, by the 15 A Vista in Capitol Park . , . 30.00 1880s, had achieved it; but in the 1890s, the rules of the game 16 A Pine Tree in Idlewild . . 25.00 17 Distant View of Ensley . . . . 30.00 changed. Technical skill, gained through academic study, was 18 In Capitol Park . 15.00 19 Near Enon Ridge 10.00 no longer the standard of professionalism and quality. Instead, 20 Near Oxmoor Road . 25.00 critics "praised art that seemed to display 'masculine strength' which they defined in terms of a striking, individual vision

Catalogue, Exhibition of Paintings and a 'virile,' virtuoso style. However, only men could achieve such art: from women, Around Birmingham by Carrie Hill, critics now demanded the 'essentially feminine,' something fundamentally different and 1913, Tmond, Burgin & Hill almost always lesser."21 Some critics even used Darwinism to argue that women were Papers, Birmingham Public Library Archives 112.5.42. genetically incapable of true artistic genius (although this was not the case with The Birmingham News society editor).22 Another lengthy newspaper article about Carrie's work, probably about the 1913 exhi­ bition, describes her canvases as very small, the coloring delicate, and the rendering true to nature. She managed to capture a sense of "the downright prettiness of even Birmingham's industrialism, for factories and furnaces in their clouds of pale smoke, off among the trees are as subtle and almost as colorful as the pink and white of the dogwood blossoms in the Tee Bradley yard at Idlewild.... Miss Hill really sees them all with the eye of a lover as well as an artist. Her paintings—most of them—are tiny things, but she has handled her oils well and they show real merit."23 Carrie's work during this early period may have tended toward decorative prettiness, but another writer noted that her paintings also had historical and documentary value. Mrs. J. B. Reid pointed out that Carrie was recording fields, trees, flowers and landscapes that were fast disappearing under pavement and new construction as Birmingham grew. Carrie described her aim as to "make each picture a reproduction of the original"—that is, its source in nature. Just as truth is the foundation of character, she said, so accuracy and fidelity to nature are vital to capturing the scene.24 In a few years, however, her aims and style would begin to change. In the period immediately following her summer on Martha's Vineyard, Carrie promoted her work through studio open houses, placement in show windows of downtown stores, and exhibitions at the Alabama State Fair. One year (possibly 1912), she won first prize at the fair and her booth was pictured in the newspaper.25 The presence of her paintings in the windows of Cable Piano store and the First National Bank prompted an unnamed "con­ noisseur" to comment on the quality of the work and the astonishingly modest prices. "The Carrie Hill — 53

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m'l.-: drawing is excellent, the perspective is true, and the atmosphere is singularly enchanting," Carrie Hill, Early Spring on Village said this anonymous source. "I do not happen to be personally acquainted with the artist, Creek, 1913, oil on canvas, 14 x 18", collection of Tesley but I think she is entirely too modest in placing her price on the picture at only $150. Many R. Collins. pictures in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York that cost $1000 or more are not as good as this of the pines."26 In 1917, Carrie's mother Nancy Hill passed away. Soon thereafter, Carrie moved into a stu­ dio in what came to be known as the Studio Arts Building in Five Points South. Built in 1910, the structure featured a tile-faced exterior curved to follow the shape of the street corner. On the ground floor were drugstores, grocers, tobacconists and florists. Upstairs, Alice Rumph and Delia Dryer also had studios, as did musicians and dance instructors.27 Carrie made her studio her home and workplace for some 35 years, longer than any of her fellow artists. Already active in the Birmingham Art Club, Carrie now became involved at the regional level to promote art and artists. In February 1921, members of art associations from several southern states met in Charleston, South Carolina, for a conference and exhibition hosted by the South Carolina Art Association. The Birmingham Art Club received an 54 - Art of the New South

George Timer Browne, Harbor Scene, Douarnenez, Brittany, France, oil on canvas, 46V2 x 46V2", collection of Julius T. Tinn Jr.

invitation to submit works for the exhibition, and among those entered was a small piece by Carrie Hill titled Early Spring. (It found a buyer in Charleston.) The conference partici­ pants decided to form a permanent organization, the Southern States Art Teague, whose purpose was "to encourage art and its appreciation in the South." Both Carrie and the art club threw their support behind the organization which for the next 25 years met annu­ ally in different cities around the South. To achieve its goal, the organization held juried exhibitions from which works were chosen to travel to cities around the South. The A Circuit was made up of large paintings; the B Circuit encompassed smaller pieces. Carrie entered the competition every year and was accepted every year. She also served as a juror from time to time and, in 1934, chaired the membership committee for the state of Alabama. Her participation in the juried exhibitions gave her work broad exposure outside Birmingham. The traveling shows went to museums in Dallas, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, and other cities around the South and were reviewed in local newspapers. The pub­ licity was good for Carrie's career and might even have led to sales, but her involvement was inspired by more idealistic motives. She embraced the late 19th-century conviction that access to art was essential to the development of taste, and taste was necessary for a civilized life. Art had a morally uplifting effect on those who were exposed to it, and Carrie was com­ mitted to promoting art in every way she could. Carrie Hill — 55

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Carrie was a mature woman in her late 40s, pursuing her art with commercial and crit­ "Douarnenez-Bateaux Sardinier ical success, when she came under the career-changing influence of George Elmer Browne. rentrant de la peche" (Boats returning from fishing for sardines), postcard from This acclaimed American Impressionist was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He studied Carrie Hill to R. T. Hill, June 1922, at the Boston Museum School and the Cowles Art School, also in Boston. Tike thousands collection of Julius T. Tinn Jr. of other American artists, both men and women, he then traveled to Paris to polish his skills by attending the Academie Julian; there he studied under two popular teachers, Jules Tefebvre and Tony Robert-Fleury28 Unlike some of her fellow Birmingham Art Club members, Carrie never attended any of the French schools but, through her study with Browne, she received the legacy of that training.

Carrie Hill, Fishermen, Douarnenez, France, 1922, 26 x 32", unsigned, collection of Patti Haley Mulock. 56 - Art of the New South

Sometime around 1922, Carrie apparently attended Browne's West End School of Art in Provincetown.29 Browne had been among the first painters to discover the natural beauty of the old fishing village on Cape Cod in the late 1800s and in 1914 he established the West End School of Art. The Provincetown Art Association was also founded that year. It hosted exhibitions, lectures and social events for the artists flocking to the area every sum­ mer.30 Then, in 1922, Carrie joined a group of painters traveling through Europe with Browne. Her brother Robert Ernest and her niece Janie followed her progress through the picture postcards she sent home, the first penned in French to Janie while she was still on board ship. After landing on Saturday morning, May 23, the group journeyed to Paris, got settled, and then spent Sunday and Monday sightseeing. She wrote to Ernest, "Am having a great time seeing Paris—Everything is wonderfully interesting. So different from our coun­ try"31 She visited galleries, salons, and museums and became enthralled with Paul Cezanne's works. "He was a real artist, carrying his work beyond the level of what he learned from others," she said later.32 Once outside Paris, the group began painting in earnest. A postcard from Douarnenez on the coast of Brittany reported, "I have written several times, but haven't heard from any of you yet. Am getting on fine and working hard. Will have lots to show for my summer's work when I get back." On this trip and those that followed, Carrie painted on boards, thinning the oil paints to make them dry faster. The sketches would be the basis for larger paintings on canvas when she returned home. On subsequent trips she also mentioned working in watercolor, which had the advantage of drying almost immedi­ ately and being more easily transportable than oil on boards. The group journeyed next to southern France, then along the Mediterranean coast, to the Balearic Islands, and on to Morocco before returning to America. The following summer, Carrie again attended Browne's art school in Provincetown, Massachusetts. This stay was duly reported in the newspaper when she returned: "Miss Hill...painted for two months, and in that short space of time made over 40 studies, several being large canvases. She astonished the Northern students, whose conventional idea of a Southerner, without energy, if not without ambition, was shattered."33 Foreign travel and study with Browne sharpened Carrie's eye for atmosphere, color and composition. Her painting, The Hillside, executed during the summer of 1923 (and now in the collection of the Birmingham Public Tibrary), recalls some of Cezanne's compositions. The vista, seen from a high vantage point at the foreground, takes in houses in the middle ground before sweeping across a series of hills to the low mountain on the horizon. A dirt road leads diagonally from the left foreground toward the right middle ground where the gabled ends and peaked roofs of the houses are framed by shrubs and trees. The scene is drenched in sunlight with cool violet shadows on the buildings. The paint is thick and boldly applied, creating an effect that is anything but dainty and demure. The Hillside was accepted into the 36th annual exhibit of American Painters and Sculptors at the Art Institute of Chicago. In a coup for Carrie, it was also chosen for the cover of the December 8,1923, edition of The Art News magazine. Inside the magazine, the heading identified the work as "An Inviting Tandscape by an Alabama Woman Artist." The caption noted, "This work by an Alabama artist is delightful in color and is filled with the atmosphere of the countryside. It is one of the much admired works of the exhibition."34 Carrie Hill - 57

The piece was later included in the Southern States Art Teague Circuit A Exhibition. A Carrie Hill, The Hillside, Birmingham newspaper noted that when the exhibit arrived at the Museum of Fine Arts in Provincetown, Massachusetts, 1923, 38 x 38", collection of Birming­ Dallas, the art critic of The Dallas News expressed "himself as happy to find the exhibition ham Public Tibrary. Included in this year a little less permeated with 'the faint perfume of the old South.' By way of proof the 36th Annual Txhibition of that the league and its members are developing things he considers nearer to genuine art, American Paintings and Sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago and he mentions the fact of'the main yet midget money prize being tacked to Carrie T. Hill, published on the cover of The Art of Birmingham, for a landscape fashioned after a Cezanne design."35 News, December 8, 1923. 58 - Art of the New South

In 1925, Carrie made her second painting trip to Europe with George Browne. The itinerary included three weeks in Concarneau, in Brittany, and a week in Douarnenez before going on to southern France, Spain, and Morocco. The group included both professionals like Carrie and students; participants came from New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, West Virginia, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Alabama.36 On May 22, while on board the ship, Carrie wrote to her brother, "We are to land early Saturday morning. "We have had a wonderful trip, very little sun, plenty of fog, but no rough weather. Mr. Browne has a nice party, and there are some very interesting people on board. So one doesn't get lonesome. Then there is a moving picture every day, and a concert at night. Then eating five times a day. There isn't time for much else."37 On June 28, Carrie wrote to her brother, "We usually spend our Sundays taking in the neighboring towns. In that way we get fairly good ideas of the country"38 It wasn't all work, however. In August, Carrie sent her brother a postcard of Ta Grotte de Presque with a note, "We went through this cave last Sunday. Wish you could see it. One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. There are some very noted caves in this sec­ 39 Carrie Hill, Brittany, France, 1925, tion.We went in one where there was a river. We got in boats and rowed for about a mile." Tmond, Burgin & Hill Papers, This experience wasn't available to the average tourist: A French archaeologist invited Birmingham Public Tibrary Browne and his group to join him in exploring the cave, which had "just been discovered Archives 112.8.1. along the banks of the river Tot."40 In Spain, they saw a bullfight and were frustrated by two OPPOSITE PAGE: weeks of rain in their attempts to paint in Ondarroa. Carrie asked her brother to pay enough Carrie Hill, Market Scene, Cahors, on her phone and rent "to stand them off until I get there. Also tell Tevert [the building France, 1925, oil on canvas, 313/4 x 257/8", collection of Julius owner] that I want the studio for another year. I told him before I left but he has probably T. Tinn Jr. forgotten it."41

Postcard, 1925, collection of Some of the paintings produced during this trip were assembled for an exhibition the Julius T. Tinn Jr. following February at Babcock Galleries in New York City. Carrie was represented by three: In the Valley of the Lot, A Little Chapel in Cahors, and The Roofs of Laroque-des-Arcs. The show received CORRESPONDANCE positive yet contradictory reviews; one critic praised the fact that Browne's "pupils bring home a lot of canvases that are not chiefly imitations of his own style"; another concluded that "they reveal somewhat the impress of the teacher's viewpoint, which is J4~o-*f /^f^e inevitable when there is constant touch with a directing influence."42 Both reviews picked out Carrie Hill's work as worthy of mention. It may have been after this trip that Carrie ^ imsHS \ V*. *f.fi- decided to take the bold step of expanding her own school of art. An undated newspaper item from her Carrie Hill - 59 60 - Art of the New South Carrie Hill — 61

Carrie Hill, Along the Canal, St. Cere, Brittany, 1925, oil on canvas, OPPOSITE PAGE: 29V2 x 291/2", collection of Julius T. Tinn Jr. Carrie Hill, Church Interior, oil on canvas, 32 x 36", Birmingham Museum of Art 1959.92. Gift of Mrs. Isadore Pizitz. 62 - Art of the New South Carrie Hill — 63

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Carrie Hill, The Valentre Bridge, Cahors, France, 1920s, char­ OPPOSITE PAGE: coal, 22V2 x 19", collection of Julius T. Tinn Jr., from Carrie Hill, Bellfroi (Tower and Fortifications), Concarneau, sketchbook remaining in her studio at her death. France, 1925, oil on canvas, 233/4 x 195/s", collection of Julius T. Tinn Jr. 64 - Art of the New South

Carrie Hill, Landscape, Spain, 1920s, oil on canvas, 33 x 33", collection of Henry Yarborough. Carrie Hill — 65

Carrie Hill, Bridge in Spain, 1920s, oil on canvas, 40 x 38", Birmingham Public Tibrary. 66 - Art of the New South

Carrie Hill, In the Foothills of the Pyrenees, 1920s, oil on canvas, 38 x 38", Birmingham Museum of Art 1951-255. Gift of the Birmingham Art Club. Carrie Hill — 67 scrapbook announced, "In very attractive and commodious new studios the Carrie Hill School of Art is taking on larger proportions than ever before this winter. The entire north side of the Five Points studio building has been taken over for its purposes, and all branches of painting are being taught in the mediums of oil, watercolors, charcoal sketching, painting from models, and still life."43 Her nieces Eloise, Tora, and Odeine Hill were among her students. Eloise remembers that Carrie would set up a still life and, as everyone painted, she would critique their work and "show how to achieve some effect they had missed."44 She took them on field trips to paint outdoors as well. Carrie made her last trip abroad with Browne in 1927. This six-month sojourn included stops in Paris, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Corsica, and Tunis. The 20 painters in the group included her fellow art club members Alice Rumph, Willie McTaughlin, and Delia Dryer. Sylvia Pizitz, another Birmingham artist and, later, a patron of Carrie Hill's work, also joined the group. Browne arranged a private car to take the group to Paris, where they would stay for a week before going on to Concarneau, near the place they worked before. They arrived in Paris in time to see the annual Salon organized by the Societe des Artistes Francais, which Carrie described as "most conservative and conventional and rather academic." In France, Carrie applied her brush to "wonderful landscapes includ­ ing an old castle within the walled town." They didn't paint much in Switzerland or Germany, but took in the sights. In Northern Italy, she did watercolors. In Babcock Art Galleries Exhibition Sartene, a town in southern Corsica, she spent more than a month painting rugged moun­ Program, February 1926, Tmond, Burgin & Hill Papers, Birmingham tains barnacled with tile-roofed stone houses, as well as vineyards filled with "resplendent Public Tibrary Archives 112.5.42. claret, lavender, and green grapes of a color that made jade and emerald seem dull."45 The group returned to Paris for the Salon d'Automne, a liberal alternative to the annual Salon. Dominated by Henri Matisse and the Fauvist painters, the display struck Carrie as "perfectly wild where anything that was bizarre and queer seemed acceptable."46 Carrie, like Browne, never became a fan of avant-garde art. Browne dismissed Cubism and Fauvism as "fadism," and Carrie echoed that judgment. In an interview, she noted, "There are many who think that 'modern' art means wholly the cubist movement, intro­ duced by Cezanne, with its hideous triangles and involved circumferences." Clearly, although she found much to admire in Paul Cezanne's early work, his later developments did not speak to her. She also dismissed Paul Gauguin's expressionistic and symbolic use of color as "far-fetched." "These methods," she said, "are used by extremists... there are fanatics in art just as there are in all phases of science and life. To my way of thinking cubism and futurism are purely abortive conceptions where the artists express their emotions before they can draw." Impressionism, on the other hand, was recognized as modern yet mainstream, the common language of most artists working at that time. For Carrie, this new tradition meant "each artist takes all the good from the old and adds his own ideas, interpretations and impressions. This addition is healthy and an expression of the times."47 68 - Art of the New South

George Elmer Browne's European Her artistic heroes included, not surprisingly, George Elmer Browne, as well as John Painting Group,June 1927, Singer Sargent, whom she described as "the best known and the most outstanding exponent Tspalion, France, Tmond, Burgin & 48 Hill Papers, Birmingham Public of American art in the last decade." She also admired George Bellows, Elliott Daingerfield, Library Archives 112.6.6a. Mr. and Charles Hawthorne, and Jonas Tie. When pressed to name a great woman painter, she Mrs. Browne, front center with acknowledged Cecilia Beaux, an academically trained and relatively conservative artist who hats; Sylvia Pizitz front row, second was highly successful during her lifetime. from left; Carrie Hill, second row, third from left; Delia Dryer, middle Now when asked about her goals as an artist, Carrie replied, "The subject matters lit­ row, second from right; Willie tle. It is what the artist puts into it that counts. So the field to me is limitless—there are pos­ McLaughlin, to left of Delia. sibilities everywhere—and everything appeals to me that is beautiful and artistic."49 As she

OPPOSITE PAGE: did in 1913, Carrie still found inspiration in simple, everyday subjects; but now she Carrie Hill, Market in Tunis, described her aims in terms of capturing the color, atmosphere, and quality of light rather Morocco, oil on canvas, 25 x 30", than simple reproduction of the original. The shift in intent was not radical, but reflects a collection of Tesley R. Collins. This was a popular view for artists greater sophistication and maturity resulting from her years of study with a master of making the grand tour in the American Impressionism. early 20th century. Carrie's study and travel with Browne led to a friendship that lasted beyond the European trips and even bore fruit for the Birmingham Art Club. It seems likely that she Carrie Hill - 69 70 - Art of the New South

suggested the club invite Browne to hold a solo exhibition in Birmingham in 1924; the Birmingham Art Club had no facility of its own, but joined with the Southern Club to hold the show in its clubhouse. Browne and his wife came to the city for the opening reception which was attended by 400 artists and art lovers.

OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP: Around the same time, Carrie Hill asked Browne for advice on how the Birmingham Catalogue, The 1928 Annual Art Club could achieve "some great thing for the city." His response was considered impor­ Exhibition of the Society of French Artists, the 141 th Official Exhibition tant enough to be published in the newspaper. It expressed the art club's own optimistic and of the Fine Arts, Grand Palais, Paris. idealistic views on the role of art in society: "An art club should exist to arouse in the peo­ Tmond, Burgin & Hill Papers, ple of the community an appreciation of art. Such an interest will make better citizens and Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 112.5.41. refinement and culture will become apparent in the homes of all classes of citizens... as soon as an art influence is felt. Better homes, more beautiful parks, cleaner streets will be had as OPPOSITE PAGE, BOTTOM: soon as art is instilled in the minds" of the people. The club's goal, he said, should be to Mine C. Hill, Catalogue Entry, educate through exhibitions, to encourage local talent, to make art available to all and not page 12, Tmond, Burgin & Hill Papers, Birmingham Public Tibrary merely a select few. Hold exhibitions for the work of local artists, he urged, and offer prizes Archives 112.5.41.This painting as an incentive. "Get a fund together and every year buy a painting, the work of some well- received an honorable mention known American artist. In time you will have the start of a permanent collection. The next in the 1928 Paris Salon. Carrie 50 Hill's Village en Corse is shown in step will be a place to house the collection and the result will be a museum." the bottom right corner. In May 1925, the Birmingham Art Club took his advice and began collecting money to buy art. The following May, Delia Dryer moved that the group make its first purchase, The Loggers by George Elmer Browne (now in the collection of the Birmingham Public Tibrary). The artist reduced the asking price of $3500 to $2500 as a special concession to his southern friends. He also came to Birmingham to conduct a month-long workshop for local artists at Carrie's studio. (In 1927, the club voted to buy a painting of Carrie's for the collection; she received $575.) On another visit, Browne brought with him a group of New York artists—W Granville Smith (renown for genre paintings of young children and women), George Wharton Edwards (known for unique handling of impressionism and for his marine paintings), Bruce Crane (a popular landscape artist influenced by the French Barbizon school), and Mary Gray. Carrie Hill entertained them in her studio. The evening's merriment was fully described in the newspaper the following week: Smith cooked chops, which Edwards com­ plimented by saying that "Gran's color sense enabled him to do things up brown!" The report continued, "Bruce Crane managed to balance himself on an orange crate, with a plate in one hand, while he reminisced about his early life." Edwards also spent 20 minutes describing the benefits of treating sciatica with heat, and Browne asked about friends he had made on an earlier visit.51 The reason for the visit wasn't mentioned, and Carrie Hill never commented on this gathering in her reminiscences about her career, but it suggests that she enjoyed a lively connection to the world of art outside her hometown. The impact of travel and study on Carrie's painting became apparent through the 1920s and 1930s in her aggressive schedule of exhibitions and the prizes she won. In 1925, two paintings were accepted for a juried show with the Philadelphia Art Club, and Little Chapel in Cahors won a gold medal in the Mississippi Art Association juried exhibition. In 1926, three large paintings occupied the place of honor in the 5th annual Southern States Art Teague show in St. Petersburg, Florida, and a flower study won first prize for flower Carrie Hill - 71 paintings in the Nashville Art Association exhibition. Another painting was displayed in the National Academy of Design in New York; Carrie rightly SOCIETE "regarded this as the zenith of an American artist's aspirations, as it compared to 52 ARTISTES FRANCAIS that of the French National Academy" Founded in 1825, the National Academy of Design was, until just before World War II, "a central institution in most artistic activity in the country. Its members dominated public commissions, and its exhibitions were widely reviewed as major events."53 In 1928, Carrie ventured to compete at the international level and submit­ i SALON ted two paintings to the judges of the Societe des Artistes Francais.The paintings, La Petite Maison and Village en Corse (the latter now owned by the Montgomery 1928 Museum of Fine Arts), were accepted for inclusion in the 1928 Paris Salon. One was reproduced in the catalogue. (This was the same Salon she had found so conservative a year earlier. A bastion of traditionalism, it still conferred pres­ tige on successful entrants.) In this mature work, Carrie's paint is thick and juicy, applied with boldness that recalls the brushwork of her mentor George Elmer Browne. Buildings are solidly constructed but unencumbered with fussy detail. Sometimes, she 141 * Exposition Officielle includes generalized figures to convey a sense of distant place and time, but just des Beaux-Arts as often, she allows the light and shadow playing over the landscape to speak for GRAND PALALS DES CHAMRS-EIXSEES themselves. Rose madder and cerulean blue, her two favorite colors, appear AVENUE ALEXANDRE-m repeatedly in her work and help define her characteristic color palette.54 Success followed success. The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts cele­ brated its first anniversary in 1931 with a special show of 36 paintings by Carrie Hill. A review of the show noted, "Miss Hill paints in broad simple plains [sic] and pervades all of her work with a pleasing color tone. One of the most delight­ fully painted pictures of her exhibit she calls 'In Britany' [sic] It is of the squatty, old buildings in a little French town and the play of light and shadow over the mellowed walls would bring joy to the heart of any painter. MEUN'IKR (MlM M. SO. La tvbe jaune. " The Brow of the Hill is probably the outstanding picture of the exhibit. The choice of subject, the composition and the simple treatment all combine to make a satisfying whole."55 The show opening was a major social event marked by a Sunday afternoon tea honoring Carrie. Guests included the mayor of Montgomery and his wife, a city commissioner and his wife, and officers and directors of the museum. The tea was predicted as "easily the largest and smartest event of the Fall season. Mrs. "Walton Hill, whose taste and originality are proverbial, will be in charge of the tea table decorations and according to present plans the table promises to be one of the prettiest and most original ever seen in Montgomery"56 The following year,Judson College hosted an exhibition of 40 of Carrie's paintings. These included flower pieces rendered in her signature color contrasts and landscapes that breathed with atmosphere and light. In 1933, the Theta Chi Fraternity House at the University of Alabama held a show of 20 canvases. The students had hoped to include her Shades Valley Farm in the exhibit, but it was 72 - Art of the New South

•

Carrie Hill, Village en Corse (Village in Corsica), oil on canvas, convention of the Alabama Art Teague and a display of the Circuit A 29V4 x 29V4", Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts 1931-P-8. Included exhibition of the Southern States Art Teague, both held during the in the 141st Annual Txhibition of the Society of French Artists, Paris, annual Confederate Reunion, 1931. 1928. Presented to the Museum in conjunction with the first annual Carrie Hill - 73

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already promised elsewhere. This beautifully constructed composition recalls, but does not Carrie Hill, La Petite Maison imitate, a Cezanne construction with its grid of vertical pines overlaying the diagonals of (The Little House), oil on canvas, 25 x 34", collection of Henry plowed fields; it won the Southern Tandscape Prize in the Southern States Art Teague Yarborough. Included in the 141st annual juried exhibition. It was also included in the Southern States Art Teague 11th Circuit Annual Txhibition of the Society Exhibition which traveled to Birmingham, Nashville, Montgomery, and New Orleans. of French Artists, Paris, 1928. (Unfortunately its whereabouts are now unknown.) Also in 1933, her Alabama Pines won a certificate in the Alabama Art Teague juried show and was purchased by the Garden Club of Montgomery for the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. In the absence of commercial galleries, these exhibitions were a practical way of putting Carrie's work before potential buyers. As early as 1928, her Birmingham patrons included well-known names such as James W Donnelly, Charles Sharpe, Robert Jemison Jr., Joseph Smolian, C.S. Bissell, and Mrs. Nelson Hill. Her brothers, Robert Ernest and John Scott, also supported her career, buying many of her early works as well as later, well-known canvases such as The Old Mill, Mountain Brook and Summer Afternoon. More importantly, the 74 - Art of the New South

Carrie Hill, Old Mill at Mountain exhibitions also met her goal of exposing people to the edifying and uplifting effects of Brook, 1928, oil on canvas, 34 x art. That is no doubt why she donated paintings to public schools, universities, and libraries 38", collection of Tesley R. Collins. Txhibited on the Southern in Alabama throughout this period. Many public schools in Birmingham had at least two States Art Teague Circuit, 1928. paintings by Carrie Hill and sometimes more. The 1930 senior class ofWoodlawn High School valued her work so much they raised money to buy Alabama Pines and donated it to the school. (Sadly, that very ubiquity—and changing ideas about art—may explain why so many of those donated pieces disappeared from public schools after her death. Preparations for a retrospective exhibition in 1978 found an alarming number of her paintings missing or, in one case, stolen.) The commercial value of her work was certainly understood at the time. According to her niece, Eloise Hill Jones, Birmingham-Southern College accepted two paintings in lieu of cash to help cover Eloise's tuition.57 In addition to belonging to the Alabama Art Teague, the Mississippi Art Association, and the Southern States Art Teague, Carrie was a member of the National Association of Carrie Hill - 75

"Women Painters and Sculptors and the Provincetown Art Association. She also served two terms as first vice-president of the Alabama Art Teague and, in 1938, was appointed a mem­ ber of the Alabama Art Commission by Governor Bibb Graves. The association memberships connected her to a national and regional network of artists, but none engaged her as consistently and significantly as the Birmingham Art Club. From its founding, Carrie Hill was an active and visible member. She served as vice presi­ dent in 1914-1915 and as president in 1922-1923. With Willie McTaughlin, she usually took charge of hanging the annual exhibitions. Throughout the 1930s, her name appears in the minutes. She was always on committees charged with selecting work for the club's permanent collection and, in 1935, she was appointed to a committee to revise the club's constitution.58 In 1939, she and Mrs. Vincent raised concerns about a decline in the quality of membership; technically, members were supposed to sponsor candidates, and the membership committee would decide on whether they were suitable. (The club had grown

Carrie Hill, Landscape, oil on canvas, 38 x 40", collection of Patti Haley Mulock.

FOLLOWING PAGE: Carrie Hill, Alabama Pines, oil on canvas, 33V4 x 27V2", Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts 1933-P-17. Alabama Art Teague Purchase Award, 1933.

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• 76 - Art of the New South Carrie Hill - 77 78 - Art of the New South

Carrie Hill, Pines, oil on canvas, 34 x 34", collection of Nancy OPPOSITE PAGE: Hill Collins. Carrie Hill, Valley View Pines, late 1940s or early 1950s, oil on canvas, 36 x 30", collection of Henry Yarborough (who "asked Auntie to paint PRECEDING PAGE: me a picture of pines"). Carrie Hill, Summer Afternoon, before 1926, oil on canvas, 19 x 22V2", collection of Julius T. Tinn Jr. Included in the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors Txhibit, Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1926. Carrie Hill - 79 80 - Art of the New South

Carrie Hill, Katherine Simmons considerably since 1907, but was still supposed to promote art and artists.) But people Yarborough Home, Homewood, weren't paying dues and weren't taking membership responsibilities seriously. Mrs. Vincent Alabama, oil on canvas, 34 x 40", complained that some members didn't even bother to let the club know they were collection of Tloise Hill Jones. quitting. At the September 30,1939, meeting, Carrie was appointed to draft new rules, but she may have begged off. At the December executive board meeting, Mrs. Vincent was put in charge.59 More than her contemporaries, Carrie received considerable attention from the Birmingham press. Her paintings were often reproduced in the newspaper, and she was the subject of numerous long articles about her work, art in general, and the activities of the Southern States Art Teague. Her comings and goings were considered newsworthy for the society page, and when a reporter needed a comment on some cultural matter, Carrie was Carrie Hill - 81 likely to be the authority quoted. In 1933, she was apparently asked her thoughts on jigsaw puzzles, which peaked in popularity early that year with sales of 10 million a week nation­ wide.60 Her response resulted in a story in the Birmingham Post headlined "Artist Thinks Jigsaw Puzzles Have Awakened Nation's Creative Sense." She attempted to draw a parallel between the popularity of the puzzles and the recent establishment of the National Commission to Advance American Art, arguing that the puzzles taught people to rely on themselves for entertainment, and the new commission would encourage the country to "buy American" when it came to art. There is no indication that she had a role on the com­ mission, but she wholeheartedly supported its goals. "We want to bring about a broader real­ ization of the fact that American artists are and of right ought to be considered equal to any in the world," she said.61 Carrie went on to describe the benefits of jigsaw puzzles, making people more aware of color and its infinite variety. This led to advice encouraging people to decorate their own homes rather than hiring an interior designer. "Only by decorating their own homes will American people learn what constitutes a really beautiful home. By struggling with colors, fabrics, rugs and furniture, they will absorb a certain sense of beauty that would never have been gotten by having the best interior decorators to 'do' their home."62 Beauty was not a luxury; it was essential to life and should be within any­ one's grasp. In 1934, the Birmingham Post initiated a series of articles on "those who are prominent in Birmingham's business, civic and artistic life." Carrie Hill was the second person to be featured. The intention of the series was to reveal the person behind the name, so the reporter took some delight in describing homely eccentricities: "She serves tea to her callers sometimes, but her cups and saucers have a haphazard habit of not matching. She sews when she has to—and even does patching, for which she makes no artistic claims whatever." By this time, her hair was white and she often wore a rose-red dress or scarf to set it off. She shared her studio with a canary and 15 tropical fish and, according to the writer, she found time daily to read the Bible, "her favorite book, for she finds that it is inexhaustible in the new meaning."63 Although artists suffered along with everyone else in the Depression, Carrie enjoyed the honor of being one of four Alabama artists and the only woman to receive painting assign­ ments from the Public Works of Art Projects Division of the Public Works Administration. A. T. Bairnsfather received a commission to paint a portrait of Gen. William C. Gorgas; George Bridges would be improving public buildings with his art; William Sykes would be doing military portraits; and Carrie would be recording the local industrial and other scenes around Birmingham.64 (Nationwide, under the PWA, 3,671 artists produced 15,000 works of art at a cost of about $1,408,381. The program expired April 28,1934.)65 Carrie was commissioned to do murals in a school in Jasper and in the children's read­ ing room of the East Take Tibrary in Birmingham. The East Take mural, restored to its 1937 appearance in 1993, shows the Pied Piper, Tittle Red Riding Hood, Old King Cole, Tittle Bo Peep, and other Mother Goose characters dancing from the pages of an open book. Art conservator John Bertalan noted that Carrie "signed" the mural by painting her own likeness on Mother Goose. Teaching art classes was also part of her work for the government.66 82 - Art of the New South

Carrie Hill, Trussville Furnace, oil on board, I8V2 x 15", collection of 4UL. Patti Haley Mulock.

Assignments for murals in public buildings were awarded through anonymous compe­ titions, and government arts programs awarded commissions without regard to gender as well. For the first time, therefore, women competed on an equal footing with men, outside the dealer/critic/museum system that favored men.67 Gender-blind policies on the part of the government were no guarantee of a gender-blind reception by the public, however. The art critic J. F. Rothermel persisted in interpreting Carrie's paintings in terms of her femininity. Commenting on one of Carrie's paintings displayed at the Birmingham Public Tibrary in 1934, he wrote, "The painting [ofTannehill Furnace] has all the grace and charm of the best of Miss Hill's work, and if there is anything lacking in the treatment of the subject, it is that one somehow wants something more, or besides, grace and charm in a painting of the ruins of that ancient stone furnace...."68 The ability to find beauty in indus­ trial scenes had won her praise 20 years earlier, but now was seen as a fault. The stereotyped Carrie Hill - 83

i

response to a woman's work overlooks the fact that Carrie's handling of paint and color, her Carrie Hill, Storybook Mural, compositions, and her subject matter differed little from those of her mentor and friend, Birmingham Public Tibrary Tast Take Branch, 1937, photograph by George Elmer Browne. Marc Bondarenko. During the last 25 years of her life, Carrie's work focused on scenes of the South and on still lifes and flowers. Thick impasto paint, strong color, and spare compositions distinguish the flower pieces which she may have used as exercises for experimenting with simplified form. Her last major show occurred in 1940 when she was 65, with 12 paintings displayed at the Junior Teague shop. The following year, the Birmingham Public Tibrary held an exhibition of work by Carrie, Eleanor Bridges, Hannah Elliott, and Touise Cone. Thereafter, Carrie continued to teach and to paint, participating with her student Pauline Tidmore in studio tours. As she approached her 80s, she became increasingly frail and, when the steep stairs to her studio became too difficult and dangerous to manage, her family moved her to a nursing home. Six months later, on September 24, 1957, Carrie Hill passed away. In 1935, shortly after Carrie's 60th birthday, she had been honored by the Birmingham Age-Herald with "its orchid of achievement" for her work as an artist. "To one who knows beauty and is able to record with sure touch...Miss Carrie Hill...has long been recording the people, the life and the scenes of Alabama in pencil, crayon, water color and oil. To others she has given of her knowledge to help nurture the spark of genius to bring distinc­ tion to herself and her community"69 After her death, she was remembered with great affection and respect by the community and by the Birmingham Art Club. In her honor, funds were raised for a Carrie Hill Memorial Award to be presented at the Alabama Art Teague show for the best traditional southern landscape. 84 - Art of the New South

Carrie Hill, Floral, oil on canvas, 34 x 34", collection of Tesley R. Collins. Carrie Hill - 85

Carrie Hill, Floral, oil on canvas, 36 x 29V2", collection of Julius T. Tinn Jr.

Carrie Hill, Zinnias, oil on canvas, 19V2 x 247/8", collection of Teslie R. Collins. 86 - Art of the New South

Carrie Hill, Asters, oil on canvas, 343/4 x 373/4", collection of the Alabama Federation of Women's Clubs, Third District. Carrie Hill - 87

Early in her career, newspaper writers had praised her evident devotion to capturing both the natural beauty and the industrial environment of Birmingham. Her paintings expressed "that spirit of love and pride that enabled her to get the best out of every landscape, and which equips her for the novel reputation which she hopes to attain—that of being a strictly Birmingham painter."70 Her European travels in the 1920s broadened her vision and her subject matter, and George Elmer Browne had high praise for her work. "I am going to advise Miss Hill to leave Alabama and come to New York," he told a Birmingham visitor to the city. "Then when you Alabamians see her pictures you will jump for them, and you won't get them for a song either."71 But Carrie Hill never left Birmingham and never abandoned the south­ ern landscape as her primary source of inspiration. Others might seek fame and opportunity in New York, but for Carrie, a career in art was about more than personal success, although she certainly enjoyed that. Her belief in the power of art to improve every aspect of life lay behind all of her work in the state and regional associations and inspired her donations of work to schools and libraries. Carrie would have agreed with the editorial in a Birmingham newspaper that stated "art and music have an incalculable influence in a city achiev ing greatness, because they cultivate the emotions—and the noblest ideals, the s limest instincts of man, are born of his finer emotions."72 Carrie Hill found her purpose in creating beauty to stir those emotions and make her city—and her region—a better and more beautiful, place to live. Carrie Hill, 1923, published in the Alabama Blue Book and Social Register 1929. Birmingham Public Tibrary Tutwiler Collection of Southern History. 88 - Art of the New South

Carrie Hill, Dunes, Camp Walton, Florida, oil on canvas, 34 x 38", OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP: Birmingham Public Tibrary. Resolution of thanks to the artist, 1938. Carrie Hill, Dunes, Camp Walton, Florida, oil on pressboard, 9 x 10", collection of Tloise Hill Jones. This is a study for the finished painting

OPPOSITE PAGE, BOTTOM: Carrie Hill, Intercoastal Waterway, Indian Rocks, Florida, watercolor, 16 x 22V2", collection of Tesley R.Collins. Carrie Hill - 89

Lucille Douglass

ucille Sinclair Douglass was once asked by a reporter, "If you were a man would you OPPOSITE PAGE: choose art as a profession?" "No," she responded immediately, "I should either be an Lucille Douglass, 1896, collection of Teona Templeton (Mrs. Wallace) 1 L aviator or an archaeologist." Perhaps art seemed tame compared to the thrill of Caldwell, Birmingham Public flying over the earth or digging into it to discover the past. Even as an artist, however, she Tibrary Archives 56.2.4.1. managed to live an adventurous life, traveling around the world twice and immersing her­ self in three different cultures. She was a natural anthropologist, insatiably curious about how other people lived; if she didn't court danger, neither did she run from it, and she eagerly accepted opportunities to explore lands little known to tourists of her era. For most of her life, making art was a practical matter of earning a living. It also became a means of com­ munication through which she shared her experiences, particularly her love of the Far East, bringing it to life for American audiences. Assembling the events and chronology of her life into a coherent story, however, is like trying to assemble a puzzle whose pieces are in different boxes. Many reporters interviewed her, friends reminisced about her, and she left some wonderful letters; but the stories often compress time or contradict each other, there are gaps in the records, and some of her own letters are undated. Even the spelling of her name varied, appearing as both Tucile Douglas and Tucille Douglass. What follows is an attempt to reconcile the contradictions and deter­ mine the likely sequences of events and influences, given the resources available. Both the wanderlust and the artistic gifts were awakened early. Born in Tuskegee, Alabama, on November 4, 1878, Tucille was brought up by her maternal grandmother on the family plantation "which, after the ravages of the War Between the States, boasted little in the way of this world's goods."2 Her grandmother ran a private school; after retiring from teaching, she began raising bees for honey and silkworms for silk that she sold to northern manufacturers.3 Tucille's mother, Mary Sinclair Douglas, taught art at the Alabama Confer­ ence Female College (then in Tuskegee and later moved to Montgomery and renamed Huntingdon College4). She presumably gave her daughter her first lessons in drawing. The Douglas family had little money, but its library had survived the war. Tucille recalled curling up in a worn leather chair and devouring volumes on history, especially ancient history5 Her favorite books, however, were a series of travel journals, or records of "vacation rambles" titled Zig-Zag Journeys by Hezekiah Butterworth. One volume of the series was presented to her by a favorite uncle, and it whetted her appetite to see the world. Tooking forward to the time when she could travel, she worked at her studies and, at age 15, graduated from the Alabama Conference Female College, completing both the classical course and the art course. 91 92 - Art of the New South

Lucille Douglass and Hannah Elliott From the time she graduated, Tucille had to earn her own living. Here she benefited in Douglass's Studio, 1907, from the decorative arts movement initiated by Candace Wheeler in New York City in the Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.6.7.9 1870s. This movement aimed to help impoverished middle class women support themselves through the production of needlework, painted china, and other craftwork. At the Female College, Tucille had learned "to draw and to paint innumerable little pink rosebuds on china—miles and miles of them," as she told a reporter later.6 Painting rose borders on the tea sets of family friends earned her the money for train fare to Birmingham in 1899.7 Her father, Walter (or, according to some sources, Walton) Eugene Douglas, was a Confederate veteran, but records do not indicate how he supported the family in Tuskegee. He moved to Birmingham in 1891, when Tucille was 13, and found a job as a mail carrier, rooming in a boarding house until 1895.8 That year, Birmingham city directory records show Walter and a Miss Marian E. Douglas, a teacher at Avondale School, living at 1801 14th Avenue North. Mary Sinclair Douglas and Tucille joined them in 1899. Tucille appears in the directories in 1900 and 1901, listed as an art teacher and artist, but her activities during this period are difficult to reconstruct. Sometime in 1899, she must have visited friends in Van Alstyne, Texas. A letter from her mother to a Mrs. S. S. Dumas dated January 1900 thanks Mrs. Dumas for all her kindness to Tucille. A second letter, written April 8, 1901, notes, "Tucille requested me to write you a note to let you know that she has been quite sick again for the past two weeks.While she is better today, she is not able to even sit up in bed.... She is so worried because she cannot be out of work and every few days someone of her numer­ ous friends wants to know if she is not well enough to do some work for them." The Lucille Douglass — 93 illness, her second in four months, forced her to turn down a job for painting 15 dozen cards for a strawberry luncheon and to miss an art club reception the following week.9 (The Birmingham Art Club had not yet been founded, but this could refer to a short-lived organ­ ization listed only as the Art Club in the city directory.) Tucille was missing from the 1902 city directory, but reappeared in 1903 and in 1904, boarding in Glen Iris and working from a studio in the Watts Building. The Glen Iris area was an elegant, newly developed suburb on the city's Southside. In 1898, businessman and real estate developer Robert Jemison St., had commissioned New York landscape architect Samuel E. Parsons to design a park-like residential development that would ultimately accommodate no more than 20 houses. From Glen Iris, Tucille could take the streetcar to the Watts Building which housed her studio. This four-story, Second-Empire-style building was built in 1888 on the corner of 3rd Avenue and 20th Street. (In 1927, the original building was torn down and replaced with the current Art Deco skyscraper.)10 On February 18, 1906, Tucille's mother died and was taken to Tuskegee for burial.11 After her mother's death, Tucille's father moved to a boarding house and worked for a time as a clerk at First National Bank, but it is difficult to determine whether he had much of a presence in Tucille's life thereafter. From 1907 to 1909, Tucille continued boarding in Glen Iris and working at her Watts Building studio. Here she made watercolor paintings and place cards, painted china to order, and taught china painting. A newspaper reporter visiting the studio in August 1908 poeti­ cally described it as "a cool green corner...on the floor next to the sky and surrounded on the one side by a studio of instrumental music and on the other by the rooms of a prominent vocalist." Large, deep windows on two sides caught any breeze that might blow through. "The green chairs are occupied almost any day one peeps in by a group of art loving, fun loving girls or young women, busily painting."12 Lucille's talents as a teacher were as much in demand as her own work. "But she always has time for a jest," wrote the reporter. "Her humor is unfailing and few women tell a witty story more delightfully. A Birmingham matron said, a few days since, T would go an extra block any day just to speak to her. I always feel happier for it.'"13 Every summer, Lucille traveled to Chicago or New York to study and to bring back new designs for her students or for private commissions.14 During the spring or early summer of 1908, she went to New York to study with an English flower painter, Mrs. Rhoda Holmes Nicholls, and with a teacher of china painting, Miss Mason.15 Lucille herself was famous in Birmingham as a painter of roses, and the walls of her studio were hung with framed studies. Other walls in her studio were lined with shelves bearing painted china pieces—plates, platters, cups and saucers, tureens, tankards, and cream-and-sugar sets. A photo taken in 1907 shows Lucille Douglass and Hannah Elliott in the studio seated on rush chairs studying a sketchpad by the light that pours in through one of the high windows. In another photo, Lucille sits in her studio wearing a high-collared blouse with long, full sleeves and a long skirt with pleats stitched to below the hip. Behind her on an easel is a drawing of an idealized young woman wearing a large hat, one of her famous "Douglass heads." Small watercolor versions of these heads were used for place cards which were marketed by a retail outlet in Cincinnati.16 94 - Art of the New South

^V».

Lucille Douglass, Life Class, New Lucille's commercial work did not interfere with her pursuit of fine art. She still found York City, charcoal on paper, 1908, time to create pastels and oil paintings. In 1908, she entered six pieces in the club's first annual 24V2 x 15," Birmingham Museum 17 of Art 1966.40.6. Gift of Mrs. exhibition: an Italian scene, two flower pictures, two drawings from life, and a watercolor. William A. Woodcock, from the It must have been later that same year that she received a commission to paint place Tstate of Teona Templeton (Mrs. cards for a dinner given in honor of the president of United States Steel Corporation. Wallace) Caldwell. Douglass was a student at the Art Students Teague U.S. Steel had recently purchased Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company (TCI), from fall 1908 to spring 1909. Birmingham's most important employer. Tucille was asked to paint 72 place cards depicting 18 Lucille Douglass, Life Class, New industrial plants in and around the city The fee she received was handsome enough to York City, 1908, charcoal on paper, finance a trip to New York to study at the Art Students League. 24V2 x 15," Birmingham Museum The Art Students League had been founded in 1875 by Paris-trained Lemuel Wilmarth of Art 1966.40. Gift of Mrs. William A. Woodcock, from the and a group of students when the National Academy of Design briefly closed its doors for Tstate of Teona Templeton (Mrs. lack of funds. When the Academy reopened, the students at the league voted to remain inde­ Wallace) Caldwell. pendent and to continue operating "as an innovative, student-controlled school."19 The innovations they instituted included a more rigorous, European-style academic education than the National Academy had been providing. This meant an emphasis on drawing and painting the figure from a live model.20 Women made up half the student body at the league by the 1880s, and over the next few decades, teachers included artists such as William Merritt Chase, Thomas Eakins, George Bellows, and George Luks. Lucille Douglass — 95

Sketches in the Birmingham Museum of Art collection appear to date to this period Lucille Douglass, Life Class, New and show Lucille struggling to master the figure. While studying in New York City, she York City, 1908, charcoal on paper, 24V2 x 15," Birmingham Museum happened to see an exhibit of watercolors by Alexander Robinson (1867-1952), a New of Art 1966.40.93. Gift of Mrs. England artist best known for marine scenes, landscapes, and interiors.21 She asked about the William A. Woodcock, from the Tstate of Teona Templeton (Mrs. artist and learned that he went to Europe every summer, taking six students with him. Wallace) Caldwell. Acting with characteristic determination, she showed up at his doorstep the next morning and informed him, "simply but positively, that she was going abroad with him and his Tucille Douglass, Life Class, 22 New York City, charcoal on paper, classes! She won her place. Six weeks later they sailed." 24V2 x 15," Birmingham Museum For the next few years, until 1911 or 1912, she lived in Europe traveling, sketching, and of Art 1966.40. Gift of Mrs. William A. Woodcock, from the painting. Reportedly, Robinson came to rely on her as his assistant, allowing her to arrange Tstate of Teona Templeton (Mrs. and supervise the class work while he came in "but once or twice a week to give criticisms. Wallace) Caldwell. At the end of her first year, she asked him for a frank summary of her work. 'You have less talent than many' he told her...'but you will go farther than the rest because once you undertake a thing you see it through.'"23 Travel and study with Robinson and his wife also took her to Morocco and Algiers which she compared to the Arabian Nights—"we were invited for coffee with the governor's 14 wives!"24 Lucille then began studying in Paris with Lucien J. Simon (1861-1945) and Richard Miller (1875-1943). Simon was a member of a group called Bande Noire, painters who 96 - Art of the New South

favored the early 19th-century realism of Gustave Courbet.25 Richard E. Miller was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and worked as an illustrator for the St. Louis Post Dispatch before going to Paris in 1898 to enroll in the Academic Julian. In 1901, he began teaching at the rival Academic Colarossi. Miller practiced plein-air impressionism, working outdoors with fellow Americans Guy Rose and Frederick Frieseke at Giverny26 His dual experience as an illustrator and a plein-air painter may have informed some of Lucille's later decisions about her own career. The generation of American women artists before Lucille went to Paris to study for a minimum of a few months in a major studio, "perhaps changing from one master to another periodically to get different instruc­ tion, followed by periods of work outside the city. During summer months, women often traveled to the art colonies dotting the Parisian countryside or jour­ neyed to Spain, Italy, or Holland for studying and copy­ ing."27 Lucille followed the same program during her stay, traveling to Italy and Spain. Summers were spent in Volendam, a tiny Dutch village on the Zuider Zee (today a major tourist attraction as an example of an authentic old fishing village). Lucille's ability to immerse herself in another culture first appears here. "It has grown to be home to me," she wrote in a letter to Birmingham friends. "I have the quaintest little old Dutch house, close under the dyke, for a studio—and I know all the village and love them.... I wear the costume so much I am usually considered to be one of them." She loved fitting in—and having a joke at the expense of the tourists: "How I love to talk Dutch to the perfectly good American tourists—and often they make snapshots of a crowd of us and I am given two pennies like the rest."28

Tucille Douglass, Paris, 1911. In Paris, Lucille entered various exhibitions and had 16 paintings accepted, including Birmingham Public Tibrary pieces in the Salon des Independants and Salon d'Automne in 1911.29 The Salon des Archives 56.2.4.32. Independants, established in 1884, represented a reaction against the rigid academicism of the offical salons. Originally the vehicle for Impressionist painters to show their work, the Salon des Independants also introduced the art world to Gauguin, Cezanne, Matisse, Bonnard, and Seurat.30 The Salon d'Automne represented another anti-establishment effort, organized in 1903 to present the work of emerging artists.31 Lucille's acceptance by both of these salons suggests that her work had moved well beyond traditional academicism.

Her return to America, anticipated in the fall, was announced in the Birmingham Age- Herald with a long article under the heading "Items of Interest in September Society." "Her admirers here and in other places where her pretty watercolors and hand painted china were known will be delighted to welcome her and will also be interested in the paintings, both in oils and watercolor, which will tell of her studies abroad. Miss Douglass is clever and Lucille Douglass — 97 enthusiastic, altogether American in her ideas and one of those cheery, carefree, Bohemian persons who makes of her downtown studio a rendezvous for her friends, whether they possess the art instinct in great or no degree.... Her studio in the Watts building is remem­ bered by many devotees."32 By the spring of 1913, however, Lucille was living in Texas and California.33 She retained her membership in the Birmingham Art Club and sent several pieces painted in Europe for the club's sixth annual exhibition. An Old Volendam Woman, Cleaning Day in Holland, On the Dunes, and pastels done in Spain and Algiers were new to Birmingham audi­ ences and were described as possessing "strength in design and much beauty of color."34 On November 13, 1913, the Birmingham Age-Herald announced a show in the rooms of the Equal Suffrage Association of 30 paintings she had done during five weeks in California.35 On her return to Birmingham in 1914, she seems to have slipped back easily into the life of the city's art community. She picked up where she'd left off five years earlier, teach­ ing, painting, and participating in Birmingham Art Club activities and exhibitions. Working with fellow art club members Carrie Hill, Hannah Elliott, Willie McLaughlin, Delia Dryer, Alice Rumph and Caroline Lovell, she helped paint background curtains for The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. This fund-raising entertainment featured vocalists performing songs based on the poems and was judged a great success for the club. Her poster design won the contest for the club's seventh annual exhibition in 1914 and appeared on the catalogue cover. Described as German in style and executed in purple, orange, black, and white, the poster depicted a furnace and slag pile. Lucille entered 11 pieces in the show, which was the first to be juried, and won the club prize. The newspaper noted that this exhibit was "by far the best ever held in its history." Tucille's prizewinning painting, A Cathedral in Spain, was described as "oriental in architecture and coloring...broadly painted in tempera, a cream dome and red roofs against a deep blue sky, trees with heavy bronze-green foliage in the foreground casting lilac shadows on a stucco wall." 36 (Some 20 years later Tucille would point out to an interviewer that shadow colors depend upon geography. They appear purple in Spain but are blue gray in China.)37 After her immersion in European fine art studies, Lucille might have been expected to leave china painting behind; apparently, however, it still provided a more secure source of income than painting. For the club's 9th annual show in 1916, she entered many examples of china painted in patterns and styles that were described as modern in design and color­ ing. She also hung paintings, "some of her characteristic California scenes."38 She must have had some sales; the Birmingham Art Club minutes for April 1916 state that Lucille was the only artist who paid a commission to the club ($5), so the club voted to return the money to her.39 When the Birmingham Art Club brought a group of miniature paintings, the Cincinnati Thumb Box show, to Birmingham in 1916, Lucille provided the program at the evening reception. Dressed in the Dutch peasant costume she'd worn in Volendam, she talked about Dutch life and customs, bringing the people and place to life for her audi­ ence.40 She had a natural facility for lecturing in a vivid, entertaining, and informative style, and speaking engagements would become an important part of her livelihood in the next two decades. 98 - Art of the New South

Lucille never held office in the Birmingham Art Club but, for the 1916-1917 season, she agreed to serve as program chair. In November 1916, however, she resigned, and Caroline Lovell took over. Lucille had hosted two club meetings in her studio during the 1915-1916 season and welcomed members once again in February, but this may have marked the end of her involvement in club life. By 1916, Europe had been at war for two years. Americans resisted becoming involved, but Germany's campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare helped prompt Congress to declare war on Germany and its allies in April 1917. Lucille seldom spoke about this period in her life and never in detail, but something moved her to take a nursing course at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC She then spent two years working in the psychiatric wards of Army hospitals.41 She may have met philanthropist Anne Tracy Morgan during this period. The daughter of J. Pierpont Morgan, Anne committed her organizational skills and fund- raising abilities to help the French during World War I, collecting and distributing about $5 million in food, medi­ cine, and other relief.42 Although it is not known how their wartime activities might have brought them in contact with

Lucille Douglass in Dutch Dress, each other, Anne Morgan was a valuable friend to Lucille in the last few years of her life. 1916, Birmingham Public Library Immediately after the war, however, Lucille's experience left her drained emotionally and Archives 56.2.4.32. According to 43 the newspaper caption, "Miss physically, and she found she had no energy for returning to her former life. Lucille Douglass appeared in There are varying accounts of what happened next. One says that she ran into a friend, Dutch dress when making an address before guests attending the Robert Paul Gray of Columbia University, who asked what she was doing and suggested reception given by the Tibrary she come help him paint lantern slides for the Methodist Centenary Committee.44 The Board and the Art Club." Centenary Movement, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the first Methodist Episcopal mission founded in America, raised over $53 million in eight days to finance new mission work around the world. To illustrate lectures about their work to church members in the U S., missionaries used lantern slides. These were 3.5 x 4-inch glass plates on which a photographic image was exposed, developed, and then hand-colored with special tints. Projected onto a wall or screen, the image would be richly detailed and easy for large audi­ ences to enjoy45 By projecting double slides with a stereopticon projector, lecturers could give their audiences the experience of three-dimensional images. According to a newspaper story, "When one of the missionaries came back from China and criticized the slides because they were not correctly colored, something had to be done. It was decided by the committee sitting in conference to send someone to China to study the colors at first hand and paint the slides as they should be. Miss Douglass came into the room at the moment that the motion was passed and one of the missionaries said,'Why not send her?'"46 Ten days later, she set sail for China with a three-year contract to "organize the lantern slide department of the Centenary Movement in China."47 The job paid well and Lucille Douglass — 99 gave her the freedom to travel around the country, observing and absorbing the land­ scape and the culture. This was 1920. Did she lay aside the job after a year? Sources agree that, from 1921 to 1924, she worked for the Shanghai Times as an associate editor, writing and illustrating articles on China and its art treasures.48 Traveling in China, with its ancient temples, dramatic landscapes, and exotically different culture, reawakened her desire to paint. The country that rekindled her imagination and revived her creative spirit was in the midst of massive social and political upheaval. The last Manchu Emperor had been forced to abdicate in 1912. Although a republican form of government was established in its place, competing warlords carved the country into regions and fought with each other for supremacy from 1916 to 1927. Intellectual ferment and economic change added to the

Tucille Douglass, Chinese Fishing Boats or Junks, Shanghai, China, 1925. This pen and ink drawing serves as the frontispiece for A Chinese Mirror—Being Reflections of the Reality Behind Appearance, a travel book to China written by Florence Ayscough and illustrated by Tucille Douglass. The author notes, "Many Chinese boats are gaily painted with historical scenes and fabulous creatures, animals and birds. Many have faces at the bow, and nearly all have something that corresponds to an eye." 100 -Art of the New South

Lucille Douglass, The Painted Junk, 1925, printed with colored irides­ cent ink on paper, 6V2 x 415/i6," Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.2.4.35. This illustration served as Douglass's Christmas card.

chaos.49 Western-style capitalism, already gaining a foothold in treaty ports such as Shanghai, challenged the values and business methods of Chinese merchants and manufacturers, creating additional sources of tension. Shanghai was one of the most Westernized of the treaty ports, "a center for Western manufacturing and commerce and the home of thousands ofWesterners who lived according to their own customs and laws in the French Concession and the International Settlement." 50 The foreign section clung to the edge of the Chinese city, "dominated by the tall white flagstaff of Her Majesty's consulate. Its foreign institutions included the club, the race course, and the church. It was ruled by a proper British consul and his colleagues of other nations and protected by squat gunboats off the bund."51 Tucille Douglass — 101

In Shanghai, Lucille lived on a houseboat from which she could explore the lakes and canals around the area. She looked to her servants to teach her about the country's festivals and customs. For the feast of the Kitchen God, for example, "they placed in her kitchen a large tissue paper image of the deity and set before it the best food of the pantry. Then, with great ceremony, they set him on fire. And so, according to their belief, he ascended to heaven to give a good report of the cook who had wisely smeared his lips with sugar in order that his tidings might be sweet. This and other elaborate ceremonies were a constant delight to her." 52

Tucille Douglass, The Painted Junk, Soochow (now Suzhou), China, 1920s, etching, HVs x 8iVi6", The Metropolitan Museum of Art 30.83.4. Gift of Tucille Douglass, 1930. 102 -Art of the New South

will 'iifimmmijtnmninii; "1

Tucille Douglass, Pagoda of Golden Hill Monastery, View Across Foreshore of the Yangtse River, Chin Kiang, China, pen and ink drawing printed in A Chinese Mirror, 1925.

OPPOSITE PAGE: Tucille Douglass, Yellow Crane Tower, Parrot Island,Yangtse River, China, pen and ink drawing (from an 1890 photograph) printed in A Chinese Mirror, 1925.

On a trip to war-torn Chungking (now Chongqing) to do a story for the Shanghai Times, she passed by a yellow temple with a long flight of worn stone steps and felt the pull of the old desire to capture the image on paper. "When, after a lapse of time, she did indeed return, by means of a four hours' journey over the hills by chair, the temple was occupied by rebel soldiers. Not to be routed from her purpose, she informed the officer in command that she came there only for the purpose of sketching. Sketch she did, surrounded by a con­ tingent of the rebel army as interested spectators."53 That intrepid spirit stood her in good stead during the siege of Chung King (Chongqing). Back home in her New York apartment in 1925, she related the story to a reporter. "At the time, fighting, banditry and lawlessness pervaded the province of Szechuen and a strong undercurrent of antagonism existed toward foreigners. After spending the night Tucille Douglass — 103 104 -Art of the New South

with a party of friends on their pontoon on the Chia Ling River, we found ourselves at the somewhat inconvenient hour of 5 in the morning outside the wall of Chunking, where the Yangtze and Chia Ling rivers meet.We faced the frowning portals of the ChaoTien An Men or the Dynasty of Heaven Gate."54 In spite of her party's demands for admittance, the guard refused to open the gates. "When troops began crowding by, she and her friends decided to retreat. "All this time there had been continued firing from across the river," she reported, "and stray bullets seemed to be drawn to our immediate vicinity. A yearning to be somewhere else took possession of me at that moment. In fact, dozens of such places came to my mind as we waited on that steep incline, which seemed to have been designed only for goats. It wasn't so much the aversion to going, but it seemed a trifle undignified to be shot in the back while comfort­ ably seated in a chair. It wasn't sporting."55 Slowly, the porters carrying her and her friends in their sedan chairs backed down between the lines of restless troops and made their way around to another gate on the Tittle River side of the city. "After an hour's parley and much presenting of cards and permits, the chairs were finally allowed to squeeze through the gates. It was a silent and deserted Chungking into which we entered. All shops were shut, the wooden shutters tightly closed and a noticeable absence of signs which ordinarily make the streets colorful. But once inside the walls we breathed freely for the first time in four hours. We sat down to breakfast, Tucille Douglass — 105

Lucille Douglass, Boatmen of the Chasms, between Fu Chou and Chung King,Yangtse River, China, 1925, pen and ink drawing printed in A Chinese Mirror. Ayscough comments, "We passed several flotillas of junks being drawn up- river by gangs of trackers, men har­ nessed to a great bamboo hauser which leads from the mast head."

OPPOSITE PAGE: Tucille Douglass, Flotilla of junks with mainsails and spinnakers billow­ ing forth, between Fu Chou and Chung King,Yangtse River, China, pen and ink drawing printed in A Chinese Mirror, 1925.

famished. Life seemed once more normal—eggs are so normal—when bullets began to enter the room and the meal ended abruptly"56 The city was cut off. Everyone had fled to the hills, and the Women's Foreign Mission Society offered to take in the women of Lucille's party; but the only way to get into the res­ idence was by a ladder to the second story on the side of the building facing gunfire from across the river. The British Consul invited them to stay at the consulate "and we remained there the rest of the week," she recalled. "It was a bit difficult to grasp the reality of the situation in that quiet garden, but the frequent showers of bullets were sharp reminders." Later, an exhibition of pastels and paintings revealed that Lucille had spent much of the time in that garden sketching and painting in spite of the sporadic gunfire.57 On another occasion, Lucille tried to enter a temple that was being used as military headquarters, "when she suddenly found herself at the point of a long steel bayonet in the hands of a guard confronting her. 'It seemed quite absurd,' she declared. 'He was a young boy, no more than 12.... However, I didn't press the point.'" The dry sense of humor and sense of adventure saw her through situations that might make less adaptable tourists panic. On one occasion, she was sketching in the mountains when she realized the train was due and she had no way to get to the station. The usual method of transportation, a hand-carried chair, was unavailable. "The language of the province was strange to her and the English still stranger to the coolies, who surrounded her 106 -Art of the New South Tucille Douglass — 107

Lucille Douglass, Temple of the Jade Emperor, T'ai Shan-The Great Mountain, Shantung (now Shandong), China, pen and ink drawing printed in A Chinese Mirror, 1925. Ayscough notes, "Here the Tmperor Chen Tsung received Tetters from Heaven which were inscribed on jade tablets and com­ memorated by the building of this temple. In 1008 AD, a great sacri­ fice was held and torches placed at intervals from the base to an altar at the summit, creating a con­ tinuous line of flame from top to bottom of the Great Mountain."

OPPOSITE PAGE: Tucille Douglass, Sorceress Gorge, Yangtse River, China, pen and ink drawing printed in A Chinese Mirror, 1925.

Tucille Douglass, Bridge Over Canal, Soochow (now Suzhou), China, pen and ink drawing printed in A Chinese Mirror, 1925. In the 13th century, Marco Polo noted Suzhou's bridges and its canals that substitute for streets.

with the most evident desire to be of assistance. Finally, however, she made known her wishes by sketching an engine....The situation seemed practically hopeless until a look of inspiration dawned on the face of a coolie with a particularly inventive turn of mind. Leaving the wildly gesturing group, he returned in a short time proudly dis­ playing a wheelbarrow." Because it had a single wheel in the middle, however, it kept tipping from side to side under Lucille's weight. So he dashed off, brought back a pig to balance her on the other side, and they wheeled off, arriving at the station in time for her to make the train.58 108 -Art of the New South

Some of the results of her work in China were entered in the Spring Art Exhibition in Shanghai. The reviewer noted, "The impression left by the group of pastels shown by Miss Lucille Douglass is one of force and freedom, a freedom which comes from working under the open sky in many lands. Broadly handled and full of vivid colour her sketches are full of the life and move­ ment of the crowded waterways of China." The reviewer opined that these were surely a foretaste of work to come. "While her sympathetic renderings of bright sunlight and its intense shadows show her to be a realist, yet it is in her portraits of trees that I feel the soul of the painter, they are drawn so understandingly, and though they are poetic in interpretation, they are vigorous in treatment, gripping the soil."59 This special empathy for trees would also be powerfully expressed in her etchings.

Tucille Douglass, A San Pan, China, pen and ink drawing printed in A Chinese Mirror, 1925. Ayscough notes, "Birth, marriage, death . . . took place on these floating dwellings, and the boat population of China is immense."

Tucille Douglass, "Pine-Tree River ofWu, which foreigners call Soochow Creek," China, writing-brush sketch from Autobiography of a Chinese Dog, 1926. The original caption notes, "There are literally 'ten thousand' boats pressed between its banks." Tucille Douglass — 109

Lucille Douglass, The Crowded Hour, Soochow (now Suzhou), China, 1920s, etching, llVs x 815/i6," The Metropolitan Museum of Art 30.83.3. Gift of Tucille Douglass, 1930.

A year later, six pastels were on display in a shop in Shanghai, and an art critic noted, "Art is sexless, and yet our preconseived [sic] ideas are such that the almost inevitable reaction is: 'These were done by a man.' The style is strong and vigorous, the subject treated with blood comprehension, the work of one who admits she has no patience with details." The artist captured the scale of the architecture and its proportions to convey its grandeur. "It is quite hopeless, she maintains, to attempt to paint a country before you know it. At any rate she intends to make her pictures interpretations rather than snapshots." The critic placed her work "among the conservative modernists. The capture of the spirit of 110 -Art of the New South

motion, so greatly desired by the new school, has been achieved by this artist without adopting the grotesque. The virility and vigour of her methods, its mobile qualities, lead one to term it 'viable.' The joyous, bril­ liant note in these paintings is their outstanding qual­ ity, their life and movement arresting the attention."60 Use of the terms "virility" and "vigour" to describe her work indicated that critics were willing to place her on equal footing with her male col­ leagues. Critics usually reserved those descriptions for the work of men. Women artists were expected to produce delicate and sensitive work as befitted their sex; those who defied the stereotyped expectations risked censure. Lucille's globe-trotting lifestyle might have conjured a less-than-feminine image as well. But perhaps through her own attention to appearance, her femininity did not become an issue with critics or writers. The reporter for the Sunday Eagle Magazine made a point of describing her clothes as "dainty," noting that her hair was "cut in the newest of boyish shingles. The musical drawl of the South lingers in her voice. Most striking are her slender, graceful hands,

Lucille Douglass, The Forbidden with their long spatulate fingers, the mark of the true artist. Only her eyes, narrow, slightly City, Peking (Beijing), China, pen tilted at the corners and unfathomable in expression, suggest the woman of the world."61 and ink drawing printed in A Chinese Mirror, 1925. Ayscough By the time Lucille returned home in 1925, she had completed 40 large pastels which describes the illustration as "the went on display at the Anderson Gallery in New York. She also executed 60 illustrations approach through theT'ienAn for A Chinese Mirror by noted travel writer Florence Ayscough, whose 464-page Men (Gate of Heaven's Peace) 62 looking toward the Wu Men (Gate volume was published in the fall of 1925. The images, executed in pen and ink, show of the Sun at its Zenith). Her temples, pagodas, covered bridges, and junks plying calm waters. The compositions are description is based on Japanese photographs made in 1900. dynamic and the drawing bold and vigorous in a style that infuses the illustrations with expressive character. Lucille had probably met Mrs. Ayscough while living in Shanghai. Letters from Mrs. Ayscough to her friend, poet Amy Lowell, in 1923 and 1924, refer to having Amy choose from a set of photos of the Yangtse River so that she could "send the prints to Miss Douglass and get her to colour them."63 Lucille no longer hand-colored lantern slides (except as illus­ trations for her own lectures), but she did tint slides and prints for Mrs. Ayscough as a favor: "It is my only way of repaying her for her kindness to me," she wrote to her friend, Leona Caldwell.64 Lucille's successful collaboration with Mrs. Ayscough on A Chinese Mirror led to a second commission, to produce illustrations for Autobiography of a Chinese Dog, which would be published in 1926. "Working in black and white for the first book prompted Lucille to explore the art of etching. During a 1925-1926 visit with her friends, Wallace and Leona Caldwell, then liv­ ing in Louisville, Kentucky, she began experimenting with this 17th-century printmaking Tucille Douglass — 111 technique.65 The process involves drawing on a resin- or wax-coated metal plate, usually copper, using a sharp needle. The artist then submerges the plate in an acid bath which "bites" the exposed metal. When ink is applied to the plate, it sinks into the etched lines; the artist wipes the excess off the plate's surface, places damp paper over the plate, and runs both through a press to transfer the image. Each pass is a proof, and the artist can rework the plate to refine and alter the image and achieve a range of rich tones.66 When Tucille

Tucille Douglass, Marble Pagoda, China, etching, 915/i6 x 615/i6" The Metropolitan Museum of Art 30.83.1. Gift of Tucille Douglass, 1930. 112 -Art of the New South

submitted a piece to a competition in Chicago and won,67 it confirmed that she'd found her medium; her etchings would bring her fame during her lifetime and earn her the description as one of America's greatest woman etchers.68 Lucille's experiments with etching came at the height of a revival of interest in this printmaking technique. Engraving, which involved scratching into a metal plate with a metal tool, had traditionally been used to reproduce famous paintings; etching, done on a softer, more giving surface, offered painters a way to make original drawings in multiples that could be sold at affordable prices. Artists could learn the technique through apprentice­ ship or, sometimes, classroom instruction, but mature, professional artists like Lucille were more likely to learn on their own, studying manuals or learning from fellow artists. These artists enjoyed "the ease with which they could run the needle over the blackened surface of the copperplate. Nothing, except perhaps lithography, could better serve the skilled drafts­ man as a means of direct expression."69 On October 28, 1926, Lucille set sail on the Empress of Russia, traveling to Southeast Asia with writer Helen Candee. Mrs. Ayscough was also on board, returning to China for the winter. Lucille wrote regularly to her friend, Leona Caldwell, describing in vivid terms the people and places she encountered. She numbered the letters and asked Leona to keep them, as she had hopes of publishing a travel guide at the end of the journey. As they neared Japan, she wrote, "We have had a rotten voyage, one storm after another all the way across. I was frightfully sick—but fortunately few die of that particular illness. I think the real reason was that I was so beastly tired when I left Vancouver. The trip across the Continent did not tend to lessen that fatigue, as I had only a short two weeks— and very hot ones at that—in New York before leaving. A hectic weekend in Chicago about completed the job. I was glad enough to get on board.... Now I am feeling very fit and thoroughly enjoying my glimpses of Japan." She must have been carrying examples of her work with her, because she had letters of introduction to the captain who invited her to have an exhibition in the private dining room. "Count Sano [head of the Japanese Boy Scouts] was immediately interested," she wrote, "and asked if I would consider bringing my work to Tokyo in the spring, if I was invited. It would fit in well with my plans as I do not think it will be possible to get about much in China, unless conditions have changed— although I shall travel up from Hong Kong—and stop to paint at various places. At that time, too, are the spring dances in Nara and Kyoto, which I should love very much to see."70 She and Mrs. Ayscough visited Osaka to see the temple and castles and strolled through the silk shops. "Tomorrow Nagasaki and two days later Shanghai. I shall have a busy day there—only sorry that it is Sunday. I am glad to be back, more glad than I ever dreamed I

Lucille Douglass, Yo Fei, a Chinese could be—it is like coming home and the... worry and pain of the last two years seems a Dog, writing-brush sketch, from nightmare that has passed. I cannot explain it—it just is." What was the source of that worry The Autobiography of a Chinese Dog, 1926. According to Florence and pain? No clues have yet come to light, but her joy at returning to China suggests that Ayscough, Douglass "copied the fear for her physical safety in that war-torn country was not the cause. She continued, "From sketch from a scroll which the time I came on board and my cabin boy took me in hand, it was home. It is not that I belonged to the late Tmpress Dowager, reproduced in Mr. am lazy, but just that out here is time for the real things—time to think, to enjoy life, to be Collier's book Dogs of China and happy—and it is curious but in the East one finds that calm trust and peace that the Japan in Nature and Art." Christians of the West talk so much about—but seldom find—yes, I am glad."71 Tucille Douglass — 113

The warmth of her welcome in Shanghai took her by surprise, with many reporters and friends waiting to greet her. "I did not know that my coming had been so widely heralded," she wrote to Leona later. "After the reporters finished with me I was whisked off to the Astor House," where a friend had arranged a big party and invited everyone she knew in Szechuen. From there, she dashed off to pay calls, have tea with more acquaintances and friends, and then to see Mrs. Ayscough's winter home before returning to the ship to dress for dinner. "It was a very tired person who climbed the companionway on the Russia around two in the morning.. .but it was a wonderful day and one not soon to be forgotten. Hong Kong was a dream of pearl and opal as we steamed up the harbour in the early morning—it is a matchless harbour, encircled by hills of violet and rose and green. We were in the beginning of the tropics—marvelous flowers—in fact Flower Street was a bower of bloom and scent. The great yellow sailed junks skimmed like butterflies over a turquoise sea. I felt that I had not done them justice in my painting. And tomorrow Haiphong and the... land which lives on and on. It is a perfect summer day—a joy to be alive."72 It is ironic that Lucille's reputation rests pri­ marily on her etchings of archaeological ruins; she delighted in color, and her eye carefully noted the rich hues in the landscape and in the clothing people wore. Two days before Christmas Eve, Lucille found time to write to Leona again.

My dear Leona, I have been living such a hectic life between working and travel­ ing and playing that I have not written any letters. The climate of Indo-China is the most trying I have ever encountered—great humidity with high temperature—an oppressive heaviness which brought all the moisture to the surface and left you exhausted with the slightest effort. Angkor is one of the really great experiences of my life, a more intellectual than emotional experience—not that it left me cold, quite the contrary—but it was more of an uplift—an inspiration. Our stay, longer than most tourists, was all too short. Angkor Wat alone requires years of study— living with—understanding—a few days seems but a mockery. I have never had a place affect me so peculiarly. It may be that when my trip with Mrs. Candee is finished I shall go back for a time as long as I can stand it and do further study on the spot. You see the ruins are set in the midst of the jungle which held them in its clutches for so many centuries that it still seems jealous of them. The last afternoon we had in Angkor, we rode up to a small temple on a hill, to watch the sunset. It was a leisurely progress for an elephant moves slowly at first. And we rocked along in the howdah, watching the monkeys overhead and picking the orchids from the overhanging branches of the tamarinds. Suddenly with a last great heave, our patient bearer achieved the hilltop and spread beneath us lay the billowing hilltops of the jungle—a veritable sea of green—from which sprang up the towers of Angkor Wat. I wondered how the French naturalist who discovered this marvel felt when he came upon this scene. He must have felt that he was transported to another world.73

That naturalist was Henri Mouhot, who set out from Saigon in January 1860 in search of a legendary lost city. Struggling through the jungle, he eventually came upon a massive complex of ruins. They proved to be part of a vast royal city, Angkor Thorn, which was built 114 -Art of the New South

74 Lucille Douglass, Evening, Angkor by Khmer King Jayavarman VII (ruled 1181-1220). The Cambodian site incorporated Wat, Cambodia, 1927, etching, many temples, the most famous of which is Angkor Wat, a temple dedicated to the Hindu 97/s x 14," The Metropolitan 75 Museum of Art 30.83.2. Gift of god Vishnu and built in the early 12th century by Suryavarman II. Angkor served as the Lucille Douglass, 1930. Douglass center of an empire that extented across southeast Asia until the 1500s. spent five months at Angkor work­ ing with French archeologists to "The powers that be," as she described them, were so impressed with the work she did document and interpret the ruins at Angkor that the head of the School of Cambodian Arts asked if she would consider of this 22-acre, 12th-century reli­ returning on a mission for the French government to make a series of etchings of Angkor gious center. The French Colonial 76 Government there commissioned Wat and Angkor Thorn. In Bangkok, the head of the state railways gave her a commission the etchings for a major exhibit from the king of Siam for a print of each plate she might make of Angkor and Bangkok. "Of in Paris held in 1931. course after the railway is completed next year the way to Angkor will be through Bangkok,"

OPPOSITE PAGE: she wrote. "I think that we [she and Mrs. Candee] were both glad to start south as social Lucille Douglass, Sunset, Angkor duties are a very great effort in the heat, and Bangkok is as hot as Angkor, not to mention Thorn, 1927', Cambodia, etching, the mosquitos, which are the curse of Indo-China. We had to replenish our wardrobe in 12V2X 15V8,"The Metropolitan Museum of Art 30.98.8. Gift of Bangkok—we are only traveling with hand luggage—and found some very inexpensive Lucille Douglass, 1930. French voile dresses—and bought four each. The perspiration and the damp rotted any silk things we had. Now we are in Singapore, sailing for Java on December 24th." 77 On Christmas Day, Lucille and Mrs. Candee raised a toast to "loved ones at home." She wrote to Leona on January 1,1927, "Our chief diversion was jumping over the equator."78 Tucille Douglass — 115

Ten days later, she and Mrs. Candee began their circuitous trip home. She had been enchanted by Bali and its people, music, and dancers. The Balinese dancers, she wrote to Leona, were "the most marvelous I have seen any where I think in all my life I have never had my senses so dazzled.... I am glad that Bali is the journey's end. I think I should like for life to end so. . . in a blaze of beauty"79 From Bali, they traveled to Batavia and Singapore, with Mrs. Candee continuing to Hong Kong and then home while Lucille returned to Angkor "at the invitation of the French Government. I do not know how long I can stand the heat.The jungle heat is frightful—but I hope to get something worthwhile.... This is the last chapter. Please keep the letters for me." It was not quite the last chapter, however. On January 20, she wrote to Leona to describe her route back to Angkor via the new railway from Bangkok to Cambodia. "I shall be the first European woman to make the trip so I am thrilled.What an adventure—a whole jungle to myself"80 Nearly a month later, she resumed the narrative, declaring to her friend, "I am becoming more convinced every day that if you want a thing and are willing to work 116 -Art of the New South

Lucille Douglass, The Great and wait for it, you are pretty sure to get it. I have always had a suppressed desire...to ride Stairway, Cambodia, 1927, etching, an elephant through the jungle, and hear the trees and underbrush crack." Apparently, the 123/s x 133/4," The Metropolitan Museum of Art 30.98.7. Gift of earlier ride had followed an established track and seemed much tamer than this journey Lucille Douglass, 1930. which took her through the jungle atop a huge monk elephant. "It was wonderful. He pushed aside the saplings and undergrowth like so much grass. The most marvelous feeling of power. It finished my book of adventures."81 She had been working hard in spite of the oppressive, debilitating heat. "I am off every morning at five thirty or six, in at ten thirty, breakfast, siesta until three, out at 4:30, and back for dinner at seven. It is hot in the ruins particularly in the afternoon after the great stones have been exposed to a tropic sun all day. But the autumn colourings are lovely and will be until the rains in April.... I have been so happy this winter, I wish I never had to return."82 Tucille Douglass — 117

Her trip home took her back through Japan during cherry blossom season which she admitted was lovely, but confessed that the country "does not stir me as does China, with its deep tragedy and its splendid beauty.... I hated to leave China, where every day history is being made—not only Chinese history but the history of civilization. Judging from the foreign papers I do not think that this fact is realized in America—hardly more in Europe, except by England—for if Bolshevism holds in China, they can defy the world." She noted that France was sending troops to Indochina and Japan was "stiffening up" in Manchuria. The wartime tensions in the area didn't frighten her—in fact, the very opposite: "I had a very thrilling ten days in Shanghai, which is in full wartime conditions—soldiers, marines, sailors of every nationality. Barbed wire defenses, communication trenches, armoured cars, lorries and ammunition trains—the tense pressure of events—how I wanted to stay but a cable from Stokes called me home. I could do no good anyway, so I came down the harbour through a lane of war chiefs—and through Japan... so the wonderful journey is finished."83 The trip had provided Lucille with a wealth of material for etchings and paintings as well as lectures. She had made studies and etchings of Angkor Wat as well as of later temples at Angkor Thorn built by Jayavarman VII in his early 13th-century building campaign. She also sketched the 12th-century temple complexes at Ta Prohm (a large Buddhist temple that was abandoned and overwhelmed by the jungle), Neak Pean, and Preah Khan.84 Back in the United States, Lucille created 10 dramatic images of the ruins and published them in editions of ten. The prints sold "at the then-staggering publication price of $100 per impression!"85 The etchings and about 24 pastels were exhibited in Washington, DC, in 1928 under the auspices of the French ambas­ sador. Three years later, the etchings were displayed in the French Colonial Exposition in Paris.86 In these etchings, as in her earlier drawings, Lucille often used the classical compositional device of a dark foreground framing a distant view bathed in light. This effectively created a sense of depth and atmosphere. In Evening, Angkor Wat, a tree branch arches across the top of the picture, framing the long horizontal of the temple ruins. The temple and its reflec­ tion are rendered with delicate vertical lines, creating a shimmering effect. In The Great Stairway, Angkor Wat, the moat, terrace, and arched pavilion in the foreground are in deep shadow while light blazes on the central stair and temple entrance at the top. Generalized figures sit, stand, and lounge in the foreground shadows. They are too vague to locate the scene in either past or present, evoking instead a sense of life outside any specific time. Dramatic vertical slashes of shadow define the structure of the ruins at Angkor Thorn in The Tower, Bayon. Velvety black shadows contrast with the sunbathed highlights. Lucille's images were interpretive rather than documentary, but her careful observation conveys the method of construction used to build the massive walls and towers. To achieve a luminous wash of "color," she combined aquatint, another printmaking technique, with etching to achieve tonal grays. In June 1928, Lucille made a short trip to Birmingham, visiting her friend Billy Wilson and his family She also attended an art club meeting at the Country Club. "It gave me a chance to see everyone," she wrote to Leona. "They were extremely nice to me."87 118 -Art of the New South

A second trip to Angkor in 1929 yielded more material for lectures as well as new pastel paintings and etchings. The artwork was exhibited at The Milch Galleries in New York, 1930. Of the pastels, critic Royal Cortissoz wrote in the New York Herald Tribune, "They are emphatically meritorious. They disclose excellent technique, true understanding of a difficult medium, and confirm what this artist has made known before, that she can deal with Eastern picturesqueness without forcing its note....We have never seen modern pictures of the East more artlessly convincing. She knows how to draw and how to make a good composition. Miss Douglass sees her Oriental world always from a well chosen point of view and makes it live."88 Lucille's paintings, pastels, and prints enjoyed broad exposure. They were exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (to which she presented etchings of Cambodian and Chinese scenes), the Congressional Library in Washington, DC, the Rhode Island School of Design, the Minneapolis Museum of Fine Arts, the Addison Gallery of Art in Andover, Massachusetts (1933), Casson Galleries in Boston, the Canadian National Academy in Montreal, the British Museum in London, and the Musee Guimet in Paris. She also continued hand coloring her own lantern slides to use in her lec­ tures. Her firsthand knowledge of the ancient Cambodian ruins and her ability to evoke in words and pictures the life and art of an exotic culture made her a popular speaker. She was one of the first women ever invited to lecture to the faculty at Oxford University in England, addressing them on "Art and Archeology in the East."89 Other illustrated lectures included "Pictures in Lucille Douglass, Photograph by a Floating World," covering Java, Bali, and Cambodia; "A Chinese Scroll," giving a Dubois Studio, Christian Science "color impression of China"; and one on Chinese gardens. Her lecture at the National Monitor, July 14, 1931, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives. 56.2.4.32. Geographic Society in Washington, DC, combined motion pictures and her own hand- colored lantern slides.90 OPPOSITE PAGE: Although essentially rootless, Lucille made her home in New York City when she wasn't Lucille Douglass, Tower, The Bayon, Angkor Thorn, Cambodia, 1927, traveling, and many of her speaking engagements were at clubs and voluntary associations 13 etching, 17 /i6 x 12,"The in the city—the League for Political Education, the China Society of America, the Women's Metropolitan Museum of Art 30.98.10. Gift of Tucille Douglass, University Club, the Colony Club, and the American Woman's Association all enjoyed her 1930. The Bayon temple group presentations. After a lecture at the Colony Club, a friend wrote, "the audience rose as one of the early 13th century includes and surged towards the stage to speak to her."91 The friend "intended to make an engage­ five massive towers with heads of Buddist deities. These heads ment with Tucille after the lecture but it was impossible to get near her because of the were originally gilded. crowd." Outside the city, she spoke at the Woman's City Club in Boston, the Print Club in Philadelphia, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, and in 1930 was invited to appear before the India Society of London.92 In 1933, Lucille revived an old friendship, sharing a studio in New York with fellow printmaker and Birmingham artist Alice Rumph.93 She had also kept in touch with another old Birmingham friend, Mrs. Woodson C. Ezell, who had had a studio in Five Points, too.94 Mrs. Ezell and her daughter, Elizabeth Eades, lived in Andover, Massachusetts, and in the summer of 1935, Lucille asked her friends if she could stay with them. Elizabeth remembers that Lucille "spoke of having 'a tired heart' and wanting to rest." She was, in Lucille Douglass — 119 120 -Art of the New South

Lucille Douglass, Neak Pean, fact, seriously ill with cancer, but never spoke of the disease. A gallant and life-loving 5 Cambodia, 1927, etching, ll /s x spirit, she continued to make plans for a seven-month tour of the East with Anne Tracy 157/8", Birmingham Museum of 95 Art 1954.15. Gift of Mrs. William Morgan and a photographer. The trip was not to be. On August 9,1935, Lucille Douglass A. Woodcock, from the Tstate of passed away. Leona Templeton Caldwell. As she wished, her life was celebrated with a quiet half-hour of music at the cremato­ rium of Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Then, Elizabeth Eades contacted Anne Morgan and conveyed Lucille's desire to have her ashes scattered at Angkor Wat. "It was to me she said her spirit would be earthbound at Angkor, 'the most beautiful place in the world,'" wrote Ms. Eades.96 Miss Morgan secured the assistance of Lady Mary Marston, a friend from Rome, Georgia. Lady Marston traveled to Cambodia in February 1936 with Lucille's ashes and met with Henri Marshal, the French conservator, and his assis­ tant. After much discussion, Lady Marston suggested that the most appropriate place for Lucille's ashes would be in the garden where she had done so much of her artwork. "M. Marchal knew Lucille," she wrote, "and we together felt this would be her desire. So we selected a magnificent mango tree which could forever stand as a living monument to Lucille Douglass — 121 her, and I scattered her ashes in a complete circle round it as a symbol of continuous life."97 Lady Marston sent back to Lucille's friends a diagram of Angkor Wat, with the location of the tree in the garden. Anne Morgan memorialized her friend by establishing an annual art exhibition at the American Woman's Association, to be known as the Lucille Douglass Award Art Show.98 Lucille's legacy was also remembered in Birmingham with a retrospective exhibit in January 1951, cosponsored by the Birmingham Art Club and the Birmingham Historical Society. Her relative obscurity over the last half century can be attributed not only to changing tastes, but also to the specialized nature of her subject matter and the decline of interest in etching after the mid-1930s. Unlike many of her fellow painter-etchers, however, Lucille took basic steps to preserve her reputation. Depositing prints in collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Library of Congress ensured that her work would be documented and archived. There it awaits rediscovery—and a renewed appreciation of the splendid images that testify to an adventurous life.

Alice Rumph

he Birmingham Art Club brought together women who were not of the same OPPOSITE PAGE: economic status and knitted them together into a community of cultural equals. Alice Rumph, Peasant Girl with a Jug, date unknown, watercolor, T Through their commitment to art as personal expression and professional pursuit. Birmingham Museum of Art These women from diverse backgrounds united to support and encourage each other. Alice 1960.14. Gift of Mrs. W Hayden Brooks. Edith Rumph was both co-creator and beneficiary of this community Alice was born in Rome, Georgia, on May 6, 1877, to Cornelius Mandeville Rumph and Mary Mazyque Hume. Cornelius was not a native Georgian, however. Born in Talladega, Alabama, in 1847, he was still living in Talladega in 1870.1 Sometime thereafter, his skills as a carpenter and wood turner took him to Georgia for work. He stayed there until 1887, when the family moved to Birmingham and took up residence at Avenue E (now 5th Avenue South) and 26th Street. Described as the "short route" to Lakeview Park, Avenue E led to one of early Birmingham's popular tourist attractions, a recently developed suburban pleasure resort (now the Highland Golf Course). In the late 19th century, it fea­ tured a hotel, gentleman's cottages, and a boathouse on the banks of a lake that could also be reached by a more leisurely route along a winding boulevard (now Highland Avenue).2 Alice's short biography, on file in the Birmingham Public Library archives, lists a brother, Hugh, and six sisters: Mary, Florence, Julia, Kate, Mildred, and Olive.3 Hugh was older and followed his father's trade as a carpenter. In 1888, the city directory lists him as working for the Alabama Great Southern Railway Company, Ltd. Alice was only 10 and entered the Paul Hayne School. (Carrie Hill would not enter Paul Hayne until 1891, so it's likely they missed each other.) Over the next few years, Alice's father worked with a suc­ cession of partners as a carver or wood turner and mantel manufacturer. It seems likely that the significant residential construction during this period had brought the family to Birmingham in the first place and was sufficient to keep Cornelius busy. In 1893, however, he joined a predessor firm to the Continental Gin Company which manufactured cotton gins. His son, Hugh, had begun working for Robert S. Munger, the Texas inventor and co- founder of the company. (The company, now called Continental Eagle, remains a major manufacturer of cotton gins in Prattville, Alabama.) One of the peculiarities of the city directories is their inconsistency in listing spouses; children do not appear until they are working adults. It must be assumed that Alice and her sisters were still at home along with their mother in the late 1880s and early 1890s. In 1893, when Alice was 16 years old, a Miss Alice E. Rumph appears for the first time in the direc­ tory, living on 22nd Street North and working as manager of Alabama Viavi Com­ pany, a supplier of medicines. Charles J. Rumph also appears, working as a painter at 123 124 -Art of the New South

Continental Gin. Who are these new Rumphs? U.S. census records show that Charles was born in Talladega in 1863; since Alice Edith did not mention a brother named Charles, he may have been an older cousin. The older Alice seems to be Cornelius's ' sister Alice Elizabeth Rumph. She was born in 1843 to William and Frances Rumph of Carlowville, Alabama. The Carlowville Rumphs built a plantation called Melrose in Dallas County in 1840. (The house still stands and was advertised for sale in the Selma Times Journal in 2003.)4 Although their birthplaces were different and Carlowville baptismal records do not include Cornelius, census records from 1930 suggest that Alice Elizabeth and Cornelius were, in fact, siblings.5 Alice Edith's father, there­ fore, may have enjoyed middle to upper-middle class status as a member of the planter class before the Civil War. As an adult after the war, his work as a skilled craftsman in a factory would have removed him from membership in the social elite. Alice Elizabeth, as an unmarried professional woman, represented the new options—and new necessities—facing women after the war, but her choice of career was unusual. Most middle class women in the late 19th century were limited to teaching, nursing, and produc­ ing decorative arts and crafts. Alice Elizabeth's managerial position suggests how quickly things were changing.

Alice Rumph, Notre Dame de Paris, Charles lived with Cornelius and his family until 1899 when he and his wife moved to etching, 36/100, 4V4 x 3W, Woodlawn. Alice Elizabeth boarded elswhere for several years, then moved in with her collection of Frederic T. Smith. brother in 1896 when the family moved to 8th Avenue and 16th Street North. She contin­ ued to live with either Cornelius or Charles the rest of her life. By the time her aunt joined the household, Alice Edith was 19 and had graduated from Central High School. Her sisters, Mary and Florence, entered the work force around this time. Florence taught at Paul Hayne School before marrying. Mary became a social worker and an associate of Dr. George Eaves who battled the tuberculosis epidemic in Birmingham in 1916.6 Alice left no records of when her artistic talents first became apparent, but she was active in Birmingham's art community by 1897. That year, she served as secretary-treasurer of the Birmingham Art League, which had been founded in 1891. This was the city's first documented artists' organization. Unlike the numerous literary clubs in Birmingham, this organization was open to both men and women, and Caroline Lovell served as secretary- treasurer, then vice president. Although the group disbanded in 1898, Alice continued to receive instruction from Mrs. Lovell as well as from Miss Louise Lewis (a sister of Caroline Garland Lewis Montgomery) and from Yale-trained artist William Parrish.7 In 1900, Alice won an art scholarship from her father's employer. Cornelius had been promoted to foreman at Continental Gin and presumably had a secure income, but with four other young daughters still at home, it's not likely that he would have been able to send Alice to Paris. Thus, unlike her peers in the future Birmingham Art Club,Alice gained access Alice Rumph - 125 to the coveted European experience, not through family money or private income, but through a grant based on merit and talent. Would this have put her on a different footing from Hannah Elliott, who went to Paris at the same time with a chap erone and two friends? Neither woman mentions having encountered the other during their time there, and while similar training might compensate for inequalities in socioeconomic status, Hannah Elliott would always seem to move in a world apart from Alice's. Many opportunities for advanced artistic training were available in the United States by 1900—Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York all boasted excellent academies. But the prestige of European train­ ing was still so high, and so prized by American art buyers, that painters and sculptors felt at a disadvantage if they didn't have a tour of European study on their resumes. Alice arrived first in Tondon in time to attend Easter Sunday services at Westminster Abbey and later at St. Paul's Cathedral. She spent the rest of the week visiting galleries, churches, parks and Windsor Castle. After a quick tour through Berlin, she arrived in Paris, where she lodged at the American Club. This she described as "a dismal looking house" in a "dark little street," and she admitted later that it took her awhile to adjust to the city8

Because Alice arrived in May, art school classes were already winding down, so she spent Alice Rumph, 1900s. Birmingham a month settling in, visiting galleries and studying maps of the city to learn her way around. Public Library Archives 56.6.7.10. Surprisingly, she didn't like the Louvre at first, but later apparently came to appreciate its vast resources of artistic models and inspiration. In the summer, everyone left town, so Alice went to Holland and did her first painting abroad. "Aided by the pleasant season," she wrote, " [I] accomplished more than I had dreamed of doing."9 Here, as elsewhere, she took advan­ tage of the opportunity to immerse herself in art and studied the Dutch masters hanging on museum walls. Once fall arrived, Alice began studio work in earnest. She enrolled in the Academie Colarossi, one of the two most popular independent schools in Paris. Its rival, the Academie Julian, had been established in 1868 to prepare students for admission to the government- run Ecole des Beaux-Arts or to other established studios. The method of instruction was similar at both academies and was modeled on the instruction at the Ecole.10 The classical method emphasized line over color; beginners learned to draw by copying engravings, then graduated to drawing from casts of antique sculpture. Once they had proven they could draw, they were allowed to paint from life. In life painting, the emphasis was "on broad description of fundamental forms—values and mass—rather than detail."11 Students learned a system for drawing the figure—count­ ing the number of heads, looking for the plumb line that fell from the ear through the right breast, hip bone, and heel, and so on. Outside class, students were to practice composition by tackling subjects suggested by the professor and looking to masterworks at the Louvre for guidance.12 Professors did not teach so much as critique. Students were expected to learn from each other and from persistent practice. At Academie Julian, students competed weekly; the winners of the weekly competition could compete in the monthly concours. 126 -Art of the New South

Alice Rumph, 15th Century Building, Bayeux, Normandy, etching, 14V4X IT/2", collection of Frederic L. Smith.

"Winners of the monthly competition were allowed to enter more advanced painting com­ petitions, and the winners of these received cash prizes, free tuition, or medals.13 At Academie Colarossi, competitions were less frequent and, unlike Julian, men and women studied together and competed with each other for the same awards. In these mixed classes, women could "work shoulder to shoulder with their brother art students, drawing from the costume or the living model in a common spirit of studenthood and camaraderie!'14 Also, unlike Julian, fees were the same for men and women at Colarossi, about 40 francs for a month of half-days. Elsewhere in Paris, women usually paid more for classes than men did.15 There were at least three classes or cours each day, but students were free to attend only one or two as they chose. The morning class began at 8 a.m. and ended at noon. The Alice Rumph - 127 afternoon class ran from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m., and the evening class met from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. It could be intimidating for women, who were usually in the minority in life classes, and especially for new students, who could be subjected to mild hazing.16 Alice wrote of her experience in Paris that she "found many surprises and some dis­ appointments awaiting me among its academics [sic]. There I studied among students of all nationalities in big, badly ventilated studios, and learned to know the French masters of today that I had heard so much of. Morning was always my time for work, while after­ noons generally found me tired out, and so sick of the studio that I fled to the open air for refuge. It was then we took long rambles through the city, sometimes walking, but oftener on the top of a clumsy omnibus that rattled through the broad boulevards and narrow streets."17 Except for the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, the academies and ateliers had no entrance requirements and offered no degrees. Anyone who could pay the fees could attend classes, and students often dropped in and out of various schools to gain exposure to different teach­ ers. Alice was no exception in sampling several academies and ateliers. During her two winters in the city, she received critiques from Rene Prinet (a member of the Bande Noire), Frederick MacMonnies (an American, best known as a sculptor and figure painter), Alphonse Mucha (the leading figure of Art Nouveau), Leandro Garrido (a plein-air artist influenced by the impressionists), and Paul Leroy (an academic painter). "What it meant to us students," she wrote, "all that work and all those exhibitions and concaves [sic] is more than I can tell here. Suffice it to say that at times it was exciting enough and again all too discouraging. But in that atmosphere of art, and with much of work and success going on about one, hope revives somehow and we go on refreshed." She was among the thousands, she said, who had a painting accepted for the salon at the Grand Palais. This was Dutch Interior, a 14 x 20" watercolor exhibited in 1901. The painting, depicting an old Dutch woman with a little girl seated beside her, was later described as "full of atmosphere and the handling is wonderfully broad and effective."18 (Despite her self-deprecating reference to the painting, Alice must have felt it was one of her best: She also showed it with the AmericanWater Color Society in New York in 1902,the American Woman's Art Association in Paris in 1903, and the Art Institute of Chicago in 1905, and kept it in her personal col­ lection.) But, she said,"Perhaps the most satisfactory point in one's work is reached...when some little studio receives a picture and you begin to paint with your own north light and your own draperies and paintings on the wall, and your own arrangement of models and subjects. In academies one must do what authority dictates, but with the freedom of a pri­ vate studio comes freedom of one's choice of both arrangement and critic."19 Working inde­ pendently, students could arrange for the teacher they most respected to drop in and offer critiques. Alice found this to be a much more satisfactory arrangement. "Work goes on in peace until the critic arrives and even then he is not half so bad as he is in a school with forty other pupils before him when he has finished with you. One long winter working thus in perfect freedom made me wonder why I had not found that haven long before."20

As her three-year tour of European study came to an end, Alice finished by visiting Italy and Switzerland before revisiting Paris and then back to the United States. She returned to her parents' home, now on North 23rd Street, where her sisters Kate, Mary, and Julia were 128 -Art of the New South

Alice Rumph, St. Paul's, New York, etching, 137/s x 103/4", collection of Frederic T. Smith.

still living. Julia was working as a stenographer, and their father was listed as a pattern maker. Alice, now meriting her own listing in the city directory, proudly proclaimed herself an artist and opened her own studio in the Watts Building, where Lucille Douglass also had a studio. Within months after returning home, she must have left again, because she records hav­ ing attended the Chase School in New York City in 1903. Delia Dryer was also enrolled there that fall, and she mentioned in one of her regular letters to her sister that Alice had likened Fifth Avenue in New York to the streets of Paris.21 Delia never referred to Alice being in her classes or visiting "the Colony," however, so although they knew each other, they apparently didn't socialize that fall. (Later, in Birmingham, they shared a studio for a while.) Alice Rumph - 129

In the winter of 1904, Alice settled into teaching art at the Margaret Allen School, a private girls' school in Birmingham. She also must have maintained close contact with the city's network of women artists. In 1908, when Delia Dryer, Willie McLaughlin, and Mamie Montgomery formally estabished the Birmingham Art Club, they elected Caroline Lovell the first president and Alice Rumph the vice president. When the new association held its first annual exhibi­ tion in April 1908, Alice entered six pieces, including a portrait of her sister Olive, some Venetian market views and Venetian boats, and a pair of local landscapes. (Mrs. Lovell owned one Venetian boat scene.) Alice's poster advertising the exhibition was one of two reproduced in the news­ paper. In the summer of 1908, Alice joined Delia, Hannah, and Willie in setting up a cooperative studio where anyone who wanted to participate could contribute toward the cost of a model and sketch from life. After seven years at the Margaret Allen School, Alice sought additional training as a teacher. She went to New York to study at the School of Fine and Applied Arts, where she received a teaching diploma. She then returned to Birmingham and opened a studio in Five Points South, where she taught privately from 1911 to 1914. Alice also maintained "a charming gift shop" near St. Mary's-on-the- Highlands Episcopal Church,22 but it is unknown whether she sold only her own work there or offered items by fellow artists as well. Until 1915, she continued living at home with her family and teaching in the space on 20th Street, but in 1915, the Five Points South studio became both home and workspace. During the 1914-1915 season, Alice served as president of Alice Rumph, Seascape, Italy, 1920s, the Birmingham Art Club, with Carrie Hill as vice-president and Caroline Lovell as pro­ oil on board, 9V2 x 6V2" collection of Frederic L. Smith. gram chair. Alice listed Charles Hawthorne as one of her mentors, but it's not clear when she might have attended his summer art school in Provincetown. Records indicate that she spent every summer from 1903 to 1930 conducting groups of girls on the Grand Tour of Europe.23 She may have had difficulty adjusting to Paris originally, but once smitten, she apparently couldn't stay away. In addition to teaching, Alice painted steadily. Like Carrie Hill, she worked outdoors, capturing Birmingham scenes. For the Birmingham Art Club's sixth annual exhibition, she entered sketches made on Altamont Road and Milner Heights, which the newspaper described as "exquisite."24 A lengthy review of the exhibition mentioned that "Miss Alice Rumph, always a favorite in Birmingham, has, as always, some splendid outdoor things. Miss 130 -Art of the New South

Rumph, though not very large herself, seems inclined toward the big things, big hills, treated in a big way and great distances seeming always to attract her. She is also represented by some crafts work."25 This show also included monotypes she had made in Holland and scenes from the Berkshire Hills which were extolled as "remarkable in their good tone and rich and harmonious coloring. Miss Rumph certainly has caught the spirit of the hills and paints with a poetic imagination founded on real talent."26 This review of the club's show mentions that Alice's younger sister Mildred had entered "some lovely studies in still life which deserve more than passing notice." For the club's seventh annual exhibition, Alice submitted a painting titled Summer People. Awarded an honorable mention and reproduced in the catalogue, it was described in the newspaper as "a picture of graceful sweeping lines, full of a feeling of fleeting light and shade and the blue bloom of a hazy atmosphere. The figures, in shadowy white, are windblown, and you can almost feel the cool Alice Rumph - 131 breeze and see the cloud shadows floating across the daisy fields."27 From 1924 to 1943, she exhibited watercolors and pastels in venues that included the Art Institute of Chicago, the Philadelphia Water Color Society, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the 28 Southern States Art League (her entry in 1939 won a prize). The subjects ranged from OPPOSITE PAGE TOP: European scenes (Luxembourg Gardens, Breton Markets, Old Paris Houses) to flower studies and local Alice Rumph, Summer People. From the Catalogue of the Seventh scenes (Old Mill, Mapelwood, New Jersey, North Carolina Cabin, and Near Old Lyme, Connecticut). Annual Exhibition of the Birmingham Like Lucille Douglass, Alice apparently found opportunities limited in Birmingham. In Art Club, 1914, Birmingham Public Library Tutwiler Collection of 1916, she moved to Virginia and taught for two years at Hollins College, a prestigious girls' Southern History. school. Over the next three years, she held one-year assignments at St. Genevieve's School in Asheville, North Carolina; Miss Veltin's School for Girls in New York City; and Park OPPOSITE PAGE, BOTTOM: Mildred Rumph, Still Life. From the School in Roland Park, Baltimore. In 1922, she joined the staff of Miss Beard's School in Catalogue of the Seventh Annual Orange, New Jersey, and remained there until her retirement in 1942.29 She may not have Exhibition of the Birmingham Art Club, 1914, Birmingham Public taught full-time, however; in 1933, she shared a New York City studio with Lucille Library Tutwiler Collection of Douglass, and the 1936-1937 edition of Who's Who in American Art lists her address as 225 Southern History. "West 14th Street in New York, with summers at Miss Beard's. Alice Rumph, Stratford Hall, Va. Lee Alice had experimented with printmaking during trips to Europe as evidenced by the Home, etching, 8x11," collection monotypes entered in the 1913 Birmingham Art Club exhibition. How she learned of Frederic T. Smith. 132 -Art of the New South

Alice Rumph, Old Tubber House Charleston S.C, 1934, etching, 103/4 x 97/8", collection of Frederic T. Smith.

etching or what drew her to this medium remains a mystery, but she began exhibiting regularly in 1930. Every year, she had a print accepted into exhibitions, including the Brooklyn Society of Etchers, the Philadelphia Print Club, the American Society of Etchers, the New York Water Color Club, the Pennsylvania Academy, and the Cleveland International. Her etching of White Abbey was accepted for the Chicago Century of Progress exhibition in 1934; Old NewYork Stairway was shown at the New York World's Fair (1939); and she had a piece included in the "One Hundred Best Prints of the Year" in 1939.30 Her subjects were typically architectural—Notre Dame in Paris, St. Paul's in New York, the Manigault House and the Old Tubber House in Charleston, South Carolina, and Stratford Alice Rumph - 133

Hall in Virginia. Her most commercially successful series depicted landmarks in Colonial Alice Rumph, Coke-Garrett House, "Williamsburg, Virginia. She began these etchings in or before 1934. In that year, Colonial hand-colored etching, Rockefeller Library, Colonial Williamsburg Williamsburg Foundation opened a gift shop, and Alice contacted the public relations direc­ Foundation, Accession # 1973-213, tor, a Mr. Norton, about placing her etchings there. Mr. Norton apparently recommended Negative # C1977-1060.The resi­ dence is currently home to the Alice for a Guggenheim Art Fellowship to produce etchings that could be used as an exten­ president of Colonial Williamsburg. sion of the Foundation's educational work.31 Whether she received the fellowship is not recorded, but in February 1936 Alice gave two etchings, Raleigh Tavern Doorway and The Powder Horn, and a copperplate to the Foundation.32 The Colonial Williamsburg series sold well into the 1950s, providing Alice with "pin money"33 Alice Rumph passed away in Alabama on August 29, 1957, after a long illness. Her nephews served as pallbearers, and the family asked that contributions be made to the Alabama Association for Mental Health—a request that raises questions about Alice's illness but offers no answers.34 Like Lucille Douglass, Alice Rumph discovered the art of etching after she had already established herself as a successful watercolorist. Artists who were mature "converts" to etching usually learned from other artists; these practitioners found themselves attracted to the medium either because they enjoyed its expressive possibilities or because it was an 134 -Art of the New South

35 Alice Rumph, Colonial Kitchen, effective way to supplement income. For Alice, long a watercolorist, the emphasis on lin­ Stratford Hall, etching, 5 x 7", ear drawing and the rich tonalities possible in working with black and white may have collection of Frederic T. Smith. opened up new creative possibilities, but she no doubt appreciated the financial aspect as OPPOSITE PAGE; well. If she is not as well known today as she should be, it may be because she took no steps Alice Rumph, Lake Storm, Florida, to ensure the survival of her artistic reputation. As authors Gladys and Kurt Lang note, etching, 103/s x 83/4", collection of Frederic T. Smith. "Artists can help preserve their reputations by providing for proper custodianship of their work. Most commonly, etchers present impressions to print rooms in libraries and museums, which improves the likelihood that these will physically survive."36 In addition, the Langs' study of men and women etchers in the 19th and early 20th centuries showed that women generally did not do as good a job of keeping records as men did. Careful notes about each print, the number and dates of impressions, and proper titles are essential for both scholars and collectors; but all too often, women artists overlooked the task of recordkeeping.37 It's as if women immersed themselves in the making of art but did not take themselves seri­ ously enough to worry about their name and fame surviving them. Alice enjoyed success with her etchings during her lifetime and for her, perhaps, that was enough. Alice Rumph - 135

Ve\h Dryer

elia Dryer's family used to tease her that she would have become a famous artist if OPPOSITE PAGE: she hadn't had an independent income. She received an excellent art education Delia Dryer, Self Portrait, Illustration Class at the New York and painted prolific ally, but she did little to promote herself or her work. As a result, D School of Art, 1904-1906, pastel on her most enduring legacy to Birmingham is not a body of work, but her leading role in paper, 24 x 18", unsigned, collec­ establishing the Birmingham Art Club (today's Birmingham Art Association). Important to tion of Janie Morgan Johansen. the cultural life of the city in its own right, the club played a crucial role in securing the eventual establishment of the Birmingham Museum of Art, now the largest municipal museum of fine arts in the Southeast. The club came into being as a result of Delia's enthu­ siasm for belonging to a community of artists. Like Lucille Douglass, Delia came from Tuskegee, Alabama, but she was eight years older, born on January 15,1867. Her grandfather had been a planter who came to Alabama from Milledgeville, Georgia. Tittle is known about her mother, Nancy Chambless Dryer, but her father,Thomas Bailey Dryer (1830-1881), came from a family that could trace its line­ age through his mother's line to Betty Washington, sister of George Washington. (From there, the line ran across the Atlantic and back again, to John Washington of England who settled in Virginia in 1656.) Thomas also participated in the California Gold Rush and returned to Alabama to fight in the Civil War as a captain of the Tuskegee Zouaves of the Old Fourth Alabama. Just before his death, he was also named a commissioner of the Tuskegee Institute, established by Booker T. Washington in 1881. Growing up in Tuskegee with her sister and three brothers, Delia knew Lucille Douglass. Although they socialized, they were not close, but both attended the Alabama Conference Female College (later moved to Montgomery and renamed Huntingdon College). This school, founded by the Methodist Church in 1854 as the Tuskegee Female College, had primary, preparatory and collegiate departments. To enter as a freshman, girls had to be at least 14 years old, competent in spelling, reading, grammar, penmanship, word analysis, arithmetic and common and decimal fractions. They also needed to know the his­ tory of the United States and Latin grammar.1 In other words, girls had to be well educated before entering for further training. Once accepted, they would acquire a broad classical education, including the history of England and France, English literature and French plays, Latin, French or German, readings in Caesar and Virgil, mythology, rhetoric, physiology, mathematics, botany, chemistry, geography, moral science, and logic. The school's goal was for all students to receive a well-rounded education. Therefore, all of the girls were required to take classes in art and music to develop their aesthetic sense. According to the school's catalogue, music and art "furnish a wholesome discipline to the taste, give discrimination to 137 138 -Art of the New South

the judgment, call out the dormant creative faculties, fill the mind with ennobling concep­ tions and promote the higher forms of intellectual growth."2 In Delia's case, art classes identified real talent. According to a typed memoir submitted to the Birmingham Public Library in 1942, she took music lessons because her father wanted her to, but "every Friday the whole school was given an art lesson and out of the whole school a few were chosen to study in the regular art class."3 Delia was one of three selected. The art school's regular curriculum included a course in linear work—lines, outlines, geometric figures and pencil shading; one in elementary perspective, charcoal sketching from casts, drawing in crayon, and pastels; and a third in watercolor and ink studies, landscape and figure painting in oil, and portraits in crayon and oil.4 The school also offered decorative painting (china, pottery, satin, velvet, and so on). Delia took art classes, but she graduated in the classical course in 1884. Her older brother, Edmund Hoyt Dryer, had graduated from Park High School in Tuskegee and went on to become a judge and referee in bankruptcy court.5 Her sister, Orena ("Rena"), and her two other brothers, Percy and James, may still have been of school age when, shortly after Delia's graduation, the family moved to Birmingham. They appear in the city directory in 1893 when Delia's mother is listed as running a boarding house at 1820 6th Avenue. In 1897, they moved to 1916 5th Avenue, which was also identified as a boarding house. Delia may have joined the Birmingham Art League in the late 1890s and taken lessons from Caroline Lovell, but her opportunity to pursue more advanced study didn't come until 1903. Her mother passed away in 1901 and, in 1902, Rena married Robert James Williams, who worked for the Birmingham Rail and Locomotive Company. Evidence suggests that Delia's mother had left the boarding house to her and, with her little sister married, Delia was now free to continue her education. Financing came by way of income from the house. Comments in letters she wrote to Rena suggest that she rented the house to someone who continued running it as a boarding house. As owner, Delia remained responsible for taxes and maintenance. Income from renting the house went into an account from which her brother James would send Delia enough to cover her living expenses (in New York City, these proved to be about $30 to $35 a month on average).6 A letter from January 1904 notes, "Mrs. Mc Junkins has taken the house—I do hope she will make a success of it. You had better tell Brother Jim not to let her get behind for you know she left Atlanta owing every­ body. She may have been very unfortunate, however, as I mustn't judge harshly"7 In November 1905, she wrote to James that she was out of money; the year's tuition of $110 had used all of her resources. "I don't suppose Mrs. Mc Junkins has paid for November yet, but maybe you will advance me my allowance until she pays." Her brother Ed sent her a check at least once as a gift to help her financially8

OPPOSITE PAGE: New York was by far the most popular destination for Birmingham women seeking Delia Dryer, Figure Study, education and professional opportunities. Delia chose to attend the New York School of Art Illustration Class, New York, which had been founded in 1896 by William Merritt Chase as the Chase School of Art. The 1904-1906, oil on canvas, 20 x 13", collection of Martin Williams. name changed in 1898, but Chase continued teaching there until 1907. Chase was one of the most important painters in America at the turn of the century, a realist known for his bravura brushwork and his commitment to plein-air painting. He was also a highly influen­ tial teacher. His Shinnecock Summer School of Art, which operated from 1891 to 1902, was Delia Dryer - 139 a« I^^^H

I 140 -Art of the New South

Delia Dryer, Figure Study, Illustration Class, New York, 1904- 1906, pastel on paper, 20 x 13", collection of Martin Williams.

the first summer art school to focus on painting out of doors.9 Chase taught his students (a large percentage of whom were women) "to observe and paint the beauty of what is seen.... Chase opened the eyes of the American artist to the simple beauty of everyday subjects in nature, as opposed to the awe-inspiring dramatic depiction of our natural wonders by the Hudson River School."10 Delia Dryer - 141

In his New York school, students in the illustration class worked from live models, often dressed in costume. Life classes (working from nude models) included a con­ tour class in which students had 25 minutes to sketch the model. As Delia described the procedure to her sister, only thirty students were allowed to enter the class at a time. At the end of the month, each student would be given a rank from one to twenty on the basis of his or her sketches. The remaining ten had to leave and allow ten new students to enter the class. "Of course the class is made up of mostly the advanced pupils," she wrote, "so I was prepared for the worst." She had only been enrolled in the school a few months. "Imagine my surprise when some of the girls rushed up to congratulate, telling me that the names had been posted on the bulletin board and that I was number three. Why I was wild with joy"11 The following month, however, she dropped to number 13. "Well I'm still in it," she wrote, "and shall endeavor to do a master-piece [sic] this month, so look out. Mr. Chase says if we did the same grade of work all the time we would only be mediocre, that all true artists do bad things as well as good, so I'm comforted."12 Although she had classes and critiques with Chase, Delia's primary instructor was Francis Luis Mora (1874- 1940). A Uruguayan/American portraitist, illustrator, and muralist, Mora had studied at the Boston Museum School and the Art Students' League. He was popular with the stu­ dents and gave Delia encouraging critiques on her work. In a letter postmarked November 1, 1903, she wrote to Rena, "the school is to have an exhibition soon and Mr. Mora told us to bring in our illustration work for him to select from. I carried in five and Delia Dryer, Figure Study, he took four." Between illustration and life classes, she worked until 4:30 p.m. on Mondays Illustration Class, New York, 1904-1906, pastel on paper, and Fridays and until 6:30 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.13 20 x 13", collection of Martin After a few months, Mora had to give up the illustration class, but continued with the Williams. morning life class. Delia had the option of taking illustration from either Clifford Carleton, a New York artist known for his illustrations, or Edmond Penfield. "I'm crazy about his work," she said of Penfield. "I may join his class instead of staying with Carlton (sic)."14 In January 1904, Mora was commissioned to decorate the Michigan State Building for the St. Louis Exposition, and Carleton moved south for his health, so a new teacher came in to do the critiques for both morning and afternoon classes. "Mr. [Lawton] Parker...is just back from Paris where he has founded and owns a big art school," Delia wrote to Rena. '"They say' he is very fine and gets $5000.00 for a portrait." He changed the method of assigning places on Monday mornings, however, and Delia wasn't sure she liked the new system. 142 -Art of the New South Delia Dryer - 143

Delia Dryer, Figure Study, Illustration Class, New York, 1904- 1906, charcoal on paper, 20 x 13", collection of Martin Williams.

OPPOSITE PAGE: Delia Dryer, Figure Study, Illustration Class, New York, 1904- 1906, watercolor on paper, 20 x 13", collection of Martin Williams. 144 -Art of the New South

Because of the number of students taking each class, the room would be so crowded with easels that a method for assigning spots was devised to give everyone a fair chance at a good view. "Formerly the roll was called (leaving off three names each mark and putting them at the tail end) and the pupils would take places as their names were called," she explained to Rena. "This you see gives everybody—new and old—a chance to get a good place. Now Mr. Parker says the strong work­ ers ought to have the best places for the beginners learn more from the good work in the room than they can learn from a teacher...."15 Parker graded all of the students to determine the place assign­ ments, and Delia had to admit she was pleased to be in the top five and so assured of a good spot. Robert Henri critiqued classes for two weeks that term. Best known today as the leader of the Ash Can School or "The Eight," Henri had received the best academic training America and Paris could offer, studying at the Pennsylvania / Academy of the Fine Arts, the Academie Julian in Paris with William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury, and at the Ecole des Beaux- Arts. Henri's style went even further than Chase's in the use of slashing, bold brushstrokes to convey vigorous energy. In his choice of subject matter, Henri broke completely with academic tradition to embrace gritty scenes of urban life. He "encour­ aged his students to have confidence in their own instincts and to focus with sympathy on their subjects."16 Artist Stuart Davis, who ultimately fl became one of America's leading abstractionists, later described Henri's philosophy: "Art was not a matter of rules and techniques, or the search for an absolute ideal of beauty. It was the expression of 17 Delia Dryer, Figure Study, ideas and emotions about the life of the time." Delia remained immune to his Illustration Class, New York, 1904- influence stylistically, but she wrote to Rena about that two-week stint, "We did like him 1906, pastel on paper, 20 x 13", very much. He rides us hard for us to 'think.' He says our hands and eyes are miracles and collection of Martin Williams. in order to do great things we must put our minds to work and force hands and eyes to do its bidding."18 Delia worked with dedication in class, but also took advantage of the rich cultural opportunities New York had to offer. In her free time, she visited museums and galleries as Delia Dryer - 145 well as special exhibitions open to her as a student of the New York School of Art. On one occasion, William Merritt Chase led a group of students, including Delia, through a portrait show featuring Rembrandts, a Velazquez, and other masters. In March 1904, she wrote of seeing the exhibition of the Society of American Painters, where she saw "some glorious paintings...two Sargents' [sic] and one of them appealed particularly to me. It is the three Misses Hunter... .Then Mr. Chase has two very important canvases, and there is a full length portrait of Mrs. Henri by Mr. Henri that I'm wild about, and Mr. Mora, too, has distin­ guished himself. His is called 'Twilight.' It is a woman sitting by the library table in a big armchair, and the maid is lighting the lamp."19 In addition to taking in the visual arts, Delia went to the theatre and to concerts, indulged in window shopping expeditions along Fifth Avenue, and even attended a ball at "West Point. Her companions for these activities were usually one or more of her house­ mates, a group of about 10 women who laughingly referred to themselves as the bachelor maids. Forming a cohesive group they called "the Colony," the women shared rent, house­ keeping duties, and kitchen duty. All were from the South, most from Alabama and a few from Texas. At least one was a vocal student and one was a writer. Nell Powell from Alabama attended classes with Delia. Willie McLaughlin, whom Delia called Billie, joined the Colony for parts of the three years, but attended the Art Students League rather than Chase's school. With a network of social ties reaching back home to Texas and Alabama as well as to relatives and friends in the Northeast, the group enjoyed a busy social life. "I want to tell you," Delia wrote to Rena, "that the Alabama Colony with the Texas contingent had sev­ enteen callers last Sunday afternoon, 12 males and 5 females. I fear the people under us think we had a party, but really we were not expecting a soul and I was dressing as hard as I could clip it to go to the Metropolitan Museum."20 Delia wrote to her sister weekly and less reg­ ularly to her brothers and a long list of friends in Alabama, Texas, and New York. Through her correspondence and visits, she nurtured important relationships that remained strong in spite of distance. Classes ended in May, and Delia told her sister that Mr. Mora instructed them to con­ tinue working through the summer. She and Nell Powell had "wild dreams of a work room (I shall dignify it with studio yet) in Mr. Powell's church house," she wrote. As the end of the term approached, Chase praised a study of Delia's as "well painted," but added, Delia said, that it was "such a pity that I had one foot too small. Mr. Mora was tickled that Mr. Chase liked them, and made me fix the foot, as he wanted both studies (Nell's and mine) to be in the final exhibition."21 Delia ended up with four life paintings in the exhibition and many sketches from the illustration class.22 "Mr. Mora asked the other day if I was coming back," she wrote to Rena, "and when I said yes, he really seemed glad and said he was 'delighted' for he wanted a nucleus for a strong painting class next winter and that he was going to try to have it limited. He said he would have good things to show if he could have Miss Hillsdale, Miss Hughes, Miss Pope, Miss Powell, and Miss Dryer."23 Delia spent the summer with her sister and brother-in-law. When she returned to New York in the fall of 1904, the Colony had relocated to new apartments on West 51st Street. "The rooms are all larger," she wrote to Rena, "and it is such a nice street. We are all busy 146 -Art of the New South

as bees fixing up our rooms and everything will be lovely soon. Nell and I have just stained our floor a dark green. The walls bring a light bluish green— woodwork all white."24 In addition to painting with Mora in the morn­ ings, she had a new teacher in the afternoons, Mr. Hitchcock, who seemed to be a hard critic. Nell was discouraged, but Delia wrote with wry humor, "I like Mr. Hitchcock pretty well [even] if he did tell me that my lady looked as though she had jaundice and wasn't very well drawn. He told me to show it to Chase so he just might have seen something interesting, although he failed to tell me about it."25 She and all her house­ mates had also signed up for a French course at Columbia College. Hitchcock pressed students to finish illustrations as if they were to be submitted for publication. Regular models were employed who would dress in costume to represent themes such as The Fortune-teller. Of one reg­ ular model, she wrote to Rena, "I had the exquisite pleasure of trying to paint Corsi in a gorgeous red vel­ vet costume of ye olden time. He is such a superb model.... He is a grand actor.Why when he stepped out and drew his sword, I'm sure he saw his antagonist before him, and he saw [him] there the whole three mornings that he posed [,] for his interest never flags."26 Near the end of the fall 1904 term, Delia wrote to Rena, "I actually had a pat on the back (meta­ phorically) from Mr. Hitchcock. He had us make a full-fledged illustration. When he came round "Wednesday he simply tore me up, and I hardly had the nerve to see him Friday. I did however, and he said he was very much pleased, and that my picture had quite a storytelling gravity, which was necessary in illustrat­ ing, and that there was really something dramatic in the old fortune-teller. Don't for a moment however, think that he didn't give me a few knocks for I assure you he did."27 He asked her to work in oil the follow­

Delia Dryer, Fortune-teller, ing week. "Mr. Mora gave me quite a nice criticism too—then I had a criticism from Illustration Class, New York, Mr. Connak on a little one-hour pastel sketch made in his room." Connak's comments con­ December 1904, pastel on sisted of euphemisms for disapproval: "He said I handled pastels very interestingly, and that paper, 20 x 13", collection of Martin Williams. I had a very clever sketch. I must explain to you here, that none of the critics approve of clever sketches. They say in doing things cleverly you make a lot out of small things, and that Delia Dryer - 147 makes an attractive study, when you really haven't studied your subject in a big way"28 Willie McLaughlin rejoined the Colony in January 1905, and Delia's sister-in-law, Lucy Williams, came for an extended visit. In February, the shop windows were already dressed in anticipa­ tion of spring, and Delia wrote with delight, "Yesterday Billie and I took in Fifth Avenue and 'twas simply great. The shop windows are really entrancing.... Our objective point, however, was the art galleries on 34th and 35th Streets. Such a delight­ ful exhibition of F. Hopkins on Smith's water colors did we see. O it simply makes one wild to do things. Then we saw an exhibition of oils, pastels and water colors of Childe Hassam, and I must confess we went to scoff for neither of us had ever seen anything of his that we liked, but we saw some very charming things, and I was really afraid Billie would hide one little street scene under her coat and walk off with it."29 From time to time, Chase did demonstration paintings for the classes, dazzling them with his seemingly effortless, rapid execution of the subject. Early in 1905, she wrote, "Last Monday we had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Chase paint.... After painting for forty-five minutes, he Delia Dryer, Study, Illustration threw up his hands and said, 'Well, 'tis time for a rest!'"30 To impress upon the students the Class, oil on canvas, 28V2 x 25", collection of Martin Williams. importance and value of still life, he told them that the Corcoran Art Gallery had just pur­ chased his most recent fish picture for $2,000. Chase always advised his students to price their work high because "he realized...that Americans often measured the quality of an object by how much it costs."31 A few months later, he demonstrated portrait painting, and Mora demonstrated for his life class too. In May, as classes drew to a close, the school learned that Mora would be going abroad for the summer and fall, so Chase took over his life class. Delia felt this was a great compli­ ment to Mora and expressed her opinion that, if anyone of less stature than Chase had taken over, the school would have lost students to the Art League. In the fall of 1905, the Colony set up housekeeping at 360 West 58th Street and Delia took classes with Edmond Penfield and Clifford Carleton. "I have had a fine week at school and a most gratifying criticism from Mr. Penfield. He made me feel as though I really did know something," she wrote.32 She had life class critiques from Chase on Saturday morn­ ings. In October, Delia was singled out for recognition by being appointed monitor for the women's life class, "my remuneration for which," she wrote, "is the year's tuition in the Henri composition class. The monitress is supposed to be an advanced pupil and has few duties and some privileges, for instance she poses the model and has first choice of place."33 148 -Art of the New South

Delia Dryer, Figure Study, Illustration Class, charcoal on paper, 18 x 13", collection of Martin Williams.

She seemed to take her success in stride. At one life-study critique, Connak looked at her study and said,'"Miss Dryer I will ask you to save that study, it is very serious and I have great respect for it.'" Her only comment to Rena was, "Don't you think that was nice? He wanted it kept for the exhibition which comes off next Saturday and Sunday. Then Mr. Henri gave me an awfully good crit, on a portrait done in his room, my first attempt. I'm dividing my afternoon work between the head class and the illustration, so if we have an interesting model, I shall work in Penfield's room next week."34 In January, however, in spite of her best efforts, Connak told her that her portrait of a woman (her friend Marie, filling in for the sick model) was "superficial and sweet." Although Delia Dryer - 149

Chase's remarks were kinder, she painted a study over it the following week and received "a Delia Dryer, In Central Park, New dream of a crit from Mr. Henri. He said it was a most interesting study, strong and well York, 1904-1906, oil on canvas, 20 x 24", collection of Martin painted, and that I had gotten the humor and humanity of the old face, and that he was con­ Williams. vinced that I had a great deal of natural ability"35 (Chase made a sketch of Marie, who "liked to have had a nervous prostration" over the attention from the master.) Two weeks later Mr. Henri praised her again for her talent and ability, describing her work as "interesting and very serious," but he encouraged her to be more assertive and forceful and "to 'break loose.'"36 The art school offered students complete freedom to drop in and out of classes as they pleased, although some consistency might be helpful to compete for a spot in the exhibi­ tions. This pattern imitated the approach of the Parisian academies that attracted so many foreign students. Taking classes from both Chase and Henri exposed Delia to two opposing theories regarding the use of color. Chase employed the '"full palette'—all colors were 150 -Art of the New South

spread out on his painting board; Henri used the 'simple palette,' where only a few colors were used."37 Fellow students George Bellows and Rockwell Kent, an illustrator, author, and social activist, adhered to the simple palette, but Delia didn't seem to be impressed by their argu­ ments.38 In her letters, Delia refers to dances organ­ ized by the school, but she didn't write to Rena about her fellow students. Later, after several of them became famous, she told a biographer that her classmates had included Guy Pene Du Bois, George Bellows, Rockwell Kent, and Walter Tittle. They were some 15 years younger than she: Bellows was about 18, Kent in his early 20s, while Delia was 36 when she first enrolled in the New York School of Art. Delia apparently finished the 1906 spring term, then returned to Birmingham. In the sum­ mer of 1907, she and Willie McLaughlin opened a studio at Five Points South. Exhilarated by their art school experience, they decided to hold a cooperative studio "in which a group of young artists gather every day for really serious work. A model is employed for the use of all, and after a period of sketching comes a period of criti­ cism."39 Later that year, Mamie Montgomery and Alice Rumph joined Delia to create an

Delia Dryer, Portrait, Provincetown, organization that would promote art interests and art opportunities in Birmingham. The Massachusetts, 1910, oil on canvas, Birmingham Art Club formed officially in January of 1908 and elected Caroline Lovell 25 x 20", collection of Michelle president, Alice Rumph vice-president, and Mamie secretary-treasurer.40 Brabston Rose. Although no constitution or statement of purpose from this period has been found, the OPPOSITE PAGE: group's activities—hosting exhibitions and publishing catalogues with prices—suggest that Delia Dryer, Boat Yard, Provincetown, Massachusetts, oil it was to be a professional association and not simply another women's club. In fact, accord­ on canvas, 24 x 18", collection of ing to reminiscences by charter member Willie Allen, the "idea was that it should be a club Diane Brabston. to keep the artists of Birmingham together, and from the first it was a study club. We used to have occasional entertainments to make money for the club."41 In May 1910, Delia entered the work force very briefly, returning to New York as an artist at Butterick, a dress-pattern design company. Rena was upset at the idea of her sister mov­ ing north for good, but Delia wrote reassuringly, "I have no idea of staying indefinitely. A steady job really does not appeal to me, only I do want to make some money, right now.... I'm really pleased to get this experience in commercial work, and I think Butterick is about the highest class of work."42 She figured she could get in some experience with Delia Dryer - 151

/ 152 -Art of the New South

j^nnBMM^K Delia Dryer - 153

Butterick and then pick up freelance work with other studios to finance visits to New York Delia Dryer, The Cook, Paris, City when the mood struck.43 Unfortunately the job didn't last. Less than a month later, 1910-1912, watercolor on paper, 22V2 x Vbx/-i ', unsigned, collection Butterick announced it had decided not to employ extra workers in the line to which Delia of Mary Jane Morgan. had been assigned, so she found herself "emancipated once more. I honestly didn't like the idea of a steady job very much," she admitted to Rena, "but I wouldn't acknowledge it to Delia Dryer, The Maid, Paris, 1910-1912, watercolor on paper, 44 you folks." 22V2 x Vbx/-i ', unsigned, collection Unemployment freed her to attend the Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown, of Mary Jane Morgan. Massachusetts, studying with Charles Webster Hawthorne (1872-1930). In working with OPPOSITE PAGE: Hawthorne, Delia remained within the Chase tradition. Hawthorne was one of Chase's stu­ Delia Dryer, A Study in Rose, dents and, later, his assistant, helping him found the New York School of Art. Hawthorne 1910-1912, oil on canvas, 34 x 29", established his own school in Provincetown in 1899, the first outdoor school devoted to fig­ unsigned, collection of Mary Jane Morgan. Txhibited and published 45 ure painting. Delia had hoped to go to the summer school before getting the job with by the Birmingham Art Club, 1914. Butterick, and now she felt the need even more urgently. Her niece Minnie wouldn't be 154 -Art of the New South

Delia Dryer, In the Luxembourg, able to get into Smith or Wellesley for a year because she had applied too late, so brother Ed Paris, December 1911, oil on can­ wanted to send her to Paris for the interim. He hoped that she could become fluent in vas, 6V2 x 8V2", collection of Betty Jones. Shown in "the fall exhibit of French and German, "not so much for the polish they give as for the advantage they will 46 paintings at the Hostel" in Paris give her of earning a living should she be put to it." To provide her with a chaperone, he and at the 1914 Birmingham Art offered to pay Delia's fare to accompany her. "Of course I'm wild to go," she wrote to Rena, Club exhibit. "and I shall write and discuss it with him. Should I go to Paris, a few weeks work with Mr. Hawthorne would be invaluable to me. However, if I do go, I'm not going to work day in and day out but play a little."47 Paintings that date to this period in Provincetown are less finished than most of her work; but they are full of light, showing women and girls in white dresses on grassy, sun­ drenched dunes against a vivid blue sky. At the end of the summer, Delia wrote that her summer's work had put her on her feet again. She went to Paris with confidence and, by December, was enrolled at the Academie Moderne for morning classes. In the afternoons, she studied with Spanish artist Claudio Castelucho (1870-1927) at his Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, one of the most popular schools for Americans studying in Paris.48 The Delia Dryer - 155

Moderne had been founded by a group of progressive painters, including Anne Goldthwaite Delia Dryer, Market Scene, Paris, of Montgomery, Alabama. The Fauves and Paul Cezanne were the heroes here, but Delia's December 1911, oil on wood, 49 9 x 12", collection of Betty Jones. work during this period does not reflect their influence. Instead, paintings such as The Shown in "the fall exhibit of Seamstress recall the work of the Dutch Old Masters, while a pair of watercolor illustrations, paintings at the Hostel" in Paris. The Cook and The Maid, and a small oil on canvas, Japanese Geisha, are beautifully painted in a confident Sargentesque mode. Delia wrote to Rena that, to get a good spot in the class at the Moderne, she had risen at 6 a.m., breakfasted with Willie McLaughlin, and then set out in the snow, armed with paint box, canvas, overshoes, and umbrella. She arrived at 8:15, only to find the doors locked. And after all her trouble, she still had to draw a number for a spot and ended up with num­ ber 18. "At the end of the week I have learned that 9 o'clock is ample time, so I shall not make so wild a rush anymore. I'm working with Guerin, and I think I shall like it very much. The influence is impressionistic, and the motto seems to be pure and fresh color."50 Two small sketches she'd produced were accepted for a fall exhibition. Although Delia didn't think they were anything special, she was pleased to have them shown and wanted to 156 -Art of the New South

51 Art Class, Margaret Allen School, work on a big canvas for the spring exhibition. (Tucille Douglass was studying in Paris at 2144 Highland Ave., 1909, this time, but Delia's letters don't mention seeing her, and apparently their paths did not Birmingham View Company, cross.) Willie McLaughlin was studying with Castelucho as well, but in March 1912, she Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives. Alice Rumph taught wanted to take time out to travel through Italy. She needed a traveling companion—women classes at this time, prior to the did not travel alone—and found a Miss Kincaid of Chicago who was also interested in opening of a full-fledged art "doing Italy." Delia planned to leave Paris in late April with Minnie; they would go to school in 1912. Strasbourg, then join Willie and Miss Kincaid in Zurich. From there, the foursome would travel to Munich, Nuremberg, Heidelberg, up the Rhine to Cologne, to Amsterdam, and on to London. They planned to spend 10 days in Tondon and perhaps visit Edinburgh before boarding ship for Tiverpool.52 Delia did not include her Parisian studies in her entry for Who's Who in American Art, and she downplayed her Parisian studies later. Although she admitted that travel broadened the mind and that Paris was "the very heart of the world's art center," she echoed William Merritt Chase's opposition to sending American students abroad for art instruction. American painters needed to be trained in America, she said. "The environment has so much to do with making or marring an artist."53 Delia Dryer - 157

When Delia returned to Birmingham in 1912, she joined forces with Hannah Elliott and Mamie Montgomery to open an art school at the Margaret Allen School on Highland Avenue. They offered a course in pictorial advertising (because of its commercial value) as well as classes in drawing, painting, illustration, miniature painting and china painting. The brochure that announced the opening of the school also promoted the teachers' own work. Delia had taken a course in "Artistic Jewelry Making" while in Paris and stated that she would be accepting orders for "rings, pins, lavaliers, etc." The school's studio doubled as a shop offering artistic craft work for wedding gifts, card prizes, dinner cards, stenciled table runners, candlesticks, china and more.54 Delia taught at the school for two years. Unlike Carrie Hill, Alice Rumph and Lucille Douglass, who lived on their own, Delia lived with her sister and brother-in-law until she was in her 80s. As a maiden aunt, Delia actually represented the norm for unmarried southern women. The Civil War had severely reduced the number of marriageable young men, and "a large number of the single white women—and especially those of the upper and middle classes—remained unattached, many becoming leaders in shaping new educational and employment opportunities for women."55 Although they lived active lives outside the home, they were nevertheless seen as needing to be sheltered and were often required by custom or circumstance to live with siblings. Delia's decision to live with her sister's family was born of deep affection rather than necessity, however. In a letter written to Rena in May 1904, she said, "Tell Rob [Rena's husband] I received his dear letter and shall answer it in person. There is nothing I would love more than to keep house with us three, but as Allie [an old friend] says, I must get my education."56

Delia Dryer, Sketching, Provincetown, Massachusetts, oil on canvas, 9 x 11", collection of Diane Brabston. 158 -Art of the New South

From 1921 to 1929 Delia and her sister spent the summers in Camp Walton, Florida, and the rest of the year they lived on 11th Avenue South in Birmingham. In the spring of 1926, she very likely joined the month-long painting workshop led by George Elmer Browne at Carrie Hill's studio. That summer, she broke her Camp Walton stay to enroll in Browne's West End School of Art in Provincetown, Massachusetts.57 A lovely small oil on canvas, The Reading on the Rocks, dates to this period, as does a sunlit study of a sailboat under canvas. The following summer, she and Willie McLaughlin joined Carrie Hill and Alice Rumph on Browne's painting tour of southern France, Italy, Corsica, and North Africa. This trip produced a large number of canvases depicting village markets, city parks, and views of bridges, medieval towns, and Moroccan streets similar to scenes captured by Carrie Hill. During her long career, Delia exhibited often enough to assert her credentials as a professional, but not often enough to build a large audience base. She showed only Delia Dryer - 159

Delia Dryer, Rue de Moulin, Tspalion, France, OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP: OPPOSITE PAGE, BOTTOM: 1927, oil on canvas, 33V2 x 33V2, collection of Delia Dryer in George Elmer Browne's European Delia Dryer, Landscape, Italy, 1927, oil on Diane Brabston. Included in the Alabama Art Painting Group, June 1927, Tspalion, France, canvas, 18 x 14", collection of Betty Jones. Teague exhibition of 1931. A wedding gift to Tmond, Burgin & Hill Papers, Birmingham Diane and Tugene Brabston in 1950. Public Tibrary Archives 112.6.6. 160 -Art of the New South Delia Dryer - 161

minimal interest in selling her work, and was more inclined to give it away as gifts to fam­ Delia Dryer, Bazaar, Morocco, 3 ily members and friends. In addition to exhibiting in Paris during her 1910-1912 sojourn, 1927, oil on canvas, 8 /4 x 11", Birmingham Public Tibrary. she had shown work at the Union Club in New York City and exhibited regularly with the

Birmingham Art Club and the Alabama Art League. Her entries in the Birmingham Art OPPOSITE PAGE: Club's first show in 1908 bore titles that suggested figure studies (Waiting, Mending,The Old- Delia Dryer, Landscape, Italy, 1927, oil on canvas, 31 x 26V2" fashioned Girl). In the early years of the 20th century, Delia also painted china, applying fruits, collection of Diane Brabston. berries, flowers, and leaves to plates, china bowls, and boxes. In 1913, her entries in the art club's annual show included the pieces that had appeared in a Paris exhibition, along with A Dutch Interior and In the Studio.5& Venetian and Dutch scenes rounded out her wall pieces, and hand-wrought jewelry set in silver represented the fruits of her jewelry-making classes. In 1914, her contribution to the club's seventh annual exhibition included flowers, European landscapes, and two figures, including A Study in Rose. This painting, showing a seated woman wearing a floor-length full-skirted dress, was chosen for reproduction in the catalogue. Executed in a brushy, impressionistic style, the painting conveys a certain tension that suggests a narrative: Why is she gripping the table's 162 -Art of the New South Delia Dryer - 163 edge? Who is she waiting for? The painting combines the lessons about color and brush- work she learned from Chase with the eye for narrative acquired in Mora's illustration classes. Delia's illustrations and paintings of women are some of her strongest work. Oils of women's heads from the 1920s and 1930s capture their modernity of dress and hair style as well as a mood of self-possessed reverie. She rarely entered these pieces in exhibitions, how­ ever, choosing instead to send still lifes, flower paintings, and foreign landscapes. In 1932, one of her landscapes was offered, along with one of Carrie Hill's, as a prize at a Birmingham Art Club fund-raising party. The proceeds from the party would go into the club's scholar­ ship fund. Delia's landscape, Morning Mists, which she had painted in the south of France, won first prize in the 1933 art club show.59 Submissions to the Alabama Art League juried exhibitions in 1933 and 1934 won honorable mentions, and she donated Street Corner in Sartene to the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. The Montgomery Advertiser noted that it was "done in beautiful soft colors and is interesting from the standpoint of design and com­ OPPOSITE PAGE: position."60 Delia also belonged to the Southern States Art League and the Mississippi Art Delia Dryer, Street Corner in Association, which opened up additional exhibition opportunities. Sartene, Corsica, after 1927, oil on canvas, 32 x 26", collection of In 1933 and 1935, Delia participated in the Dixie Art Colony in Wetumpka, Alabama. Janie Morgan Johansen. This month-long workshop, sponsored by the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, was held Delia Dryer, Street Corner in Sartene, at Lake Jordan in June. Kelly Fitzpatrick of Montgomery and Frank Appleby of Alabama Corsica, after 1927, black and Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University) taught and gave critiques. Delia was in her white print, print no. 66, 10 x 8", late 60s by this time, and still an enthusiastic painter. Elizabeth McGregor of the Birmingham collection of Mary Jane Morgan. Post interviewed her about the art colony.'"All we did was paint,' Miss Dryer said. 'We didn't go down there for a social gathering and a gay good time. We worked.'"61 Participants would start the day with a dip in the lake and breakfast, then spread out over the area armed with easels, palettes, brushes and paints. "After dinner when everyone was lounging and resting from the heat of the day, several would start sketching indoors—faces, still life or what­ ever was in sight. In the afternoon the whole crowd trooped out again....'What I liked most of all,' said Miss Dryer, 'was the way everyone entered into the criticism of the paintings. All of them were discussed at the end of the day, suggestions were made and finishing touches put on them.'"The colony was open to high school graduates as well as experienced artists. Ann Goldthwaite even paid a visit. Delia's enthusiasm for the interaction and mutual sup­ port she found in a group of like-minded individuals fed her commitment to the Birmingham Art Club as well. During the 1913-1914 season, she served as president of the club. The monthly meetings were held in members' homes or studios, and the February 1914 meeting was held at the Five Points studio Delia now shared with Alice 164 -Art of the New South

\

€ Delia Dryer - 165

Delia Dryer, Portrait, oil on canvas, 26V2 x 22", collection of Martin Williams.

OPPOSITE PAGE: Delia Dryer, Lady in Blue, Paris, oil on canvas, 38 x 28", collection of Betty Jones.

Rumph. Attendance at meetings generally ranged between 10 and 28, and for this meeting, 27 members crowded into the studio for a short business meeting and educational pro­ gram.62 Delia hosted the group at her home for the April 1917 meeting. Delia continued to be active in the Birmingham Art Club through the 1930s, and her name appeared often in the minutes. She had championed the purchase of George Elmer Browne's The Loggers in 1926 to further the cause of building a permanent collection; over the next several years, Delia continued to participate in the development of a collection by serving on selection committees from time to time.63 Delia also took the lead in creating additional exhibition opportunities for club mem­ bers. At her suggestion in 1934 the club voted to hold a non-juried exhibition in September in addition to its regular spring juried show. Perhaps Delia was concerned that all members 166 -Art of the New South

Delia Dryer, Portrait, oil on canvas, 26V2 x 21", collection of Martin Williams.

were not enjoying equal opportunities to display their work. At the October meeting, she announced that the show was a success and expressed hope that it could expand the following year.64 She also moved that the club send 20 oils to Huntingdon College in Montgomery (formerly the Alabama Conference Female College in Tuskegee, her alma mater) for a special exhibition; and she was appointed to a committee to talk to the manager of the Pizitz department store about a permanent exhibition there. A year later, she was charged with the task of researching traveling exhibits that might be brought to Birmingham.65 In spite of growing membership, the art club still maintained a culture of strong per­ sonal relationships. In November of 1934, longtime member Mrs. Carle was ill, and Delia Delia Dryer - 167 sent flowers from the club. Charter member Willie Allen suggested and Delia moved that the club also send $25 to Mrs. Carle as a "token of love and appreciation." The club voted to send the gift even though their finances were shaky at this time.66 In 1935, Delia, Mamie Montgomery, Alice Rumph, and Carrie Hill were named hon­ orary members of the Birmingham Art Club.67 In 1936, Delia was one of three members elected to the nominating committee that would put forward a slate of candidates for the next year's officers. She was again put forward for this job in 1938, but was not elected. By this time, the club was changing, and the leadership was passing to a younger generation. The old atmosphere of mutual respect and trust seemed threatened when the club entered a period of internal bickering sparked by resentment over the award of a purchase prize at the 1938 spring juried show.68 The club, and Delia, survived the conflict and, in 1940, the club seemed prepared to move forward with the creation of a museum now topping Delia Dryer, Summer Flowers, oil its agenda. Delia's niece, Nettie Dryer, also joined the club and served on its museum on canvas, 32V2 x 26", collection committee. of Betty Jones. 168 -Art of the New South

Early in the 1930s, Delia's sister and brother-in-law had moved to a house on Salisbury Road in Mountain Brook, and Delia moved with them. In the 1940s, she had a studio in the Studio Arts Building on the circle in Five Points, where Carrie Hill lived and worked, but she apparently painted less and less. According to the family, her sister Rena died in 1941, and Delia moved to the Altamont Apartments in the mid-1940s.69 On April 18,1951, Delia passed away after a long illness. Delia had had an excellent education and was conscientious about her work, but exhibiting and selling were not high priorities, and teaching didn't seem to suit her. Yet she continued painting outdoors with other artists until she was nearly 70. From the colony in New York City to the colony in Wetumpka, Alabama, Delia thrived on the shared experi­ ence of artists working together. Her letters from New York paint a picture of a gregarious

Delia Dryer, Flowers and Fruit, oil on canvas, 36 x 30", collection of Diane Brabston. Delia Dryer - 169

"connector" who energetically nurtured a widespread network of friends and relatives. She Delia Dryer, Still Life, oil on was fun to be with and people loved her. It was perhaps this sociable quality more than any canvas, 26V4 x 37", Birmingham Museum of Art 1951.256. Gift professional aspirations that inspired her to promote the founding of an association for of the Birmingham Art Club. artists. Delia took herself seriously as a painter, but lacking both external pressure to pro­ duce to sell and the internal drive to put her work before a buying public, she was free to paint for her own pleasure and for the pleasure of the company of artists and friends.

Hannah Elliott

rt historian William H. Gerdts singled out Hannah Elliott for inclusion in his OPPOSITE PAGE: massive survey of American regional art, describing her as "probably the city's Arthur Stewart, Portrait of Miss Hannah Elliott, 1940, oil on canvas, finest and most innovative painter at the turn of the century... [and] Alabama's Birmingham Museum of Art A 1 most significant miniaturist." Over the course of Hannah's long career, she painted the por­ 1981.51. Stewart: "I painted the oil portrait of Miss Hannah in traits of debutantes and brides, social leaders and their children, politicians and governors' 1940 in her wonderful hall. She is wives. Success did not bring financial security, but Hannah got by. There was something wearing a velvet and chiffon robe about her—a combination of grace, intelligence, wit and charm—that drew people to her that she had made to wear to the opera in Atlanta in 1905. Cigarette and won their devotion. and holder were in her hand as she Arthur Stewart, a Birmingham artist, recalled the first time he met Hannah Elliott. It was never without. Behind her the green light filtered through the was the summer of 1938, and he was a high school student participating in Kelly shutters on either side of the front Fitzpatrick's Dixie Art Colony near Wetumpka, Alabama. "One morning as I sat in a farm­ door. Directly to the side can be seen her companions, Venus de yard and painted a picture of the old wooden well with chickens around it, Kelly came up Milo and the Winged Victory of behind me with a handsome, elderly lady of perhaps fifty years [she was in fact almost 62] Samothrace, and she, as they, figures who was dressed in black with a hat and a neck band of black ribbon. She wore tennis from the past, mysterious and romantic." shoes." Fitzpatrick introduced her to Arthur, who replied," 'Oh! Miss Hannah, I am so glad to meet you. My grandmother studied china painting with you,' at which she hit me over the head with her umbrella and said, 'what a horrible child!'" Arthur laughed, Hannah laughed, "and we became friends on the spot," he wrote.2 The characteristic black dress, hat, and neck ribbon had been her "uniform" since at least the early 1930s. In fact, her fashion sense prompted a childhood acquaintance to com­ ment that Hannah dressed "exactly as she pleases—if capes are completely out of vogue and Hannah has a cape she likes, she wears it.Yet with all her delightful individualism...in her quiet, unobtrusive little courtesies, Hannah Elliott, as much as any woman I know, is the old South with all its quaint charm."3 By the late 1930s, Hannah's unconventional choices in matter of dress may have been due to economic necessity as much as to character—Arthur Stewart noted that her dresses, "always inconspicuously handsome and well-bred looking," were hand-me-downs from "one of Birmingham's wealthiest matrons."4 But from her youth, she was an individualist, a complicated mix of aristocratic southern gentility and spirited, modern independence. She took up smoking in 1906 in imitation of an Englishwoman and was seldom without a cig­ arette "held in a long holder between elegant and long fingers."5 In 1906, a woman who smoked cigarettes was bohemian if not downright scandalous, but Hannah seems to have enjoyed tweaking expectations. The first miniature painting she parted with "was a forfeit settling a bet about a friend's choice of a wife."6 Local legend says that the young Henry 171 172 -Art of the New South

Upson Sims, a Birmingham lawyer who became president of the American Bar Association, became infatuated with her on a grand tour she conducted through Europe. In 1927, he put up the Florentine Building at 21st Street and 2nd Avenue North in Birmingham as a love letter in polychrome terra-cotta.7 But marriage did not interest her. She told a friend "the happiest day of her life was her 28th birthday when her mother told her she did not have to marry"8 Hannah Elliott was born September 29, 1876, in Atlanta, to Robert Habersham Elliott and Elizabeth Hannah Thompson Elliott. Her father, a civil engineer from Beaufort, South Carolina, could trace his ancestry back to a 17th-century Tondon merchant who owned a plantation and slaves in the West Indies. The plantation was managed by two sons who (with their father's consent) sold the land and took the slaves to South Carolina between 1690 and 1700. There they established new plantations on the coast south of Charleston. Hannah's great-grandfather, Stephen Elliott (1771-1830), graduated from Yale and returned to South Carolina to found the free school system. A man of multiple talents, he also served as the first president of the Bank of South Carolina and was a famous botanist.9 Her grandfather, also Stephen Elliott (1806-1866), was the first Episcopal bishop of Georgia and one of the founders of the University of the South at Sewanee.10 The Elliott family history does not mention artistic talent, but it is possible the seeds of Hannah's genius lay on her mother's side which, unfortunately, seems to be undocumented. Hannah spent the first few years of her life on a rice plantation 12 miles from Savannah, but her father's work for the L. & N. railroad meant they moved often. Before settling in Birmingham, the family lived inVicksburg, Kansas City, and Memphis.11 In each city, she studied with private teachers, beginning at age seven with the Catholic Sisters inVicksburg. It seems likely that private art teachers were part of her education: records show that she studied under Carrie Dobbins in Memphis, Louise Lupton in Kansas City, and Caroline Stiles Lovell and William D. Parrish in Birmingham.12 Unlike most of the other original members of the Birmingham Art Club, she did not study in New York, but she could trace an artistic lineage to Yale University through Parrish as well as through a Mrs. Lindsay, one of her teachers at the Columbia Institute in Tennessee. Yale University was the first institu­ tion of higher education in the country to "establish a Department of Fine Arts, which became a 'school' in 1869."13 The Columbia Institute, a finishing school for young women, had been established in 1838 in the little town of Columbia, 45 miles south of Nashville. It was founded by Episcopal bishops James Otey and Leonidas Polk. "When Hannah was 14, the family moved into a large one-story house on Birmingham's Southside. Set on a corner lot and clinging to the steep hill behind the present-day South Highlands Presbyterian Church,14 the house had wide porches on two sides of the house and shutters at the windows and door. By the time Arthur Stewart visited there in the early 1940s, the garden was neglected and overgrown, restrained by a rusting wrought-iron fence. Inside, 14-foot-high ceilings and a wide center hall might have given the house a sense of spaciousness; instead, said Stewart, it was "a great dim cavern lined by old furniture covered with stacks of books and periodicals, including twenty-five years of the London Daily Mail. Gleaming in the darkness could be seen large plaster casts of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, Hannah Elliott - 173

m>fi>-ifi

Venus de Milo, and a bust of the Apollo Belvedere from which she encouraged her pupils Miss Hannah Elliott Painting a Miniature of Her Father, Robert 15 to draw." Elliott, 1933, The Birmingham News- In 1890, however, the house was newly furnished with antiques, art, and books. Little is Age-Herald, November 19, 1933, Birmingham Public Tibrary known about Hannah's activities over the next decade, but studies with Caroline Lovell Tutwiler Collection of Southern would have introduced her to miniature painting as well as to some of the other young History. women who made up the city's fledgling art-student community. These included Carrie Hill, Tucille Douglass, Alice Rumph and Delia Dryer.16 Hannah helped found the Nineteenth Century Club and belonged to the country club. Her social set extended beyond the city too. According to one often repeated anecdote, in 1896, at the age of 19, she went to New Orleans to spend the winter. She was supposed to study, but attending 18 balls kept her so busy that she didn't have time.17 174 -Art of the New South

Mrs. Mary Ware and Party, Trip to Sometime during these years, Hannah acquired a camera and became a skilled photog­ Europe, 1900, Birmingham Public rapher. In 1898, she made a series of photographs of Alabama National Guard troops camp­ Library Archives 56.6.7.10. Hannah Tlliott traveled with this party. ing near Mobile at the time of the Spanish American War. She titled the series, "Soldiering in the Rough," but it is not clear where these photos were published or presented.18 Photo albums now in the archives of the Birmingham Public Library attest to the pleasure she took in recording her friends and their activities with her camera. She may not have realized the future importance of these glimpses into the studios of Birmingham's pioneer women artists but, as documents of how people lived, the photos may be characteristic of her approach to photography—as a journalistic medium or a form of note-taking rather than an art form in its own right. In 1900, Hannah joined the hordes of American men and women descending upon Paris to study art. Traveling with a chaperone, Mrs. Mary Ware, and two young friends, Hannah "was so thrilled, she forgot to eat for a week and fainted."19 She enrolled in the Academie Colarossi, one of the two most popular studios for foreign students. Both Colarossi's studio and the Academie Julian had long been "something of a default choice" for women art students because of the restrictions on women's study; women and men were not allowed to take classes together in European academies.20 The Ecole des Beaux-Arts began admitting women in 1897 but, unlike the Ecole, the independent academies had no admission requirements. Anyone who could pay the fees could attend classes for as long as Hannah Elliott - 175 they liked. The openness and more free-wheel­ ing approach meant that the academies remained the most popular choice for American art students. Hannah studied in Europe for 15 to 18 months, and honed her skills as a miniaturist with teachers in Rome and Florence. Practicing portraiture was a common choice for women artists and a reliable way to earn an income. Hannah's decision to specialize in miniatures, however, came at the height of a revival of interest in a form of painting that had nearly died out. Although the art was ultimately rooted in the Roman craft of carving portraits on gems, painted miniature likenesses did not appear in Western art until the middle ages, when monks began incorporating figures into illuminated manuscripts. The German painter Hans Holbein the Younger was credited with introducing miniature portraits to England in the 16th century, using playing cards as the Hannah Elliott's Studio, c.1908, painting surface. An English artist began painting on ivory in 1761, and its superiority as a Tlliott Scrapbook, Birmingham Public Library Archives 56.6.7.9. base for translucent watercolors made it the ground of choice thereafter.21 Miniature por­ traits were popular in America during the colonial and federal periods. After 1839, photog­ raphy became an easier and more widely available means of fixing the likenesses of loved ones in a portable form. As a result, miniature painting almost died out.22 To the extent that it was still practiced, it was considered an insignificant art form most suitable for young well- to-do women seeking a way to pass the time. Beginning in the 1880s, however, hand-painted miniature portraits enjoyed new popu­ larity and respect as an art form. The Arts and Crafts movement of the 1880s and 1890s sought to revive a variety of "forgotten arts," including weaving, embroidery, basketry and miniature painting.23 The Boston Museum of Fine Arts acquired its first large collection of antique miniature portraits in 1884, refocusing attention on this art form. At about the same time, artists in America and England began experimenting with painting on ivory to recover the technique.24 Like other Arts and Crafts revivals, the new miniature painting could be seen as a reaction against the dehumanization of technology and the loss of originality—the artist's touch—implicit in mass-produced images, whether they were the product of photography or commercial printmaking. Hannah approached miniature portraits as paintings, not craft. She believed that minia­ tures should reveal the same direct approach to the subject "and show its handling every bit as much as does oil painting."25 Brushwork and color should be expressive. "What we have to get away from," she told a reporter in 1928, "is the photographic style and the commer­ cial miniature. I like to believe that they are jewels—and all of the really old ones have jewel­ like quality"26 176 -Art of the New South

Critics praised her daring use of color and her ability to capture beauty "with rare per­ fection and taste."27 By 1930, she was recognized as "Alabama's outstanding miniature jiflKflfcrfiA' artist." Her portraits rated a mention in the society columns of the newspaper, as much because of her fame as because of the social standing of her subjects. Her rendering of Mrs. William Neal, formerly Flora Brown, for example, depicted Mrs. Neal's dark brown hair, white blouse, and vermillion wrap against an emerald green background that brought out "the fine gray color of her eyes. The red of the wrap was reflected in her cheeks."28 Hannah's subjects included a long list of social, political, and cultural leaders, ^^ among them Mrs. R. D. Johnston, the founder of the Alabama Boys Industrial School; Caroline Gentry Garth of Huntsville, Alabama, granddaughter of Congressman Garth; and Victor Hanson, owner of The Birmingham News. She also captured the likenesses of the wives of seven Alabama governors.29 Wayman Adams, an Indiana artist who was considered one of America's leading portraitists, became friends with Hannah and did a portrait of her mother. In return, Hannah rendered a miniature portrait of Adams's six-year-old son.30 Hannah worked from photos and from life. In a brochure for the art school she helped open, she stated, "for a likeness on ivory, from a good photograph, it is sufficient to give a Hannah Tlliott, Mrs. R. H. Elliott, c.1900, miniature portrait, water description of the eyes, the hair and the complexion, but it is well, if possible, to give also a 3 color on ivory, 2 A x 2", small lock of hair. The likeness is assured. The object is to give a perfect likeness, yet with it Birmingham Museum of Art 31 1955.37. Museum purchase at the an idealized characterization of the model." time of the Birmingham Art The characterization may have been idealized, but her paintings communicated genuine Association retrospective exhibit human feeling. A portrait of her mother, now in the collection of the Birmingham Museum of Tlliott miniature portraits. of Art, is astonishingly precise in the delineation of the face and eyes. The skin is softly mod­ eled, and a pale violet wash over the background enhances her gray hair and rosy cheeks. A lace bow at the neck balances the lace cap, but its sketchy treatment focuses attention on the face, which conveys warmth and character. An even tinier locket-size ivory of a baby's head captures the perfect sweetness of a Gerber-type baby; taking advantage of the quality of the ivory itself, Hannah gave the piece a sunlit quality, framing the lit­ tle pink face with a white cap. Although the nature of her work meant that her pieces were executed as com­ missions, that didn't prevent Hannah from entering them in juried exhibitions. She joined the American Association of Miniature Painters in 1916 and exhibited often. Her entry in the first All-Southern Exhibition in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1921 garnered third prize.32 A portrait of Lucy McBee on display in New York came to the attention of a French critic who mentioned it to La Revue Moderne.33 Apparently, the first Hannah knew of the impact of the piece was when she received a letter from the magazine 34 Hannah Tlliott, Caroline Gentry asking for her biography and "her impressions on the art of today" Garth of Huntsville, Little Miss Over the next few years, her work appeared in exhibitions at the Delgado Museum in Alabama, miniature portrait, watercolor on ivory, T/2 x IV2", New Orleans (1930), the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1931), and Southern Birmingham Museum of Art States Art League annual shows (the portrait of a baby now in the Birmingham Museum of 1956.16. Txhibited in 1933. Art collection won an honorable mention in the 1933 Southern States Art League show).35 In the fall of 1932, three miniatures were accepted for the annual exhibition of the Hannah Elliott - 177

Pennsylvania Society of Miniature Painters. These were her portraits of Mrs. R. D.Johnston, Hannah Tlliott, A Wayside Cottage, which she had titled Alabama's Great Woman, Mrs. J., Caroline Gentry Garth of Huntsville, c. 1914, oil on canvas. From the Catalogue of the Seventh Annual 36 titled Little Miss Alabama, and Mrs. Emily Williams Bowman of New York. The Society Exhibition of the Birmingham Art included the three in an exhibition that toured nationally; then, the group invited Hannah Club, Birmingham Public Tibrary Tutwiler Collection of Southern to lend the little paintings to the National Miniature Exhibition at the 1933 Chicago History. "World's Fair (or, more correctly, the Century of Progress Exposition).37 This last invitation, "which came without warning to the painter, proclaims a national recognition for her art," declared The Birmingham News.3& The portrait of Mrs. Johnston won a prize. Although Hannah focused her energies on portrait miniatures, she did not restrict her activity to that form. In the early 1900s, she taught china painting, and in the Birmingham Art Club's first annual exhibition in 1908, she entered sketches, a poster, and one miniature. In 1913, she entered bookplates, watercolor landscapes of Birmingham scenes, and "some beautiful miniatures of prominent people not hitherto exhibited here."39 In the seventh annual exhibition in 1914, her entries were a miniature, a landscape, and a charcoal sketch. She continued painting miniatures until she was in her 60s when eye strain finally forced her to stop. She then concentrated on landscapes, most often the woods around her home, working in an impressionist manner.40 As part of the artistic circle that included Caroline Lovell, Delia Dryer, Carrie Hill, Alice Rumph, and Lucille Douglass, Hannah Elliott joined in on the founding of the Birmingham 178 -Art of the New South Hannah Elliott - 179

Art Club in 1908. Although she didn't hold office and her name does not appear often in Art Class, Front Yard Wall at Miss the club's minutes, she was an ardent supporter of the club and its goals. At the club's sixth Hannah Elliott's, 1920s Back row: George Kidder Smith, annual exhibition in 1913, she joined fellow members Caroline Tovell, Alice Rumph, Delia Robert Hiden, Sam Stubbins, Dryer and Caroline Montgomery and a lengthy list of other artists and prominent society Walter F. Scott, "Miss Hannah," Frank Constantine, Mary Katherine women to "receive" at the opening. In 1914, Hannah helped the group paint background Stubbins. Front row: Martine Comer, curtains for the tableau vivant presentation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Later, she was Peggy Crawford, unknown, Sara mentioned as one of a group joining Carrie Hill, Delia Dryer, Alice Rumph, and Willie Sterrett, Roberta Sterrett, collection of Mary Walker McLaughlin at a cabin beyond East Lake for a picnic and some painting. Constantine Tamkin. Through the Birmingham Art Club, Hannah Elliott supported efforts to promote an OPPOSITE PAGE: appreciation for and interest in art in Birmingham. Perhaps even more importantly, she pro­ Hannah Elliott, Costumed as a Norse moted such appreciation through her own teaching and through Saturday afternoon salons Goddess, for Mrs. W S. Tovell's held at her home. With Delia Dryer and Mamie Montgomery, she opened studios at the Tableaux Vivants of the Great Religions of the World, 1909, Margaret Allen School in 1912. The lengthy list of courses included drawing, still life, paint­ Birmingham Public Tibrary ing, painting from the head and figure; composition, illustration, sketch class, drawing, and Archives 56.6.7.9. commercial advertising; and design and miniature painting from the model and photograph. China painting and artistic anatomy were on the menu, too. The fees ranged from $5 to $8 a month which covered two to four lessons a week; lessons in miniature painting 180 -Art of the New South

cost extra.41 In the school's brochure, Hannah listed her credentials as "pupil in miniature painting of Miss Marie Boyd, Miss Steau, Naiomie Schmitt, I. U Curion."42 Later, Hannah taught at Brooke Hill (now Altamont School). She also gave art lessons in her home to anyone who showed promise, regardless of whether they could pay. Her students included well-known Birmingham artists Arthur Stewart, Rosalie Price, Eleanor and George Bridges, William W S. Wilson (who began working with her at age 5), Robert Hiden, and architect George Kidder Smith.43 (Lucille Douglass is also listed as a student but, as they were contem­ poraries and studio mates, this seems unlikely.) Stewart described the room where classes took place in the late 1930s: "The studio library was a room with four large windows, a wall of books.. .and a large mirror between two win­ dows. Here she held morning classes for children two or three times a week. They were rather informal with cake and cookie breaks. We sent out for sand­ wiches at noon."44 Like Carrie Hill, Hannah received work from the Public Works Administration, but her project involved not art but letters—literally. Under the state direction of R. D Little, Hannah embarked on a search through Alabama for original letters and manuscripts of historic interest. Her efforts turned up letters from Andrew Jackson, George Washington, Hannah Tlliott, Mrs. Eula Whatley, miniature portrait, watercolor on Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Mary Godwin Shelley, as well as descriptions of the Battle ivory, 27/s x 2V4", Birmingham of Manassas by both Confederate and Union soldiers. Hannah made photostatic copies of Museum of Art 1968.40. Gift of the letters to file with the Department of Archives in Montgomery45 Mrs. Tula Whatley. Sometime after Arthur Stewart met Hannah at the Dixie Art Colony, he came to Birmingham to paint portraits, and "Miss Hannah" gave him the use of her studio and helped him obtain commissions. "When I was working," he wrote, "she kept a rule of silence but would occasionally place some snack or cold drinks at my side to sustain me. At four o'clock, when the light was beginning to wane, she'd come in and say, 'Arthur, would you like a spot of gin?' But the drinking was always on a restrained and social level: excess was not encouraged or allowed."46 Her home was also a gathering place for a stimulating assortment of artists,

• art lovers, writers, historians, and politicians. Stewart recalled that intellectuals would gather for afternoon salons in the studio. "A fireplace had usually a coal fire burning in season, but we had to back up close to get any heat from it," he wrote. "It was the only source of heat but no one minded: the company and the hospitality were warmth enough."47 Guests might make themselves comfortable on a variety of seating—a large gilded Louis XIV armchair with a broken cane seat, a gray mohair-covered Chippendale sofa (stacks of books might have to be moved first), Hannah Tlliott, Sallie Marion Mayer, and a large peacock chair. Easels and folding chairs stood scattered around the room. A 1923, miniature portrait, oil on ivory, T/2 x IV2", Birmingham reproduction of a male nude from the Sistine ceiling hung above the fireplace. During the Museum of Art 1991.830. Gift of spring and summer, the vines cloaking the house filtered the light entering through the Marion Mayer Bergin. windows so that rooms glowed with "a green, underwater lighting effect." Neither gardening nor housework were priorities. Stewart remembered when his father came to visit Hannah to express appreciation for all that she had done for his son, "she Hannah Elliott - 181 offered him a glass of wine. Noticing that the wine glasses were dirty she blew the dust out of them much to my father's amusement."48 Hannah Elliott, 1955, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives. Hannah seldom had money, but "as soon as she had a penny, she spent it on expensive Photograph made at the time of presents for her friends," often the very person who had provided the penny. "She was the the Birmingham Art Association soul of hospitality and generosity and would give away anything she had."49 Hannah also exhibit of miniatures at the Birmingham Museum of Art, loved books and might forego other essentials for the sake of reading material. She read October 1955, a year before widely and, by the late 1930s and early 1940s, her favorite choices were mysteries, African Hannah Tlliott's death. adventures, Trelawny, and "anything about Lord Byron."50 In 1940, when Hannah Elliott was 64 years old, Stewart painted her portrait. He shows her sitting in the hall of her home. One hand rests on her hip, the other holds her cigarette with feminine elegance. Erect and trim, she wears the velvet and chiffon robe that she'd worn 35 years earlier to the opera in Atlanta. Her face is softly rounded, and Stewart captured a hint of a smile. But she was no sweet little old lady. The image conveys dignity and presence, with a suggestion of the independent character that lay beneath the genteel manner. Two years after the portrait was painted, Hannah's own miniature portraits were once again spotlighted, this time in a solo show at Birmingham-Southern College along with some of her larger paint­ ings. In 1955, the Birmingham Museum of Art mounted the first com­ plete retrospective of Hannah Elliott's miniatures. Coordinated by the Birmingham Art Association, it was a fitting tribute to a charter mem­ ber who had done so much for art in the city51 Hannah passed away in October 1956 at age 80. A year after her death, the Birmingham Art Association announced the establishment of the Hannah Elliott Award. This $100 cash prize was to be given through the association's annual exhibition to an Alabama artist painting in the traditional manner.52 Hannah Elliott made her name as a miniaturist and enjoyed recognition throughout her career. If her work is little known now, it is probably because those small portraits were made as records of loved ones and passed from one generation to the next, rather than entering the art market. Through her teaching and her afternoon salons, how­ ever, Hannah helped train and encourage a new generation of Birmingham artists and cultural leaders, and their devotion has helped keep her memory as fresh as her * miniatures.

Hannah Tlliott, James Herbert White III, c. 1944, miniature portrait, watercolor on ivory, unfinished, collection of James Herbert White III.

Willie McLaughlin

illie McLaughlin and Caroline Montgomery represent two sides of the same OPPOSITE PAGE: coin. Although one never married and the other took the path of marriage and Willie McLaughlin, Pines, c.1914, oil on canvas, 8V2 x 6V2", collec­ W motherhood, both came from Birmingham's upper class, both studied art in tion of Mary Cochran, exhibited in New York and abroad, yet both left very little in the way of a visual record of their careers. the Birmingham Art Club 1914 exhibition and published in the Were it not for the written record—in newspaper accounts and Birmingham Art Club catalogue. minutes—their contributions to the life of the art community in Birmingham might be unknown. Thanks to those written records, however,Willie emerges as a quiet but steady presence through the first three decades of the 20th century. She wasn't listed in the program of the first annual exhibition as a founding member of the Birmingham Art Club, yet the decision to organize took place in the studio she shared with Delia Dryer. She was seldom, if ever, quoted in the newspaper, but the Birmingham Art Club minutes frequently mentioned her participation in the group's activities. Willie could be counted on and her artistic judgment was respected. Unlike most of the founding members of the Birmingham Art Club, Willie Cyrene McLaughlin was born and reared in Jefferson County. Her great-grandfather, Andrew McLaughlin, entered the Alabama Territory in 1813 with John Jones, for whom Jones Valley was named.1 They were among the first 20 white settlers in the territory, and Willie's grand­ father, Duncan Stuart McLaughlin, was the fourth child born in the settlement.2 Her father, John Felix McLaughlin, was born in Jonesboro and attended the private school of Professor Jacob H. Baker at Ruhama. At the outbreak of the Civil War, John left school and joined the Army of Northern Virginia. (In 1861, the Elyton courthouse bell rang to mark McLaughlin's departure. Later it was installed at the Silver Lake Institute in Pinson where he became principal in 1878. Willie acquired the bell and donated it to Arlington.)3 McLaughlin survived the war and returned to Alabama, resuming his studies in Tuscaloosa with Professor Benjamin Franklin Meeks. After completing his studies in 1875, he began teaching in Birmingham and became an assistant principal. His wedding date is not in available state records but, around this time, he married Sarah Ellen Meredith. She had grown up on a plantation in Shelby County, Alabama, and attended the Old Seminary in Montevallo (later named Alabama College).4 In 1878, McLaughlin assumed the leadership of the Silver Lake Institute in Pinson, Alabama. On November 16 of that year, Sarah gave birth to a daughter they named Willie Cyrene. The couple also had at least one son, Jason. Willie left no clues as to how she spent her formative years or how she discovered her interest in and talent for art. Somehow, possibly through the Birmingham Art League, she 183 184 -Art of the New South

met Delia Dryer and they became friends. Delia's letters to her sister, Rena Williams, indicate that, from 1903 to 1905, Willie went to New York and lived with the Colony, an informal group of single women from the south who lived together while studying in New York. Instead of joining Delia at the New York School of Art, however, she opted for the Art Students League. This school, organized by students in 1875, acquired a reputation for excellence and progressive teaching based on the principles and methods of the Parisian ate­ liers.5 Women were welcomed and fees were kept low so that anyone could attend. Willie studied painting under Frank Vincent Dumond, who had been brought to the school to revitalize it. He accepted the post "on condition that no entrance requirements would be made to his classes."6 Thus, by 1900, entrance requirements had been dropped, "leaving it to the individual instructors to enforce their own standards of excellence."7 In addition to excellent instruction, the league offered "a range of choices and a sense of community, which it sought to make available to as many persons as possible. The number and kinds of classes offered increased steadily through the years, as did enroll­ ment.... They came, as John Sloan put it, for the 'varied menu of nourishment... from the conservative to the ultra-modern.'"8 Women could paint male models "clad only in cloth about the loins."9 While this was considered scandalous, the school wasn't actually raided by the police until 1906, and even then the raid so outraged art and literary societies that the hue and cry forced the authorities to back down.10 "Willie, whom Delia referred to in her letters as Billie, was 10 years younger than Delia and appears only occasionally in the correspondence. For her first Christmas in New York City, her family sent "a large box from home—cakes, roast chicken, sausage meat, sauce, homemade bread, etc."11 The members of the group ate well at holidays, thanks to the boun­ ty sent from their various families in the South. Everyone exchanged gifts, and Delia wrote to her sister that Willie gave her "a beautiful pair of embroidered stockings."12 In May 1904, Delia and Willie decided to return to Birmingham by way of Niagara, where they would spend the night; then, they would travel to Cincinnati where they would stop for a day to visit Rookwood Pottery13 This company, founded in 1880 by Marie Longworth Nichol, had acquired a national reputation for the excellence of its Arts and Crafts pottery. By the time Willie and Delia visited it, the company had shifted away from an emphasis on indi­ vidual craftsmanship to a more standardized commercial production, but its wares were still highly popular. After their stop in Cincinnati, an overnight trip by train would bring them to Birmingham the next morning. "Willie did not return to the Art Students' League in the fall of 1904 but, in December, she went back to the Colony with Delia's sister-in-law, Lucy Williams. On December 11, 1904, Delia wrote to Rena, "Tell Lucy we all individually and collectively can scarcely wait for her and Willie to come. We are crazy to see them and are ready with open arms to receive them."14 Unfortunately, Willie and Lucy arrived in Jersey City 30 minutes early on New Year's Eve and, seeing no welcoming party, took the ferry to the island; meanwhile, Delia and her friend, Julia, were on a ferry in the opposite direction going to meet them.15 "Willie spent the winter and spring of 1905 in New York and took advantage of the cul­ tural opportunities. Through an acquaintance of Delia's, she had the opportunity to attend a reception of artists at the Van Dyke studios and then to visit some 25 private studios.16 Willie McTaughlin - 185

In February, Delia wrote to Rena, "Yesterday Billie and I took in Fifth Avenue and 'twas simply great. The shop windows are really entrancing, and are already filling up with Spring hats."17 Their destination was a string of art galleries on 34th and 35th Streets, one of which featured a display of Childe Hassam's work. They had thought to scoff, but Willie was so enchanted with one little street scene, that Delia joked she was afraid Willie would tuck it under her coat and make off with it.18 In the winter and spring of 1905, Willie usually accompanied Delia to church on Sundays. They sampled a variety of churches—New Broadway Tabernacle, the Dutch Reform Presbyterian on Fifth Avenue (Delia favored the sermons of Dr. McKay), and All Angels for an Evensong service. In April, Delia wrote to advise her sister when she would be coming home. The Art Students League finished classes before the New York Art School, so Willie would get home before Delia even though she was detouring through Knoxville to visit her brother.19 Delia returned to New York in the fall of 1905, but Willie apparently did not. How she spent her time is unknown but, within a couple of years after Delia's return to Birmingham, the two opened a studio in the old Whittaker Piano Building on First Avenue North. In 1907, the Birmingham Art Club was organized in this studio. Willie's entries in the first annual exhibition were flower paintings (Violets, Chrysanthemums), The Blue Kimono, and an untitled pencil sketch. Sharing a studio and working together in the art club obviously nurtured a close friend­ ship between Willie and Delia. In the spring of 1910, when Delia returned to the city for her short stint working at Butterick, Willie was there as well. On May 30, Decoration Day, Delia and a friend planned to go to Van Courtland Park to sketch, but "Billie has other fish to fry. I believe she is going to try her hand on a view from Julia's window."20 Julia, a friend from Colony days, had stayed in New York to pursue a career in writing. In June, Willie's mother came to visit. By this time, Delia had lost the job at Butterick and she and Willie spent some time in Provincetown studying with Charles Hawthorne. On June 12, Delia wrote to Rena, "Billie is going to have all of our trunks sent home in her big trunk by freight from here. They [Willie and her mother, perhaps] will be here nearly two weeks longer.... Mr[s]. McLaughlin has been so sweet and dear and has spent several days sewing for me." Delia was busily preparing to go to Europe with her niece Minnie Dryer and at this point had made no arrangements for sharing a room with anyone but was hop­ ing something would turn up. "Billie and Miss NC say they will come over to see you," she wrote to her sister, "as soon as they land in Birmingham to tell you all the doings of the Summer. Billie will show you how to put together the shade for the dining room. It is sim­ ply lovely. I expect you will have to send a dray over to Billie's for my things....These things were shipped from New York in Billie's box-coach."21 "Whether Delia asked or Willie volunteered, Willie ended up going to Paris to share lodgings with Delia and keep her company. Delia enrolled in morning classes in the Academie Moderne and studied with the young Spanish painter Claudio Castelucho as well. Willie studied at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere with Castelucho. They also did a good bit of sightseeing. 186 -Art of the New South

As close as the two women seemed to be, they were also independent, and Willie was no hanger-on. She had decided she wanted to see Italy while she was in the neighborhood and put out feelers, perhaps through the American Embassy, for a traveling companion. She found a Miss Kincaid of Chicago who also wanted to "do Italy," and they planned to set out on March 28, 1912.22 Later, Delia and Minnie met up with Miss Kincaid and Willie in Switzerland for additional touring, and then Willie, Delia, and Minnie returned to Birmingham. For the art club's sixth annual exhibition in 1913, Willie submitted several pieces done during the European stay. Her entries included "some delightful little studies in Bruges, [so] bright and cheerful in coloring that just to look at them makes one glad to be alive."23 She also had a figure study called Pink Gown and a study of a model. Willie and Delia returned to Europe for another painting trip in 1927, joining the group led by George Elmer Browne. A list of representative paintings on file with the Birmingham Public Library archives includes scenes from Provincetown, southern France, Espalion, Venice and Corsica. One of her landscapes was featured in the newspaper promoting the art club annual exhibition in the 1930s but, as a rule, she showed less often and less widely than many others in the club. But she was usually appointed, along with Carrie Hill, to arrange and hang the club's exhibi­ tions and, for the 1931 Alabama Art League exhibition, she was appointed, along with Carrie Hill and Delia Dryer, to assist Sylvia Pizitz Heller in selecting paintings for the show.24 Birmingham Art Club minutes mention Willie hosting a monthly meeting at her home. She also represented the club at the open meeting of the Twentieth Century Club, attended the Southern States Art League Convention in Atlanta as an Alabama delegate, and served on the selection committee to choose works of art for the club's permanent collection.25 Too little is known about Willie's life or her work to reconstruct an accurate picture or

Willie McTaughlin (center), George to draw any conclusions about how she saw herself as an artist. The fragments of informa­ Elmer Browne's European Painting tion that exist suggest that Willie was a dependable and active member of the art club and Party, 1927, Tmond, Burgin & Hill one whose artistic eye and judgment were valued. She was 80 years old when the Papers, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 112.6.6. Birmingham Art Association held its Golden Anniversary Jury Show in April 1958. A year later, when the association's 51st annual jury show opened in the new $1 million Birmingham Museum of Art, Willie McLaughlin was the only member of the group of founders who was alive to see it. Surely, there was a sense of jubilation to see the club's long- held goal achieved. Willie passed away in 1967 at age 88. It is significant that her obituary described her as a "painter and descendent of one of Birmingham's earliest pioneers." She lived outside the public eye and perhaps in the shadow of others, but the words chosen to sum up her identity named Willie's profession first and then her pedigree. Endnotes

Introduction 1. Lucy Stark Williams, "Art's Spark of Tife Is Kept Alive by Work of 16. Ibid. This Club, The Birmingham News, 16 April 1916. 17. Dalrymple. 2. Founding member Mrs. Joseph H. (Mamie Holfield) Montgomery 18. Jessie Poesch, "Painting and Painters, 1860-1920." Encyclopedia of is not included in this survey because neither documentary infor­ Southern Culture. Charles Reagan Wilson and William Ferris, co- mation nor a visual record of her art activities be located. The editors. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989), 1898 city directory lists her, before her marriage, as a teacher of art 89. at the Birmingham Seminary. The 1909 city directory lists her hus­ 19. More than 50 years later, the museum deaccessioned the painting. band as assistant U.S. attorney. A brochure for the art school she Delia Dryer's great niece secured it at auction for her personal col­ formed in 1912 with Delia Dryer and Hannah Tlliott (found in lection. the Registrar's object files at the Birmingham Museum of Art) notes that she studied with DuMond, Chase, Kenyon Cox, 20. Rozsika Parker and Griselda Pollock, Old Mistresses (Tondon: Penfield, and Bridgeman. She certainly made a significant contri­ Routledge & Kegan, 1981; New York: Pantheon,1981),7. bution to the arts in Birmingham through her teaching and her 21. Ibid., 7. support of art club initiatives. She is not listed in Who Was Who in American Art. Caroline Lovell. 3. Kirsten Swinth, Painting Professionals: Women Artists and the 1. Caroline Couper Tovell, The Light of Other Days (Macon, Ga.: Development of Modern American Art, 1870-1930 (University of Mercer University Press, 1995), xi-xii. North Carolina Press, 2001), 3. 2. Ibid.,xii. 4. Swinth, 2. 3. Ibid.,xii. 5. Ibid., 2. 4. Ibid.,xxii. 6. Ibid., 3. 5. Ibid., 112. 7. Tlizabeth K. Helsinger, Robin Tauterbach Sheets, and William 6. Ibid., 118-119. Veeder, The Woman Question: Defining Voices, 1837-1883,Tire Woman Question: Society and Titerature in Britain and America, 7. Ibid., 126. 1837-1883, vol. 1 (New York: Garland, 1983), xiv. 8. Ibid., 124. 8. Ibid., xv 9. Ibid., 117. 9. Kathleen D. McCarthy, Women's Culture (Chicago: University of 10. Ibid., 121. Chicago Press, 1991), 4. 11. Ibid., 162. 10. Arthur D. Tfland, A History of Art Education: Intellectual and Social 12. Ibid., 165. Currents in Teaching the Visual Arts (New York: Teachers College, 13. Ibid., 165. Columbus University Press, 1990), 146. 14. Ibid.,xiii. 11. Whitney Chadwick, Women, Art, and Society, Wo rid of Art series 15. Ibid., xiii. (NewYork: Thames, 1990), 235. 16. Ibid., xiii. 12. Birmingham Art Association First Annual Txhibition catalogue, 21- 25 April 1908; Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives Collection 17. The entries in Who Was Who in American Art and Dictionary of 167, Marvin Wilting, box, unprocessed. Women Artists do not mention this training, but list Caroline Tovell as a painter in New York City about 1909. The introduction to 13. ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries.The statistics are for Takeville, The Light of Other Days also refers to study in New York (see xiv). Connecticut. Both income and expenditures no doubt varied by region, but the figures do give a sense of the extent to which art 18. Tthel Sharpe Tynn, "Mrs.W S. Tovell," undated typescript, and craft would have been an inaccessible luxury for the average Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.2.3.20. person. Accessed 18 May 2004. 19. Carrie Sharpe Shook, "Personal Memories of Mrs.W. S. Tovell," 14. Dolly Dalrymple, "Painters of South to Stage Txhibit at Public Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.6.3.13. Library," The Birmingham News; undated newspaper clipping, (prob­ 20. Ibid. ably 1931) Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 112.5.46. 21. Ibid. 15. "Southern States All Represented in Art Txhibition," New Orleans 22. Ibid. Times-Picayune, 22 May 1932. 188 -Art of the New South

23. Tewis Follet,"The Wanderer," 10 Oct.1932, clipping files,"Artists- Carrie Montgomery Birmingham-T," Birmingham Public Tibrary Tutwiler Collection of Southern History and Titerature (Southern History). 1. Rozsika Parker and Griselda Pollock, Old Mistresses (Tondon: 24. City Directory of Birmingham, multiple volumes; Tovell, The Light Routledge & Kegan, 1981; New York: Pantheon, 1981), 99. of Other Days, xiii. 2. Gladys Tngel Tang and Kurt Tang, Etched in Memory: The Building 25. City Directory of Birmingham, 1893. and Survival of Artistic Reputation (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990), 114-115. 26. Tovell, The Light of Other Days, xiii, xiv. 3. Ibid., 137. 27. Shook, "Personal Memories of Mrs.W.S. Tovell." 4. Tois Marie Fink and Joshua C. Taylor, Academy: The Academic 28. Ibid. Tradition in American Art (Washington, DC: Smithsonian 29. Samuel Minturn Peck, Fair Women of Today, (New York: Frederick Institution, 1975), 183. A.Stokes Co., 1895). 5. Dolly Dalrymple, "Art Club Inaugurates Campaign for Pictures for 30. Martha Carolyn Mitchell, "Birmingham: Biography of a City of New Public Tibrary," undated newspaper clipping, Birmingham the New South," diss., U Chicago, 1946, 34. Public Tibrary Archives 112.8.1. 31. Tynn, "Mrs.W. S. Tovell." 6. Carrie Hill scrapbook, courtesy of Henry Yarborough. 32. The Birmingham News,Tues. 21 April 1908, 5. 7. "Mrs. Carrie Montgomery, 85, widow of industrialist, dies," The 33. Birmingham Age-Herald, 21 April 1909. Birmingham News, 3 Jan.1951. 34. "Tableaux Vivants," newspaper clipping, April 1909, Birmingham 8. James B. Sellers, History of the University of Alabama, vol. 1, 1818- Public Tibrary Archives 56.6.3.13 1902, (University, AT: University of Alabama Press, 1953), 78. 35. "Will Impress Deeper Truths of Religion," newspaper clipping, Sat. 9. "Caroline Montgomery," typescript by Mrs. J.B. Morton, Ch. Gen. 24 April 1909, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.6.3.13 Records, Princess Sehoy Chap., Daughters of the American 36. "Targe Audience Sees Rubaiyat Tableaux," Birmingham Age-Herald, Revolution. Birmingham, AL, clipping files, Artists-Birmingham- 20 Feb. 1914, 2. M, Birmingham Public Tibrary Southern History. 37. H. Barbara Weinberg, The Lure of Paris (New York: Abbeville Press, 10. Ibid. 1991), 228. 11. Ibid. 38. William Merritt Chase at Shinnecock, prod. National Gallery of Art, 12. Ibid. Washington, DC, Dept. of Txtension Programs, with Nicolai 13. Peter Hastings Falk, Who Was Who in American Art (Connecticut: CikovskyJr.,TTC Cable, 1987. Soundview Press, 1985), xv. 39. Carrie Hill scrapbook, courtesy of Henry Yarborough. 14. "Mrs. Carrie Montgomery, 85, widow of industrialist, dies," The 40. Birmingham Art Club minutes, 1914-1917, Birmingham Public Birmingham News, 3 Jan. 1951. Library Archives 167.1.1. 15. Ibid. 41. Historical summary of the club history, compiled in summer 1937, Birmingham Art Club minute book, page 202-212, Birmingham Carrie Hill Public Tibrary Archives 167.1.2. 42. Tovell, xv. 1. Interview with Dr. Julius T. Tinn Jr., 30 Nov. 2003. 43. Ibid. 2. Freda Avant, "Allied Arts Activities," newspaper clipping, 1925 and "Work of Miss Hill on Txhibition at Judson," clipping files, 44. "After 79 Years Birmingham Will Have Its First Museum of Art in "Artists-Birmingham-Hill," Birmingham Public Tibrary Southern New City Hall," The Birmingham News, 2 Aug. 1950, 21. History. 45. "Battle Over Tstate Will Hinge Upon Mental Status of'Tast of 3. Dolly Dalrymple, "America Seen by Birmingham Painter as Fogartys,'" Birmingham Post, 17 July 1936. Drawing Room," The Birmingham News, 27 Dec.1925. 46. April 1937 Minutes, Birmingham Art Club, Birmingham Public 4. Handwritten account by Carrie Hill, Birmingham Public Tibrary Tibrary Archives 167.1.2. Archives 112.8.1, 112.5.36. 47. Tovell, xvi. 5. Dolly Dalrymple,"Art Club Inaugurates Campaign for Pictures for 48. "The Wanderer," 23 Oct.1932, clipping files, "Artists-Birmingham- New Public Tibrary," newspaper clipping, Birmingham Public L," Birmingham Public Tibrary Southern History. Library Archives. 112.8.1. 49. The manuscripts were not published during Caroline Tovell's life­ 6. Handwritten account by Carrie Hill, Birmingham Public Tibrary time. She left them to her brother. His children granted permission Archives, 112.5.36. to the Colonial Dames and Mercer University Press to publish The 7. "A Series of Studio Teas to be Given in January," Carrie Hill scrap- Light of Other Days in 1995. book, courtesy of Henry Yarborough. 50. Tovell, xviii. 8. T-mail correspondence from Tesley Collins to Dr.Julius T. Tinn Jr., 51. "Bids Birmingham Adieu," The Birmingham News, 25 Oct. 1942. 17 Feb. 2004, collection of the author. 52. Myrtle Miles, "A Day Spent in Interesting Art Studios of 9. Ibid. Birmingham," Birmingham Age-Herald, 9 Aug. 1908. 10. Carrie Hill scrapbook, courtesy of Henry Yarborough. Endnotes - 189

11. The Artist in America, compiled by the editors of Art in America 38. Postcard from Carrie Hill to R.T. Hill, 28 June 1925 from (NewYork: Norton & Co., 1967), 12. Douarnenez, France. Tmond, Burgin & Hill Papers, Birmingham 12. "Daingerfield, Tlliott," Askart.com. Accessed 3 Jan. 2004. Public Tibrary Archives 112.5.96. 13. Mrs. Roberta Harris Winn, "Coming Tandscape Painter," The 39. Postcard from Carrie Hill to R.T. Hill, 10 Aug. 1925. Tmond, Birmingham News, 22 April 1911. Burgin & Hill Papers, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 112.5.96. 14. "Freedlander, Arthur R.," Askart.com. Accessed 8 March 2004. 40. "News from Miss Hill and Her Fine Work," Carrie Hill scrapbook, 15. "Miss Carrie Hill Brings Home Many Sketches," 1912, Carrie Hill courtesy of Henry Yarborough. scrapbook, courtesy of Henry Yarborough. 41. Postcard from C. Hill to R. T. Hill, Madrid postmark, 22 Sept. 16.Ibid. 1925, Tmond, Burgin & Hill Papers, Birmingham Public Tibrary 17. Carrie Hill scrapbook, courtesy of Henry Yarborough. Archives 112.5.96. 18. "Miss Carrie Hill Brings Home Many Sketches," 1912, Carrie Hill 42. "GT. Browne's Students Txhibit," and untitled newspaper clipping, scrapbook, courtesy of Henry Yarborough. 1920s, Carrie Hill scrapbook, courtesy of Henry Yarborough. 19.Ibid. 43. "Carrie Hill School of Art in New Studios," Carrie Hill scrap- 20. "Some Pictures Txecuted by One of the Home Artists," newspaper book, courtesy of Henry Yarborough. The reference to her paint­ clipping, 1913, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 112.5.46. ings of Spanish scenes suggests a post-1925 date for the article. 21. Kirsten Swinth, Painting Professionals: Women Artists and the 44. T-mail correspondence from Dr. Julius T. Tinn Jr., 11 Mar. 2004 Development of Modern American Art, 1870-1930, (Chapel Hill: following an interview with Mrs. Rufus M. (Tloise Hill) Jones Jr., University of North Carolina Press, 2001), 132. 4 Mar. 2004, collection of the author. 22. Ibid., 147. 45. Unsigned handwritten draft of Carrie Hill biography, Tmond, 23. "Items of Moment to the Society World," Carrie Hill scrapbook, Burgin & Hill Papers, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives courtesy of Henry Yarborough. 112.5.37. 24. Mrs. J. B. Reid, "Birmingham from a Viewpoint," Birmingham Age- 46. Ibid. Herald, 1913, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 112.8.1. 47. Gladys Baker, "Thirty-Four Paintings of American Artists will be 25. "View of the Prize Winning Art Txhibit at State Fair This Year," seen in New Tibrary," clipping files, "Artists-Birmingham-Hill," Carrie Hill scrapbook, courtesy of Henry Yarborough. Birmingham Public Tibrary Southern History. 26. "Beautiful Tandscape Painting," Carrie Hill scrapbook, courtesy of 48. Dalrymple, "America Seen By Birmingham Painter as Drawing Henry Yarborough. Room," The Birmingham News, 27 Dec.1925. 27. Ann McCorquodale Burkhardt and Alice Meriwether Bowsher, 49. Ibid. "Town Within a City: The Five Points South Neighborhood 1880- 50. "George Timer Brown Urges That Birmingham Art Club Make 1930," Journal of the Birmingham Historical Society, Nov 1982, vol. 7, City An Art Center," undated, unidentified newspaper clipping, Nos. 3-4,77. Birmingham Public Tibrary Archivesll2.5.43. 28. "Browne, George Timer," Askart.com. Accessed 8 Nov. 2003. 51. "New York Artists Are Merry Group at Studio Party," undated 29. Dalrymple, "America Seen by Birmingham Painter as Drawing newspaper clipping, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 112.5.43. Room." 52. Unsigned handwritten draft of Carrie Hill biography, Tmond, 30. "The Provincetown Art Colony," The American Magazine of Art, vol. Burgin & Hill Papers, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 21,June 1930, 344;"Browne, George Timer," Askart.com. Accessed 112.5.37. 8 Nov. 2003. 53. Tois Marie Fink and Joshua C.Taylor, Academy:The Academic 31. Postcard from Carrie Hill to R. T. Hill, Tmond, Burgin & Hill Tradition in American Art (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institute Papers, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 112.5.37. Press, 1975), 3. 32. Unsigned handwritten draft of Carrie Hill biography, Tmond, 54. T-mail correspondence from Dr. Julius T. Tinn Jr., 11 Mar. 2004, Burgin & Hill Papers, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives collection of the author. 112.5.37. 55. "Carrie Hill Txhibit Paintings Shown in Montgomery," The 33. "Provincetown As Miss HilfArtist, Sees It,"Carrie Hill scrapbook, Birmingham News, 11 Nov. 1931. courtesy of Henry Yarborough. 56. "Tea at Fine Arts Museum to Honor Carrie T. Hill," Montgomery 34. "An Inviting Tandscape by an Alabama Woman Artist," The Art Advertiser, 1931, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 112.5.43. News, 3 Dec. 1923, Tmond, Burgin & Hill Papers, Birmingham 57. T-mail correspondence from Dr. Julius T. Tinn Jr., 11 Mar. 2004, Public Tibrary Archives 112.5.43. collection of the author. 35. Newspaper clipping, Tmond, Burgin & Hill Papers, Birmingham 58. Birmingham Art Club minutes, 2 Mar. 1935, Birmingham Public Public Tibrary Archives 112.5.43. Tibrary Archives 167.1.2. 36. "Txhibition of Recent Paintings," catalogue, Babcock Art Galleries, 59. Birmingham Art Club minutes, 30 Sept. 1939, 30 Dec. 1939, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives. Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 167.1.2. 37. Tetter from Carrie Hill to R. T. Hill, 22 May 1925, Tmond, 60. Anne D.Williams, "Jigsaw Puzzles—A Brief History," 1997, Burgin & Hill Papers, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives www.oldpuzzles.com/history.htm.Accessed 8 Nov. 2003. 112.5.96 (Photocopy). 190 -Art of the New South

61. Martha Towery "Artist Thinks Jigsaw Puzzles Have Awakened 10. Marjorie Tongenecker White, Downtown Birmingham: An Nation's Creative Sense," Birmingham Post, 28 July 1933. An alter­ Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide (Birmingham: The native possibility for the source of this article is that Carrie Hill Birmingham Historical Society, 1978), 62. spotted the popularity of the puzzles and contacted the newspaper 11. "Gathering Home," handwritten poem signed "M.A.C" with an idea for a story. Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.3. 4.33. 62. Ibid. 12. Myrtle Miles, "A Day Spent in Interesting Art Studios of 63. Tucia Giddens, "Holiday is Hardest Working Day for Artist," Birmingham," Birmingham Age-Herald, 9 Aug.1908, Birmingham Birmingham Post, 20 Mar. 1934, Birmingham Public Tibrary Public Tibrary Archives 56.2.4.32. Archives 112.8.1. 13. Ibid. 64. J. F. Rothermel, "Music and Art Notes," 28 Jan. 1934. Birmingham 14. "Tucille Sinclair Douglas," typescript manuscript, Birmingham Art Club 1933-34 scrapbook. Birmingham Public Tibrary Public Tibrary Archives 56.6.7.14. Archives, Collection 167, unprocessed. 15. Miles,"A Day Spent in Interesting Art Studios of Birmingham." 65. "New Deal Art Given Backing by Roosevelt," The Birmingham 16. Ibid. News, 30 April 1934, Birmingham Art Club 1933-34 scrapbook, 17. Birmingham Art Association First Annual Txhibition catalogue, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives, Collection 167, unprocessed. April 21-25, 1908; Archives, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives. 66. Walter Bryant, "Carrie Hill's library mural being restored," The Collection 167, Marvin Whiting box, unprocessed. Birmingham News, newspaper clipping, Birmingham Public Tibrary 18. Unidentified newspaper clipping, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archivesll2.5.96. Archives 56.2.4.32. 67. Whitney Chadwick, Women, Art, and Society. World of Art Series 19. Fink, Tois Marie and Joshua C.Taylor, Academy: The Academic (NewYork: Thames, 1990) 297. Tradition in American Art (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 68. Rothermel, "Music and Art Notes," undated clipping in 1978), 10. Birmingham Art Club Scrapbook, 1933-34, Birmingham Public 20. Kirsten Swinth, Painting Professionals: Women Artists & the Library Archives, Collection 167, unprocessed. Development of Modern American Art, 1870-1930 (Chapel Hill: 69. Pettersen Marzoni, "Friday in Birmingham," Birmingham News-Age- University of North Carolina Press, 2001), 16. Herald, 14 June 1935. 21. "Alexander Robinson," Askart.com. Accessed 24 Jan. 2004. 70. "Items of Moment," Carrie Hill scrapbook, courtesy of Henry 22. Unidentified newspaper clipping, Birmingham Public Tibrary Yarborough. Archives 56.2.4.32. Although an obituary in the Boston Herald said 71. "Mrs. Sharp Sees Gainsborough Txhibit and Hears Pleasing that she was in Turope studying from 1908 through 1914, it is more Comments on Tocal Artists," Carrie Hill scrapbook, courtesy of likely that she joined Robinson for the summer of 1909. Her pres­ Henry Yarborough. ence in Birmingham is documented during the summer of 1908 72. "Measurable Contributions to Birmingham's Cultural Tife," news­ and Robinson reportedly took his study trips during the summer. paper clipping, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 112.5.43. 23. Unidentified newspaper clipping, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.2.4.32. Lucille Douglass 24. Myrtle Miles, "Items of Interest in September Society," Birmingham 1. Diana D. Trier, "Woman Who Sought Quiet Tife in China Gets Age-Herald, Wed., 20 Sept. 1911. Caught in Fire of Revolutionists," Sunday Eagle magazine 25. "Bande Noire," The Grove Dictionary of Art: From Renaissance to [Brooklyn, N.Y] 28 Junel925. Birmingham Public Tibrary Impressionism (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000). Archives 56.2. 4.32. 26. "Miller, Richard Tmil," Askart.com. Accessed 24 Jan. 2004. 2. Barbara Scott Fisher, "Tucille Douglass, Interpreter of Angkor Wat," 27. Swinth, 44. Christian Science Monitor,Tues. 14 July 1931, Boston. Birmingham 28. Miles, "Items of Interest in September Society." Public Tibrary Archives 56.6.7.14. 29. Ibid. Chris Petteys, Dictionary of Women Artists (Boston: GK. Hall, 3. "Tucille Sinclair Douglas" unsigned typescript biography, 1985), "Douglass, Tucille Sinclair." Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.6.7.14. Hannah Tlliott 30. "Salon des Independants." Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. 2004. may have written this biography. Tncyclopsedia Britannica. Accessed 24 Jan. 2004 . 1856-1908; no publisher/no place. Class of 1893 included Tucile 31. "Salon D'Automne." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2004.Tncyclop£edia St. Clair Douglas, 14. Britannica Premium Service. Accessed 24 Jan. 2004 5. Fisher. . 6. Ibid. 32. Myrtle Miles, "Items of Interest in September Society." 7. Unidentified newspaper clipping, Birmingham Public Tibrary 33. "Sixth Annual Txhibition of Birmingham Art Club," Carrie Hill Archives 56.2.4.32 scrapbook, courtesy of Henry Yarborough. 8. Birmingham City Directories, Birmingham Public Tibrary 34. Carrie Hill scrapbook, courtesy of Henry Yarborough. Southern History. 35. Birmingham Age-Herald, 13 Nov.1913. 9. Tetter from Mary Sinclair Douglas to Mrs. S.S. Dumas,Van Alstyne, Texas, Jan. 1900, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.3.4.33. Endnotes - 191

36. "Annual Txhibition Birmingham Art Club," newspaper clipping, 63. Harley Farnsworth Mac Nair, ed., Florence Ayscough and Amy Lowell: Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.2.4.37. Correspondence of a Friendship (University of Chicago Press, 1945), 37. "The Resurgence of an Artist," newspaper clipping, Birmingham 223. Public Tibrary Archives 56.2 4.32. 64. Undated letter, Tucille Douglass to Teona Caldwell, Birmingham 38. "Pretty Objects to be seen at art exhibit," newspaper clipping, Public Tibrary Archives 56.4.4.33. Birmingham Public Archives 56.2.4.37. 65. "Miscellaneous notes about Tucille Sinclair Douglass," Birmingham 39. Birmingham Art Club minutes, 19 April 1916, Birmingham Public Public Tibrary Archives 56.6.13.11. Tibrary Archives 167.1.1. 66. www.susanhedstrand.com/etchings_process.htm. Accessed Jan. 40. "Cincinnati Artists' Paintings Most Creditable," 11 Mar. 1916, The 2004. Birmingham News. 67. "Tucille Douglass," typescript biographical sketch, Birmingham 41. Diana D. Trier, "Woman Who Sought Quiet Tife in China Gets Public Tibrary Archives 56.2.3.12. Caught in Fire of Revolutionists," (Brooklyn, NY) Sunday Eagle 68. Tetter to Hill Ferguson from A. Hyatt Mayor, Curator, The Magazine, 28 June 1925, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives Metropolitan Museum of Art, Department of Prints, 9 Nov. 1949, 56.2.4.32. Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.2.4.6. 42. www.search.eb.com/women/articles/Morgan_Anne_Tracy.html. 69. Gladys Tngel Tang and Kurt Tang, Etched in Memory: The Building Accessed 24 Jan. 2004. and Survival of Artistic Reputation (Chapel Hill: University of North 43. "The Resurgence of an Artist," unidentified newspaper clipping, Carolina Press, 1990), 167. Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.2.4.32. 70. Tetter from Tucille Douglass to Mrs. Wallace (Teona) Caldwell, 44. Ibid. Birmingham, Ala., 28 Oct. 1926, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.4.4.33. 45."Tantern Slides: History and Manufacture," American Landscape and Architectural Design, 1850-1920; http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ 71. Ibid. award97/mhsdhtml/lanternhistoryhtml, accessed 24 Jan. 2004. 72. Tetter from Tucille Douglass to Mrs. Wallace (Teona) Caldwell, 46. Unidentified newspaper clipping, Birmingham Public Tibrary Birmingham, Ala., 4 Nov. 1926, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.2.4.32. Archives 56.4.4.33. 47. "The Resurgence of an Artist." 73. Tetter from Tucille Douglass to Mrs. Wallace (Teona) Caldwell, Birmingham, Ala., 22 Dec. 1926, Birmingham Public Tibrary 48. "Former Artist of State Dies," The Birmingham News, 30 Sept.1935. Archives 56.4.4.33. 49. Patricia Buckley Tbrey, ed. Chinese Civilization and Society, A 74. www.angkorwat.org. Accessed 4 Feb. 2004. Angkor was featured in Sourcebook (New York: The Free Press, 1981) 244. Richard Covington's lead article, "The Tnduring Romance of 50. Tbrey, 259. Cambodia's Angkor" in Smithsonian magazine of February 2004. 51. John King Fairbank, China: A New History (Belknap Press of According to Covington, Angkor Wat is "the world's largest reli­ Harvard University Press, 1992), 203. gious structure, rising 213 feet and covering 22 acres." Designated 52. Trier, "Woman Who Sought Quiet Tife in China Gets Caught in a World Heritage Site by UNTSCO in 1992, Angkor is the fastest- Fire of Revolutionists." According to Florence Ayscough, place growing tourist destination in Southeast Asia. A million visitors are names in this account and in the Chinese Mirror are "spelt accord­ projected for 2004. That visitation equals the estimated population ing to the post office list" of 1925. Current spellings of the names at the Hindu-Buddhist temple complex that flourished for 500 are given in parentheses: the Yangtze (nowYangste) River (now years as the capital of the Khmer kingdom. This kingdom spread Yangste); Chunkking (now Chongquing), Foochow (Fuzhou), across most of Southeast Asia. The major temple complexes were Soochow (Suzchou),Peking (now Beijing). built in the 12th andl3th centuries and abandoned by the latel6th century when the port of Phnom Penh rose as a new center of 53. Barbara Scott Fisher, "Tucille Douglass, Interpreter of Angkor Wat," Asian trade. Christian Science Monitor, Tues. 14 July 1931. 54. Trier, "Woman Who Sought Quiet Tife in China Gets Caught in 75. www.angkorwat.org. Accessed 4 Feb. 2004. Fire of Revolutionists." 76. Tetter from Tucille Douglass to Mrs. Wallace (Teona) Caldwell, 55.Ibid. Birmingham, Ala., 22 Dec, 1926, Birmingham Public Tibrary 56. Ibid. Archives 56.4.4.33. 57. Ibid. 77. Ibid. 58. Ibid. 78. Tetter from Tucille Douglass to Mrs. Wallace (Teona) Caldwell, 1 Jan. 1927, written from Java, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 59. "The Spring Art Txhibition in Shanghai," Birmingham Public 56.4.4.33. Tibrary Archives 56.2.4.32. 79. Tetter from Tucille Douglass to Mrs. Wallace (Teona) Caldwell, 10 60. "The Resurgence of an Artist." Jan. 1927, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.4.4.33. 61. Trier, "Woman Who Sought Quiet Tife in China Gets Caught in 80. Tetter from Tucille Douglass to Mrs. Wallace (Teona) Caldwell, 20 Fire of Revolutionists." Jan. 1927 from Bangkok, c/o Thomas Cook and Sons, Shanghai. 62. The Woman Citizen, Oct. 1925, Birmingham Public Tibrary Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.4.4.33. Archives 56.2.4.32. 192 -Art of the New South

81. Tetter from Tucille Douglass to Mrs. Wallace (Teona) Caldwell, 24 8. Alice Rumph, "Miss Alice Rumph Tells of Her Work and Travels Feb. 1927, written from Angkor Tes Ruines Hotel, Birmingham While Two Years Abroad," The Birmingham News, 2 Aug.1903: 3. Public Tibrary Archives 56.4.4.33. 9. Ibid. 82.Ibid. 10. H. Barbara Weinberg, The Lure of Paris (New York: Abbeville Press, 83. Tetter from Tucille Douglass to Mrs. Wallace (Teona) Caldwell, 23 1991), 221, 224. April 1927 from The Nara Hotel, Japan, Birmingham Public 11. Ibid., 222. Tibrary Archives 56.4.4.33. 12. Ibid., 223. 84. www.angkorwat.org, Accessed 4 Feb. 2004. 13. Ibid., 224. 85. Tang and Tang, 211. 14. Gladys Tngel Tang and Kurt Tang, Etched in Memory: The Building 86. Chris Petteys, Dictionary of Women Artists, (Boston: GK. Hall, 1985) and Survival of Artistic Reputation (Chapel Hill: University of North "Douglass, Tucille Sinclair." Carolina Press, 1990), 147. 87. Tetter from Tucille Douglass to Mrs.W. T. Caldwell, 2 June 1928, 15. Weinberg, 226. Registrar's object files, Birmingham Museum of Art. 16. Ibid., 149-150. 88. "Pastels and Ttchings of Angkor and the Far Tast by Tucille 17. Rumph, The Birmingham News, 2 Aug. 1903. Douglass November 3-15, 1930,"The Milch Galleries, New York, 18. "Annual Txhibition Birmingham Art Club," newspaper clipping, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.4.4.32. Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.2.4.37. 89. "Miscellaneous notes," Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 19. Rumph, The Birmingham News, 2 Aug. 1903. 56.6.13.11. 20. Ibid. 90. "Angkor: A Royal Passion" Pond Tecture Brochure, 1930, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.6.4.32. 21. "The Colony of Delia F. Dryer: Tife through letters of a female artist at the turn of the 20th century," compiled by M. J. Morgan 91. Tucille Sinclair Douglas, typescript biographical sketch, Johansen, 1998. Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 16 Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.6.7.14. Jan. 1904. 92. "Angkor: A Royal Passion." 22. "Art Txhibit to Open to Public Wednesday," 1913, Carrie Hill 93. Birmingham Post, 13 Jan. 1933, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives scrapbook, courtesy of Henry Yarborough. 56.6.4.32. 23. "Record on Birmingham's Art Activities for City Hall Corner 94. Tetter to Hill Ferguson from Tlizabeth Tades, Andover, Stone Box" Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.2.3.23. Massachusetts, 23 Jan. 1950, Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 24. Newspaper clipping, Carrie Hill scrapbook, courtesy of Henry 56.2.4.9. Yarborough. 95.Ibid. 25. "Sixth Annual Txhibition of Birmingham Art Club," Carrie Hill 96. Ibid. scrapbook, courtesy of Henry Yarborough. 97. Tady Mary Marston, "Tucille Douglass," Birmingham Public 26. Ibid. Library Archives 56.2.3.12. 27. "Annual Txhibition Birmingham Art Club." Birmingham Public 98. "Memory of Woman Artist From Alabama To Be Honored By Library Archives 56.2.4.37. New Art Txhibition," clipping files, "Artists-Birmingham- 28. "Record on Birmingham's Art Activities," Birmingham Public Douglass," Birmingham Public Tibrary Southern History. Tibrary Archives 56.2.3.23. Alice Rumph 29. Ibid. 30. Ibid. 1. "Cornelius M. Rumph," ancestry.com: U S. Federal Census 31. T-mail correspondence between Marjorie White, director of the Records, 1870. Birmingham Historical Society, and Mary Ann Goode, Colonial 2. Philip A. Morris and Marjorie Tongenecker White, eds., Designs on Williamsburg Foundation, Archives and Records Office, 2 April Birmingham, (Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society, 1989) 2004. A memo dated 1 March 1934 in the foundation archives 10. from a Mr. Chorley to Mr. Norton asks, "as a matter of policy, 3. Typescript biography of Alice Rumph, Birmingham Public Tibrary don't you think this would be a good way for us to extend the Archives 52.2.3.23. educational side of the work here?" Collection of the author. 4. Selmatimesjournal.com/classifieds, accessed through Google search. 32. Ibid. The prints and copperplate were later sold. Accessed Nov. 2004. 33. "Record on Birmingham's Art Activities," Birmingham Public 5. "Cornelius Rumph,""Alice T. Rumph," U.S. Federal Census Tibrary Archives 56.2.3.23. Records 1930 and Alabama Deaths 1908-1959, ancestry.com. 34. "Miss Alice Rumph, Artist, Dies At 80," Birmingham Post-Herald, 30 Accessed Feb. 2004. Aug. 1957. 6. Typescript biography of Alice Rumph, Birmingham Public Tibrary 35. Tang and Tang, Etched in Memory: The Building and Survival of Archives 52.2.3.23. Artistic Reputation, 166. 7. "Record on Birmingham's Art Activities for City Hall Corner 36. Ibid., 323. Stone Box," Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.2.3.23. 37. Ibid., 324. Endnotes — 193

Delia Dryer 37. "Delia Frances Dryer," typescript dated 8 Junel942, clipping files, "Artists-Birmingham-D," Birmingham Public Tibrary Tutwiler 1. Catalogue of the Alabama Conference Female College. (Tuskegee: Collection. Alabama Conference Female College, 1883-1884), 10. 38. Ibid. 2. Ibid., 16. 39. Myrtle Miles, "A Day Spent in Interesting Art Studios of 3. Miss Tila May Chapman, "Delia Francis Dryer," typescript manu­ Birmingham," Birmingham Age-Herald, 9 Aug.1908, Birmingham script, 8 June 1942, clipping files, Artists-Birmingham-D, Public Tibrary Archives 56.2.4.32. Birmingham Public Tibrary Southern History. 40. The catalogue for the first annual exhibition, April 21-25, 1908, 4. Catalogue of the Alabama Conference Female College, 12. lists only Delia Dryer, Alice Rumph, and Mamie Montgomery as 5. Nelson P. Hoff, ed., Alabama Blue Book and Social Register 1929, founders; Willie McTaughlin is included among the founders in (Birmingham: Blue Book), 92. The Birmingham News, 1 May 1959, "Dream born in 1907 comes 6. "The Colony of Delia F. Dryer: Tife through letters of a female true with opening of museum." artist at the turn of the 20th century," compiled by M.J. Morgan 41. Dolly Dalrymple, "Art Club Inaugurates Campaign for Pictures for Johansen, 1998. Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 19 New Public Tibrary," newspaper clipping, Birmingham Public Nov. 1905. Tibrary Archives 112.8.1. 7. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 16 Jan.1904. 42. Johansen, Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 30 May 8. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 17 Dec.1905. 1910. 9. Ronald G. Pisano, The Students of William Merritt Chase, 43. Ibid. (Huntington, NY: Heckscher Museum, 1973), 3. 44. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 3 June 1910. 10. Ibid., 4. 45. "Charles Webster Hawthorne," www.fineoldart.com; outerca- 11.Johansen, Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, not peartauctions.net. Accessed Feb. 2004. dated, Dec. 1903. 46. Johansen, Tetter from Td Dryer to Delia Dryer, 21 Aug. 1910. 12. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 11 Jan.1904. 47. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, not dated, 13. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 1 Nov.1903. June 1910. 14. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 16 Nov.1903. 48. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 5 Dec. 1911. 15. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 16 Jan.1904. 49. Swinth 173. 16. "Henri, Robert," Askart.com., accessed 2004. 50. Johansen, Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 5 Dec. 1911. 17. Kirsten Swinth, Painting Professionals: Women Artists and the Development of Modern American Art, 1870-1930 (Chapel Hill: 51. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, undated, Dec. University of North Carolina Press, 2001), 170. 1911. 18.Johansen, Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 6 52. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 12 Mar. 1904. Mar.1912. 19. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 30 Mar. 1904. 53. Myrtle Miles, "Matters of Social and Feminine Interest," Registrar's object files, Birmingham Museum of Art: Dryer, Still Life with 20. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 1 Nov.1903. White Tureen. 21. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 8 May 1904. 54. "Art School" from Registrar's object files, Delia Dryer Still Life 22. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 22 May 1904. with White Tureen. 23.Ibid. 55. Catherine Clinton, "Maiden Aunt," 482-483, in Encyclopedia of 24. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 27 Southern Culture, vol. 4, Charles Reagan Wilson and William Ferris, Sept. 1904. eds., (New York: Anchor Books, Doubleday, by arrangement with 25. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 9 Oct. 1904. University of North Carolina Press, 1989), 482-483. 26. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 29 Oct.1905. 56. Johansen, Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 22 May 27. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 4 Dec.1904. 1904. 28. Ibid. 57. Johansen, chronology. 29. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 10 Feb.1905. 58. "Sixth Annual Txhibition of the Birmingham Art Club," Carrie Hill scrapbook, courtesy of Henry Yarborough. 30. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J. Williams, 16 Jan. 1905. 59. "Mrs. Tovell Says Art Club Txhibit Is Its Best," The Birmingham 31. Pisano, 25. News, 8 June 1933. 32.Johansen, Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 16 60. "Miss Dryer Presents Work to Montgomery," Birmingham Post, 19 Oct.1905. Aug. 1935, reprint of an article from The Montgomery Advertiser. 33. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 29 Oct.1905. 61. Tlizabeth McGregor, "Miss Dryer Returns from Art Colony," 34. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 14 Nov.1905. Birmingham Post, 11 July 1935, clipping files, Birmingham-Artists- 35. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 7 Jan.1906. D, Birmingham Public Tibrary Tutwiler Collection. 36. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 21 Jan.1906. 62. Birmingham Art Club minutes 17 Feb. 1914, Birmingham Public Library Archives, 167.1.1. 194 -Art of the New South

63. Birmingham Art Club minutes, Summary of Activities, 1930 min­ 20. Kirsten Swinth, Painting Professionals: Women Artists & the utes; various entries, 1937 minutes, Birmingham Public Tibrary Development of Modern American Art, 1870-1930 (Chapel Hill: Archives 167.1.1 and 167.1.2. University of North Carolina Press, 2001) 49. 64. Birmingham Art Club minutes, 6 Oct. 1934, Birmingham Public 21. Childers, "Miniature Painting Ancient Art." Tibrary Archives 167.1.2. 22. Trica T. Hirshler, A Studio of Her Own: Women Artists in Boston 65. Birmingham Art Club minutes, 2 Feb. 1935, Birmingham Public 1870-1940 (Boston: MFA Publications, 2001) 64-65. Tibrary Archives 167.1.2. 23. Ibid., 65. 66. Birmingham Art Club minutes, 3 Nov. 1934, Birmingham Public 24. Ibid. Tibrary Archives 167.1.2. 25. Childers, "Miniature Painting Ancient Art." 67. Birmingham Art Club minutes, 7 Dec.1935, Birmingham Public 26. Gilbert Balfour, "Miniature by Artist of Birmingham of Magic Tibrary Archives 167.1.2. City Girl Gains Attention," The Birmingham News, 19 Feb. 1928. 68. Birmingham Art Club minutes, 9 Nov. 1938, 6 May 1939, 27. The Birmingham News, 2 Oct. 1932, clipping files, Artists- Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 167.1.3. Birmingham-T-F," Birmingham Public Tibrary Tutwiler 69. Johansen; also "Miss Delia Frances Dryer, Birmingham Artist, Dies Collection. At 84." 28. "Tovely Miniature by Hannah Tlliott Goes Abroad," The Birmingham News, 26 Oct. 1930. Hannah Elliott 29. "Tlliott Miniatures on Txhibit at Museum," The Birmingham News, 1. William H. Gerdts, Art Across America: Two Centuries of Regional 2 Oct. 1955. Painting 1710-1920, vol. 2 (New York: Abbeville, 1990), 84. 30. The Birmingham News, 19 Apr.1931. 2. Arthur Stewart, "Miss Hannah Tlliott: A Recollection," 31."Art School" brochure, Registrar's object files, Dryer, Still Life with Birmingham Museum of Art, File: Tlliott, Hannah. White Tureen, Birmingham Museum of Art. 3. James Saxon Childers "Miniature Painting Ancient Art," Birmingham 32. Carrie Hill scrapbook, courtesy of Henry Yarborough. News-Age-Herald, 19 Nov.1933; clipping files,"Artists- 33. Balfour, "Miniature by Artist of Birmingham of Magic City Girl Birmingham-T-F," Birmingham Public Tibrary Tutwiler Gains Attention." Collection. 34. Ibid. 4. Arthur Stewart, "Miss Hannah Tlliott: A Recollection." 35. Chris Petteys, Dictionary of Women Artists (Boston: GK. Hall, 1985), 5. Ibid. "Tlliott, Hannah." 6. Tlizabeth Agee, "Miss Hannah Tlliott: A Recollection," 36. The Birmingham News, 18 Dec. 1932, clipping files, "Artists- Birmingham Museum of Art. File: Tlliott, Hannah. Birmingham-T-F," Birmingham Public Tibrary Tutwiler 7. Since documentation cannot be found indicating when she would Collection. have led a group of young people on a tour of Turope before 37. The Birmingham News, 19 Mar.1933, clipping files,"Artists- 1927, this may be a legend. Birmingham-T-F," Birmingham Public Tibrary Tutwiler 8. Agee, "Miss Hannah Tlliott: A Recollection." Collection. 9. "Material by and about the Stephen Tlliott Family in the 38. Ibid. Birmingham Public Tibrary," clipping files, "Artists-Birmingham- 39. Carrie Hill scrapbook, courtesy of Henry Yarborough. E-F," Birmingham Public Tibrary Tutwiler Collection. 40. Stewart, "Miss Hannah Tlliott: A Recollection". 10. Agee, "Miss Hannah Tlliott: A Recollection." 41. "Art School" brochure, Registrar's object files, Dryer, Still Life with 11. Tlizabeth Agee, "Miss Hannah Tlliott," typescript, Birmingham White Tureen. Public Tibrary Archives 56.6.7.5. 42. Ibid. 12. Chris Petteys, Dictionary of Women Artists (Boston: GK. Hall, 1985), 43. Agee, "Miss Hannah Tlliott." "Tlliott, Hannah;" Birmingham Museum of Art Tlliott, Hannah 44. Stewart, "Miss Hannah Tlliott: A Recollection." File; Agee. 45. "Valuable Tetters Are Discovered in Search by Miss Hannah 13. Gladys Tngel Tang and Kurt Tang, Etched in Memory:The Building Tlliott," newspaper clipping, 13 May 1937, clipping files, "Artists- and Survival of Artistic Reputation (Chapel Hill: University of North Birmingham-T-F," Birmingham Public Tibrary Tutwiler Carolina Press, 1990) 143. Collection. 14. Ruth Cook,"A Tife in Miniature," Birmingham, April 1996, 61. 46. Stewart, "Miss Hannah Tlliott: A Recollection." 15. Stewart, "Miss Hannah Tlliott: A Recollection." 47. Ibid. 16. Tthel Sharpe Tynn, "Mrs. W S. Tovell," undated typescript, 48. Ibid. Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 56.2.3.20. 49. Ibid. 17. Agee,"Miss Hannah Tlliott." 50. Ibid. 18. Cook, "A Tife in Miniature," 61. 51. "Tlliott Miniatures on Txhibit at Museum," The Birmingham News, 19. Agee, "Miss Hannah Tlliott." 2 Oct. 1955. 52. "Hannah Tlliott Art Award Announced," The Birmingham News, 13 Oct. 1957. Endnotes — 195

Willie McLaughlin 12. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 27 Dec.1903. 13. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 30 May 1904. 1. "Miss McTaughlin's Rites Today at 3 p.m.," Birmingham Age-Herald, 14. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 11 Dec.1904. 19 July 1967. 15. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 1 Jan.1905. 2. "Rites Wednesday for art leader," The Birmingham News, 18 Julyl967. 16. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 16 Jan.1905. 3. "Miss McTaughlin's Rites Today At 3 p.m.," Birmingham Age-Herald, 17. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 10 Feb.1905. 19 July 1967. 18. Ibid. 4. "Willie Cyrene McTaughlin," Birmingham Public Tibrary Archives 19. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 30 Apr.1905. 56.2.3.21. 20. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 30 Mayl910. 5. Gladys Tngel Tang and Kurt Tang, Etched in Memory: The Building 21. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams 12 Junel910. and Survival of Artistic Reputation (Chapel Hill: University of North 22. Ibid., Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, 12 Mar.1912. Carolina Press, 1990), 137. 23. "Sixth Annual Txhibition of Birmingham Art Club" Carrie Hill 6. Marchal T. Tandgren, Years of Art (New York: Robert M. McBride scrapbook, courtesy of Henry Yarborough. & Co., 1940), 84. 24. Alabama Art League Bulletin 9, Nov. 1931. 7. Tang and Tang, 139, 140. 25. Birmingham Art Club minutes, 1 Nov.1913, 2 Jan.1914, 5 Nov 8. Ibid., 140. 1932, 2 Apr.1932, 3 Apr. 1937, Birmingham Public Tibrary 9. Ibid., 141. Archives 167.1.2. 10. Ibid., 141. 11. "The Colony of Delia E Dryer: Tife through letters of a female artist at the turn of the 20th Century," compiled by M.J. Morgan Johansen, 1998. Tetter from Delia Dryer to Mrs. R.J.Williams, Dec. 1903, no date given; written on stationery imprinted Catharine Torillard Wolfe Art Students Club, 802 Broadway, New York, New York.

Index

A Birmingham Art Club 7, 9, 10, 13, 15, 16, 18, Constantine, Frank 179 19, 30, 37, 38, 41, 44, 53, 68, 70, 75, 83, 97, Continental Gin Company (now Continentall A Chinese Mirror 110 98, 121, 123, 124, 129, 131, 137, 150, Gin) 123 Academie Colarossi (Paris) 12, 29, 96, 126, 161, 163, 165, 167, 172, 179, 183, 185, 186 Corcoran Art Gallery (Washington, DC) 147 174 Birmingham Art Teague 29,43,138,183 Corot, Jean Baptiste Camille 45 Academie de la Grande Chaumiere (Paris) 154, Birmingham Art School 29, 43, 44 Cotton, Mrs. Robert 33 185 Birmingham City Hall 14, 19 Cowles Art School (Boston, MA) 55 Academie Julian (Paris) 55, 96, 125, 144, 174 Birmingham Historical Society 16, 19, 121 Crane, Bruce 70 Academie Moderne (Paris) 154 Birmingham Museum of Art 9, 19, 95, 137, Crawford, Peggy 179 Adams,Wayman 176 176,181,186 Addison Gallery of Art (Andover, MA) 118 Birmingham Public Tibrary 14, 16, 17, 19, 39, D Agee, Miss Touise 31 56,82,83,138 Daingerfield, Tlliott 44, 45, 46, 68 Agnes Scott College ( Decatur, GA) 37 Birmingham-Southern College 74, 181 Daughters of the American Revolution 38 Alabama Art Commission 75 Bissell, C. S. 73 Davis, Mrs.W. T.B. 34 Alabama Art Teague 37,73,74,75, 161, 163, Bouguereau,William-Adolphe 144 Davis, Stuart 144 186 Boyd, Miss Marie 180 Delgado Museum (New Orleans, TA) 176 Alabama Conference Female College Bradley, Tee 52 Dixie Art Colony (Wetumpka, AT) 163,171, (Tuskegee, AT), later Huntingdon College Bridges, Tleanor 83,180 180 (Montgomery,AT) 91, 137, 166 Bridges, George 81, 180 Dobbins, Carrie 172 Alabama Polytechnic Institute, later Auburn British Museum (Tondon) 118 Donnelly, James W 73 University (Auburn, AT) 163 Brooke Hill School, later Altamont School Douglass, Tucille 7, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 19, 29, Alabama State Capitol (Montgomery, AT) 39 15, 180 33, 44, 90-121, 131, 133, 157, 173, 177, 180 Alabama State Fair 38, 52 Brooklyn Society of Ttchers 132 Douglas, Marian T. 92 Allen, Miss Willie 150,167 Browne, George Timer 13, 16, 17, 54, 55, 58, Douglas, Mary Sinclair 91, 92 American Association of Miniature Painters 67,68,71,87,158,165 Douglas, Walter Tugene 92 176 Buck, Tawrence 29 Dryer, Delia 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 29, 30, 31, American Society of Ttchers 132 37, 44, 53, 67, 68, 70, 97, 129, 136-169, 173, American Water Color Society 127 c 177, 179, 183, 184, 186 American Woman's Art Association 127 Cable Piano 52 Dryer, Tdmund Hoyt 138 Angkor Wat (Cambodia) 113, 114, 115, 117, Cadmean Circle 30, 33 Dryer, James 138 120, 121 Canadian National Academy (Montreal) 118 Dryer, Nancy Chambless 137 Appleby, Frank 163 Candee, Helen 112,113,114,115 Dryer, Percy 138 Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IT) 12, 56, Cape Cod School of Art (Provincetown, Dryer, Thomas Bailey 137 127, 131 MA) 153 Du Bois, Guy Pene 150 Art Students' Teague (NewYork) 23, 94, 184 Carleton, Clifford 141, 147 Dumas, Mrs. S. S. 92 Ash Can School 144 Carrie Hill School of Art 67 Dumond, Frank Vincent 184 Autobiography of a Chinese Dog 110, 112 Casson Galleries (Boston, MA) 118 Ayscough, Florence 110,112 Castelucho, Claudio 154, 156, 185 Central High School 124 B Eades, Elizabeth 118,120 Central Tibrary 14, 16 Eakins, Thomas 94 Babcock Galleries, New York 58 Cezanne, Paul 57, 67 East Take Tibrary 81 Bairnsfather,A. T. 81 Chase School of Art (New York, NY) 128, 138 Eastwood, Mrs. Tutie Sharpe 37 Bande Noire 95 Chase,William Merritt 17, 30, 47, 94, 138, Ecole des Beaux-Arts (Paris) 125, 127, 144, Barbizon School 45 145, 146, 147, 149, 156, 163 174 Beaux, Cecilia 68 Colby & Rolls 43 Edwards, George Wharton 70 Beecher, Henry Ward 41 Colonial Williamsburg Foundation 133 Elliott, Elizabeth Hannah Thompson (Mrs. Bellows, George 68, 94, 150 Comer, Martine 179 Birmingham Art Association 137, 181, 186 Robert Habersham) 172, 176 Commercial Club Building 44 Elliott, Hannah 7, 9, 11, 12, 15, 18, 19, 30, 44, Cone, Touise 83 83, 93, 97, 125, 157, 170-181 Connak, Mr. 146, 148 198 -Art of the New South

Elliott, Robert Habersham 172 McTaughlin, Willie 7, 11, 13, 16, 29, 44, 67, Elliott, Stephen 172 J 68, 75, 97, 129, 145, 147, 150, 155, 179, 182- Emond, Burgin and Hill Papers 19 JayavarmanVII 114, 117 186 Ezell, Mrs. Woodson C. 118 Jefferson Theatre 29 Methodist Centenary Committee 98 Jemison Jr., Robert S. 73 Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY) Jemison Sr, Robert S. 93 53,118,121 Johnston, Mrs. R. D 176, 177 Milch Galleries (New York, NY) 118 Ferguson, Hill 19 Jones, Tloise Hill 74 Miller, Richard T. 96 First National Bank 52, 93 Jordan, Miss Florence 31 Millet, Jean Francois 45 Fitzpatrick, Kelly 163,171 Jordan, Mrs.W M. 31 Minneapolis Museum of Fine Arts 118 Fleming, Mary Hooper Shaw 29 Joy, Mrs. Frederick 31 MissVeltin's School for Girls ( New York) 131 Florentine Building 172 Judson College (Marion, AT) 71 Fogarty, Mamie 34 Mississippi Art Association 70, 74, 163 Freedlander, Arthur R. 47 K Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (Montgomery, AT) 9, 16, 71, 73, 163 G Kent, Rockwell 150 Montgomery, Caroline (Carrie) Garland Tewis King, Miss Alabama 33 (Mrs J. A.) 7, 10, 13, 14, 15, 36-39, 43, 179, Garden Club of Montgomery 73 Knight, Tugene H. 11 183 Garland, Dr. Tandon Cabell 38, 39 Montgomery, Col. John Alexander 37 Garland, Rose 38 L Montgomery, Mamie Holfield (Mrs. Joseph Garth, Caroline Gentry (Huntsville, AT) 176, H.) 7, 15, 29, 38, 44, 129, 150, 157, 167, 179 177 Lamkin, Mary Walker Constantine 179 Mora, Francis Tuis 141, 145, 163 Gaston, Miss Tucile 29 League ofWomenVoters 38 Moretti, Giuseppe 7 Gauguin, Paul 67 Lefebvre, Jules 55 Morgan, Anne Tracy (daughter of J. Pierpont Gerdts, William H. 171 Lewis, Burwell Boykin 38, 39 Morgan) 98, 120 Gorgas, Gen. William C. 81 Lewis, Caroline Garland 39 Morison, Miss 37 Graves, Gov. Bibb 75 Lewis, Rose 43 Morris, William 41 Gray, Mary 70 Library of Congress (Washington, DC) 121 Lie, Jonas 17, 68 Mouhot, Henri 113 H Linn, Janie 42 Mowbray, Henry Siddons 47 Linn, Jr., Dr. Julius T. 41 Munger, Robert S. 123 Hanson, Victor 176 Musee Guimet (Paris) 118 Linn, Sr, Dr. Julius T. 42 Harding, Mrs.W P. G. 31, 33 Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA) 175 Tovell, Caroline Couper Stiles (Mrs.W S.) 7, Hassam, Childe 147, 185 Museum School, Museum of Fine Arts 10, 12, 13, 15, 18, 20-35, 37, 43, 44, 97, 124, Hawthorne, Charles 17, 68, 129, 153, 154, 185 129, 150, 172, 177, 179 (Boston, MA) 12,55 Heller, Sylvia Pizitz 67, 68, 186 Tovell, William ("Tod") Storrow 22, 35 Henri, Robert 17, 144, 149 Tovemans, Joseph & Toeb 43 N Hiden, Robert 179, 180 Tuks, George 94 Nashville Art Association 71 Hill, Carrie (Caroline Tillian) 7, 11, 13, 15, Tupton, Touise 172 National Academy of Design (New York, NY) 16, 19, 29, 31, 37, 40-89, 97, 157, 158, 168, Tynn, Tthel Hansell Sharpe (Mrs. A. M.) 22, 13,23,37,71,94 173, 177, 180 37 National Association of Women Painters and Hill, Eloise 67 Sculptors 74 Hill, John Ta Fayette 43 M National Commission to Advance American Hill,John Scott 43,44,73 Art 81 HilfTora 67 Madame Tefebvre's School (Baltimore, MD) National Museum of Cambodia, formerly the Hill, Mrs. Nelson 73 22 Albert Sarrault Museum (Phnom Phen, Hill, Mrs. Walton 71 Malbone, Tdward Green 21 Cambodia) 114 Hill, Nancy Rebecca Vance 43 Manly, Dr. Basil 38 Neal, Mrs. William 176 Hill, Neat 42 Margaret Allen School 15, 129, 157, 179 Neill, Miss Sarah 9 Hill, Odeine 67 Marks, Miss Vernon 32 New York School of Art 13, 138, 145, 150, Hill, Phillip Tdwin 43 Marston, Tady Mary 120 Hill, Robert Trnest 42, 43, 73 Martha's Vineyard, MA 13,47,52 153,184 Hill, Sammye Katharine 43 Martin, Hugh 7 New York Water Color Club 132 Hitchcock, Mr. 146 Mason, Miss 93 Nicholls, Rhoda Holmes 93 Hood Building 51 Massie School (Savannah, GA) 21 Nineteenth Century Club 33, 173 Matisse, Henri 67 I McGregor, Tlizabeth 163 o McTaughlin, Andrew 183 O'Brien's Opera House 23 Inness, George 45 McTaughlin, John Felix 183 Oglethorpe Academy (Savannah, GA) 21 McTaughlin, Sarah Then Meredith 183 Index - 199

s T Park School-Roland Park (Baltimore, MD) Salon d'Automne (Paris) 96 Tittle, Walter 150 131 Salon des Independants (Paris) 96 Trussville Furnace 82 Parmelee, Dean 11 Sargent, John Singer 17 Tuscaloosa Female College (Tuscaloosa, AT) Parrish, William D. 29, 43, 46, 124, 172 School of Fine and Applied Arts (New York, 37 Paul Hayne School 43, 123 NY) 129 Twachtman, John 47 Penfield, Tdmond 141,147 Scott,Walter E 179 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Shakespeare Club 38 u (Philadelphia, PA) 12, 131, 132, 144, 176 Shanghai Times 99 Underwood Hill 24 Pennsylvania Society of Miniature Painters Sharpe, Charles 73 Underwood, Mrs. Oscar 44 177 Sharpe, Tutie 29 United Charities 38 Philadelphia Art Club 70 Shinnecock Summer School of Art (Tong United Daughters of the Confederacy 38 Philadelphia Print Club 132 Island, NY) 138 University of the South (Sewanee, TN) 22 Philadelphia Water Color Society 131 Shook, Carrie Sharpe 23, 24, 29 Pizitz, Sylvia (see also Sylvia Pizitz Heller) 67 Silver Take Institute (Pinson, AT) 183 V Price, Rosalie 180 Simon, Tucien J. 95 Virginia Military Institute (Texington,VA) 22 Provincetown Art Association (Provincetown, Sketch Club 37 MA) 56,75 Sloan, John 184 w Provincetown, MA 13 Smith, George Kidder 179, 180 Public Works Administration (PWA) 81, 180 Smith, Mrs. Ross C. 32 Wadsworth, William 15 Smith, W Granville 70 Walker, Miss Touise 31 Q Smolian, Joseph 73 Ware, Mrs. Mary 174 Societe des Artistes Francais (Paris) 71 Warren, Mrs. John 31 Quitman, Tliza Turner 22 Society of American Painters 145 Watts Building 93, 128 Quitman, Maj. Gen. John 22 South Carolina Art Association 53 Welton,William Teslie 7 R Southern Club 70 West Tnd School of Art (Provincetown, MA) Southern States Art Teague 14, 15, 16, 54, 57, 56, 158 Randolph Macon College 38 70, 72, 73, 74, 80, 131, 163, 176, 186 Wheeler, Candace 92 Raulston, Mrs. J. B. 31,44 St. Genevieve's School (Asheville, NC) 131 White, Miss Virginia 32 Reid, Mrs.J.B. 52 St. Mary's-on-the-Highlands 23 Whittaker Piano Building 185 Rhode Island School of Design (Providence, Sterrett, Roberta 179 Williams, Rena Dryer 138, 168, 184 RI) 118 Sterrett, Sara 179 Williams, Robert James 138 Robert-Fleury,Tony 55, 144 Stewart, Arthur 171, 180 Wilmarth, Temuel 94 Robinson, Alexander 95 Stiles, Col. William Henry 21 Wilson, Billy 117 RothermelJ. E 82 Stiles, Tt. Robert Mackay 21 Wilson, Miss Sara 32 Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam 30, 97, 179 Stiles, Margaret Wylly Couper 21 Wilson, William WS. 180 Rumph, Alice Tdith 7, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 29, Stubbins, Mary Katherine 179 Winn, Mrs. Roberta Harris 45 30, 31, 37, 44, 53, 67, 97, 118, 122-135, 150, Stubbins, Sam 179 Women's Foreign Mission Society 105 157, 158, 163, 167, 173, 177, 179 Woodlawn High School 74 Studio Arts Building 15,41,53,67,163 Rumph, Alice Tlizabeth 124 Suryavarman II 114 Rumph, Cornelius Mandeville 123 Swinth, Karen 10 Rumph, Frances 124 Sykes,William 81 Rumph, Mary Mazyque Hume 123 Rumph, William 124 Ruskin, John 41

Acknowledgements

Editor and Producer Marjorie L.White

Designer Scott Fuller

Editors Julius Linn Jr., Regina Amnion, Stewart Dansby, Alice Ottewill, Joe Strickland, James White III

Photographs of Art in Public and Private Collections Marc Bondarenko, Birmingham Lesley R. Collins, Packinghouse Gallery, Largo, Florida Henry G. Yarborough, Akron, Ohio

Private Collectors Julius Earle Linn Jr., Birmingham Mrs. Eugene (Diane) Brabston, Birmingham Mary Cochran, Birmingham Lesley R. Collins, Largo, Florida Mrs. James F. (Nancy Rebecca Hill) Collins Jr., Largo, Florida James F. Collins III, Largo, Florida Mrs. Allen (Janie) Morgan Johansen, Tallahassee, Florida Mrs. Carlisle (Betty) Jones, Birmingham Mrs. Rufus M. (Eloise Hill) Jones Jr., Birmingham Henry Sharpe Lynn Jr., Birmingham Charles Maniaci, Atlanta, Georgia Mary Jane Morgan, Orlando, Florida Mrs. John P. (Patti Haley) Mulock, Belleair, Florida Michelle Brabston Rose, Birmingham Frederic L. Smith Jr., Birmingham Alabama Federation of Women's Clubs-Third District, Birmingham James Herbert White III, Birmingham Mrs. Haskin (Mary) Williams, Birmingham Martin and Yorke Williams, Birmingham Henry G. Yarborough, Akron, Ohio

201 Acknowledgements (Continued)

Birmingham Historical Society The Committee for this book: Regina Amnion, Pat Camp, Julius Tinn Jr., Marjorie White Original Committee: Regina Amnion, Pat Camp, C. Martin Hames, Margaret Livingston, Marjorie White Research Assistance: Peggy Balch,Anayi Reynolds, Tyler Huddle

Birmingham Museum of Art Melissa Faulkner, Registrar; Alexis Gould, Mary Villadsen, Assistant Registrars; Miriam Fowler, Education Department

Birmingham Public Library For support of research and sponsoring the exhibition accompanying the publication of this book, November 7-December 31, 2004, Birmingham Public Library Library Gallery.

Barbara Sirmans, Director; Renee Blaylock, Pamela Lyons, Associate Directors Department of Archives and Manuscripts James Baggett, Archivist: Regina Amnion, Assistant Archivist; DonVeasey, Curator of Photography Tutwiler Collection of Southern History and Literature Yvonne Crumpler, Head

Brooklyn Museum of Art Deborah Wythe, Archivist & Manager of Special Library Collections, Libraries & Archives

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Laura Pass Barry, Associate Curator of Prints, Maps & Wallpaper; Marianne Martin, Audio Visual Department, John D. Rockefeller Jr., Library; Mary Ann Goode, Archives & Records Office; Bob Hill, Manager, Williamsburg Booksellers

Metropolitan Museum of Art Department of Prints & Drawings: George Goldner, Chairman; Samantha Rippner, Assistant Curator, 20th Century Prints; Kit Basquin, Print & Drawing Study Room; Registrar's Office: Minora Collins, Deputy Associate Registrar, Loans: Nestor Montilla; Photo & Slide Library: Rebecca Akan, Administrative Assistant

Montgomery Museum of Art Pamela Bransford, Registrar

The Packinghouse Gallery, Largo, Florida Lesley R. Collins

Special Appreciation Dr. Heather McPherson, Dr. John M. Schnorrenberg, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Art Dr. Mindy Taggard, University of Alabama, Department of Art John Bertalan, Ellen Cooper Erdreich, Margaret Gresham Livingston ART"/*NEW SOUTH Women Artists of Birmingham, 1890-1950

the Birmingham District grew and prospered in the post-Civil War decades, it sveloped the resources to support the arts—in particular, the vocations of eight southern women artists: Delia Dryer, Lucille Douglass, Hannah Elliott, Carrie Hill, Caroline Lovell, Willie McLaughlin, Carrie Montgomery, and Alice Rumph who were founders of the Birmingham Art Club in 1907.

Birmingham was 36 years old and the industrial capital of the South. The women of the Art Club, who trained in New York, Paris and elsewhere, sought to make it an artistic center, and to sell their work. They also aimed to enrich the lives of others with beauty. They painted landscapes, still lifes, flowers, and figures, generally in an impressionist style—the established academic mode during the early decades of the 20th century, and the style most likely to gain them patrons. They also taught generations of Birmingham artists. f The Birmingham Art Club held annual exhibits at the public library, donated paintings to the schools and collected paintings for the founding of the Montgomery Museum of Art (1930) and the Birmingham Museum of Art (1951), for which they lobbied beginning in the 1920s. The club exists today as the Birmingham Art Association, a strong voice for the Birmingham arts community.

The portraits presented in this volume draw on public and private collections of paintings, scrapbooks, and letters as well as records collected by the Birmingham Historical Society and the Birmingham Public Library.

About the author

Vicki Leigh Ingham received her master's degree in art history from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She first encountered the women of the Birmingham Art Club while working on her master's thesis tracing the history of the club and its role in the founding of the Birmingham Museum of Art. As an editor at Southern Progress Corporation and Meredith Corporation, she has written eight books on home decorating and design. Also an artist, she exhibits her oil paintings in several galleries in Birmingham and Des Moines, Iowa, where she lives.

ISBN D-T431T4-3U-L Birmingham Historical Society One Sloss Quarters Birmingham, Alabama 35222 www.bhistorical.org 9I780943""994307