Elizabeth Nourse: Happy Days

"Les jours heureux (Happy Days)" by Elizabeth Nourse

"In the fall of 1907 Anna Schmidt joined the Nourse sisters and the three explored a different area of Brittany. For six weeks they stayed in a convent in Plougastel-Daoulas, a small village just south of Brest, where Anna occupied herself with her writing and Elizabeth and Louise went on painting expeditions in the surrounding countryside. Pleased with the subjects she found there, Elizabeth completed at least four oils and about a dozen watercolors. She also filled her sketchbooks with landscapes done mostly during excursions by carriage through the countryside. These excursions, or 'treats,' as Louise referred to them, were financed by Anna through gifts from their Cincinnati friends. As a result the Nourses were able to go as far as Camaret to the south and the Ile d'Ouessant and Folgoet to the north.

Nourse soon had opportunities to exhibit the watercolors that had become her great interest. She was invited by Gaston La Touche, president of the Societe Internationale de la Peinture a l'Eau, to exhibit with this group in 1908. The eight watercolors and two drawings she submitted were hung beside works by Albert Besnard, Frank Brangwyn, Walter Gay, Lucien Simon, and John Singer Sargent. Most of these watercolors were also sent by Nourse to the annual exhibition of American painting at the Cincinnati Art Museum  in 1910 and seven were included in the annual Philadelphia Watercolor Exhibition the same year. Louise priced the watercolors containing figures at $250 and the landscapes at $150.

Elizabeth was particularly gratified in May 1909 when 'Les jours heureux,' an affectionate scene of family life was awarded first prize at the first exhibition of the International Art Union in Paris, and was purchased under its English title, 'Happy Days,' for the Detroit Institute of Arts. Despite difficulties in selling her paintings, Nourse could look back on numerous accomplishments during this period of her life. She had achieved the goal of all Salon painters, particularly expatriates, by her election to full membership in the New Salon in both categories in which she competed. Further, her work was in great demand at all of the important international exhibitions, additional evidence that the art world recognized her talent. All that remained for her fulfillment was the public acclaim she was to receive in the next few years."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Cincinnati Societaire" by Mary Alice Heekin Burke in "Elizabeth Nourse, 1859-1938: A Salon Career)