University of Northern Iowa UNI ScholarWorks Faculty Publications Faculty Work 1998 The Artistic and Scientific Collaboration of Blanche Ames Ames and Adelbert Ames II Roy R. Behrens University of Northern Iowa Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy Copyright ©1998 The MIT Press Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/art_facpub Part of the Art and Design Commons Recommended Citation Behrens, Roy R., "The Artistic and Scientific Collaboration of Blanche Ames Ames and Adelbert Ames II" (1998). Faculty Publications. 4. https://scholarworks.uni.edu/art_facpub/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Work at UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE The Artistic and Scientific Collaboration of Blanche Ames Ames and Adelbert Ames II ABSTRACT Roy R. Behrens During an uninterrupted pe- riod from about 1910 through 1913, Blanche Ames Ames (1878-1969), an American artist and women's suffragist, worked closely with her brother, Adelbert BACKGROUND Ames 11 (1880-1955), a lawyer, Further, both parents were av- artist and optical physiologist, in a Blanche Ames Ames (1878-1969) was an American artist, in- idly interested in mechanical studyin- of color, perspective and ventor and women's suffragist [1]. Her brother, Adelbert vention: Mrs. Ames invented a other aspects of pictorial art in Ames II (1880-1955), was a lawyer and artist who became non-sticky well- and non-wrinkling the hope of using scientific find- known later in life for his discoveries in optical physiology laundry and starch; General Ames de- ings to enhance the realism of their paintings. They made signifi- perceptual psychology [2]. During an uninterrupted period signed a portable pencil sharp- cant progress, but their close rela- from about 1910 through 1913, they worked together ener, in anthe extension ladder for fire tionship ended in 1922 as a result study of color, perspective and other aspects of pictorial engines, art, in flour mill machinery and of a disagreement about their joint the hope of using scientific findings to enhance the realism a method of of canal barge propul- authorship of a published paper. their paintings. The setting for this artistic and scientific sion. Ofcol- their six children, three laboration was Borderland, a vast wooded estate about 20 (Butler, Blanche and Adelbert II) miles south of Boston near North Easton, Massachusetts. Blanche Ames became Blanche Ames Ames by her mar- riage in 1900 to Oakes Ames (1874-1950) (of an unrelated Fig. 1. Edmund C. Tarbell, Portrait of Blanche Ames, oil on canvas, family), a Harvard botanist and an authority on orchids. Her 441/2 x 341/2 in, 1907. This painting by Tarbell, a prominent Ameri- brother Adelbert was commonly known as Del Ames. The can Impressionist, was commissioned by Blanche Ames Ames's fourth and fifth, respectively, of six children, Blanche and Del husband, Harvard botanist Oakes Ames. (Courtesy of Oakes Plimpton and Borderland State Park) bore the same given names as their parents, who were distin- guished and affluent residents of Lowell, Massachusetts [3]. Their father was General Adelbert Ames, a West Point graduate and Civil War hero who received the Congressional Medal of Honor at the First Battle of Bull Run and, following the war, served as a U.S. Senator and Governor of Mississippi during the Reconstruction. Their mother was Blanche Butler, who was the daughter of Sarah Hildreth, a Shakespearean ac- tress, and General Benjamin F. Butler, one of the most out- spoken and controversial figures of the U.S. Civil War. Gen- eral Butler also later served as the Governor of Massachusetts and as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and was an unsuccessful presidential candidate. Blanche Ames Ames's lifelong interest in the rights of women may have been partly inspired by the example of Gen- eral Butler, who, in 1871, was one of the first American politi- cians to support women's suffrage. In addition, both her par- ents were advocates of mutual regard between men and women-so much so that, while promising to love and honor each other in their wedding vows, they deleted the traditional pledge of the bride to obey. The fascination of the Ames children with visual art may also have resulted from the example of their parents. As a young man, while sailing on his father's ships, General Ames had dabbled in watercolor painting; Blanche Butler Ames, who had studied painting at a convent school in Washington, D.C., was an occasional oil painter. Roy R. Behrens (artist, writer, teacher), 2022 X Avenue, Dysart, IA 52224-9767, U.S.A. E-mail: <[email protected]>. ? 1998 ISAST LEONARDO, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 47-54, 1998 47 are officially credited with dozens of pat- a specially designed combination micro- and a few in Philadelphia" [6]. He be- ented inventions, among them Butler scope and camera. In 1924, she camede- proficient at polo, and in 1910 he Ames's designs for an early pressure signed the Gold Medal for the American won the Junior Division Championship cooker, automotive windshield wipers Orchid Society. of the U.S. Polo Association. He spent a and the radiant heat stove, a forerunner Blanche was also interested in oil significant part of his time playing cards of the self-cleaning oven. painting, particularly portrait painting, and betting on horse races. Throughout It is indicative of her parents' progres- an involvement that may have this beenperiod, he "thought of the world as sive attitudes that Blanche Ames Ames spurred by the fact that in 1906 his Oakesplaything, but at the same time he was one of the few women of her gen-hired a prominent artist, Edmund was deeply C. concerned. It was all too easy. eration to attend college. In 1895, Tarbell,she to paint a portrait of Blanche He wasn't in 'paying his way"' [7]. enrolled at Smith College, where 4 years her wedding dress. A highly regarded Although the time and exact circum- later she received a bachelor's degree Boston in painter, Tarbell was a member stances ofof it are unclear, a personal crisis art history and a diploma in studio The art Ten, a group of American occurredImpres- in his life, probably around from the Smith Art School. As class sionists. A superb example of Tarbell's1910. While gambling in Saratoga president, she delivered a commence- work, the portrait (Fig. 1) cost Springs, $2,000 New York, he decided suddenly ment speech in which she observed and that required more than 24 sittings, to resign with from the law firm, an action he the graduates were "most fortunate the artistto travelling in by train. later attributed to the realization that live in an age that-more than any In 1911 the couple moved again, his beliefthis "that the law dealt with equity other-makes it possible for women time to to a huge and magnificent and home justice" was unfounded [8], and ar- attain the best and truest development designed by Blanche herself. Located ranged on to dissolve his engagement to in life" [4]. their Borderland property onMargaret high (Peggy) James, the daughter One year later, she married Oakes ground overlooking a pond, the of Williamhouse James. "Disillusioned in the Ames, whose family was known for its had walls of fieldstone gathered law from and disappointed in love" [9], as he pivotal role in financing the Union Pa- the property; the floors were wasof rein- later described by a niece, he was cific Railroad, ownership of the lucra- forced concrete. The three-story determined struc- to find a career "that would tive Ames Shovel Company and patron- ture had 22,000 square feet, takewith all 15his energy, all his imagination, age of the well-known architect H.H. large rooms, 10 fireplaces and all hiseight skill, and yet extend far out of his Richardson. While Blanche's young hus- bathrooms. Now known as Borderland grasp" [10]. band was supportive of the concept of State Park, the estate was acquired At by age 30, unemployed and unmar- equality for women, his mother was less the State of Massachusetts in 1971, ried, 2 he decided to give up his upper- sympathetic at first. An aristocratic ma- years after Blanche's death, and is class cur- life to become a professional art- triarch whose late husband had been rently open to the public. ist-"I had made drawings since I was a Governor of Massachusetts, she could Initially, the Ameses had retained boy," ahe recalled later, "and I had a real not bear to have her son move out of Boston architect to design their home, desire to learn to paint" [11]. He con- the family mansion. As a result, in but what he failed repeatedly to accommodate verted a police paddy wagon into a must have been painfully difficult their days suggestions. In 1909, they dismissed makeshift mobile home, travelling in for an enlightened young woman, him, the which led to a painful and pro-the summer, painting landscapes en plein newlyweds lived with Oakes's mother longed in lawsuit and to Blanche's ambi- air. In the winter he lived in a single North Easton for the first 6 years tious of decision to serve as her own archi- room in a rooming house in Boston. their marriage. tect. Throughout the lawsuit, the couple However progressive they were in During this period, the couple washad defended by Alfred Hemenway, other a respects, his family was horrified two children.