Saturday, April 19, 2008

California women artists quiz


Have you heard of these women? Helen Hyde, Matilda Lotz, Clara Taggart McChesny? They were among California women artists whose paintings were on exhibit at the Columbian International Exposition of 1893. Others were Lucy Conant, Ellen Frances Burpee Carr, Ann Lyle Harmon, Bertha Lee, Evelyn McCormick, and Mary Paxton Herrick Ross. They were all successful and well-known professional artists of their day. Lotz, for example, exhibited throughout Europe and became known as the "American Rosa Bonheur" for her focus on animal portraiture. Do you think you can find them in major museums or galleries today?

Only one may be familiar: Grace Carpenter Hudson. The insert is "Boats at Dock" by impressionist Evelyn McCormick, perhaps my favorite artist of the group. Print maker Helen Hyde is in the collections of the Smithsonian and the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, which is not to say her works are on the walls.

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