Elizabeth Nourse: The Exposition Universelle

Study for "La Veillee" by Elizabeth Nourse

"Elizabeth and Louise Nourse were in Paris in April 1900 for the opening of the giant Exposition Universelle, a celebration of the entire century's progress in the arts and sciences that had been ten years in the planning. Elizabeth sketched the Eiffel Tower, constructed as the centerpiece of the fair, but the standard of French taste remained more traditional. This was shown by the two new art palaces which housed the exposition's fine arts displays, the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, built in the exuberant Baroque style of the Belle Epoque.

The space allotted to American paintings at the exposition was so limited that Nourse was restricted to one entry, 'Dans l'eglise a Volendam,' which was awarded a silver medal. The New Salon found temporary quarters on the Left Bank, however, and the artist was able to show more paintings there. She was featured in the Hearst periodical 'Cosmopolitan,' in an article about four expatriate artists at the Salon, in which the author who extolled the paintings he saw in Nourse's studio: ' . . . all these pictures you would have said were the work of a man, of one whose tenderness was based on the strength of a man who had Millet's feelings for form and Baudry's sense of color. In any case , a strong man . . . No American woman artist stands so high in Paris today as Miss Nourse. Indeed, she is one woman painter of our country . . . who ranks in the world as a painter and not as a woman who paints.'

Among the fifty million visitors flocking to Paris to attend the Exposition Universelle were many Cincinnatians who came to Elizabeth's studio. The two sisters remained in Paris through the summer, pleased to see old friends and to sell a number of Elizabeth's paintings. Louise wrote: 'We have about $1,000 in the bank . . . we have tried our best and put down prices and sold a lot of studies and watercolors - heads, etc., of course, the big picture 'La Veillee' brought $600. This will pay our rent and give us $50 a month for a year - then in the meanwhile if we sell any more we will be rich.'"

To be continued

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

Elizabeth Nourse: New Salon Societaire

"Enfants de Penmarc'h" by Elizabeth Nourse

"Elizabeth Nourse showed four oils and four works on paper in the 1901 New Salon, at which exhibition Carolus-Duran, the incumbent president, announced that she had been elected a 'societaire' in the category of drawing, pastel, and watercolor. She was said to be the first American woman, and only the second female, to be so honored. Nourse was elated by the news and was deluged with letters, flowers, fruits, and even a case of champagne from her Parisian friends. This recognition not only added to her reputation in the eyes of the public, but permitted her to have works on paper hung without examination by the jury, and to serve on the jury itself for this category. By 1904 she was elected 'societaire' in oil painting as well, which meant that she could enter six oils and six works on paper without submitting them to the jury.

"La Mere" by Elizabeth Nourse, 1888

"La Petite Soeur" by Elizabeth Nourse, 1902

It was on her return to Penmarc'h in the summer of 1901 that Nourse probably painted 'La petite soeur,' a beautifully composed variation on the mother and child theme. It is instructive to compare this work to her first Salon painting, 'La mere,' to understand the development in Nourse's style. Studio highlights and a dark, spacious background characterize the earlier example, whereas the natural light in 'La petite soeur' reveals the entire shallow space into which the figures are compressed. Certain elements of both paintings remain similar, such as the triangular grouping of the figures, but the vivid contrasts of color in the later work and the oblique view of the cropped figures suggest a more experimental approach. It is obvious that Nourse brightened her palette over the years, adopted a more vigorous method of applying pigment, and redesigned her paintings to give them a less formal, more impromptu effect.

'La petite soeur,' 'Enfants de Penmarc'h,' and 'Dans l'ombre a Penmarc'h' were shown in 1904 at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis. Louise wrote proudly that it was a great honor - many American artists were represented by one or possibly two paintings, but those with three had to be approved by a unanimous vote of the jury. Nourse also received a silver medal at the exposition."

To be continued 

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

Elizabeth Nourse: The American Woman's Art Association

"Baby Charles Looking over
His Mother's Shoulder" by Mary Cassatt

"From 1899-1900, Elizabeth Nourse served as president of the American Woman's Art Association (AWAA), a group of women that met at the American Art Students' Club at 4, rue de Chevreuse, just a block from her studio. Founded in 1892, the primary aim of the association was to organize exhibitions for American women artists in Paris. Her artwork was first mentioned in conjunction with their 1894 show and then for many years afterwards.

In the year of her presidency, the association's sixth annual exhibition, was judged by American artists Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Alexander Harrison, Edward Frederick Ertz, and John White Alexander. 'The New York Herald' European edition published a front-page review of the show noting that over 100 works were on display (89 paintings, miniatures and watercolors; 9 pieces of sculpture; and some porcelain designs). Several artists and individual works were praised including Elizabeth Nourse for her 'Holland Interior' and 'an amusing sketch, ‘The Sleepy Baby’'.

Mary Cassatt, a member of the club, may have given her pastel 'Baby Charles: Head and Arms' to Nourse at the time in recognition of her service to the group. It is inscribed: 'To my friend / Elizabeth Nourse / Mary Cassatt.'"

To be continued 

(Excerpts from "Cincinnati Societaire" by Mary Alice Heekin Burke in "Elizabeth Nourse, 1859-1938: A Salon Career" and "American Woman's Art Association.")

 

 

Elizabeth Nourse: Tunisia and Algiers

"Head of an Algerian" by Elizabeth Nourse

"In the winter of 1897, Elizabeth and Louise Nourse were able to sublet their apartment and embark on an adventurous trip to Tunisia, which Elizabeth called 'the land of sunshine and flowers and lovely Arabs.' Always fascinated by native costumes and crafts, the artist hired an Arab guide to go out with her each day while she made many sketches and watercolors of Bedouins. She also painted a series of small portraits in oil on board, which she later exhibited at the Societe des Orientalistes at the Grand Palais in 1904 and 1906.

These were far outshone, however, by her virtuoso performance in 'Head of an Algerian,' a portrait of richly contrasting colors and textures probably painted while the artist was on a side trip to Biskra, Algeria. The French interest in their newly acquired African colonies reinforced the vogue for orientalisme begun earlier in the century, and Nourse gave way to the exotic appeal of her subject.

Nourse's three-month sojourn in North Africa undoubtedly reinforced her inclination to adopt a brighter palette. From this time on she tended to use more vivid greens, blues, and violets in her landscapes and showed a preference for lighter shades of blue, lavender and rose in her other oil paintings."

To be continued 

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

Elizabeth Nourse: Developing Connections

"The Sewing Lesson" by Elizabeth Nourse

"During the winter of 1895 Elizabeth Nourse painted a portrait of the sculptor Clement J. Barnhorn as a gift to her former Cincinnati classmate. Barnhorn had been awarded a scholarship for study abroad by the Cincinnati Art Academy and was to remain in Paris from 1895 to 1900, exhibiting at the New Salon with Nourse. He then returned home and executed many public commissions while teaching at the Cincinnati Art Academy and designing for the Rookwood Pottery. He became a well-known and beloved figure in the community and was extremely helpful to Nourse in publicizing her work locally. He also directed to her Paris studio many Cincinnatians who were traveling abroad. [He was also a good friend with Frank Duveneck and designed his memorial crypt at the Mother of God Cemetery.]

The following spring Nourse's five entries in the New Salon were well received, and the board voted to make her an associate member. [Her entries, which included "The First Communion," hung alongside paintings by such artists as Alfred Stevens, Frits Thaulow, Alfred Sisley, James Jebusa Shannon, Julius Rolshaven, Peder Severin Kroyer, and many more well-regarded painters.] As a result she found her work in demand at all of the international exhibitions and received invitations to show at the annual exhibitions of American paint in Chicago and Philadelphia, and at the Carnegie International Exhibition in Pittsburgh. Her work was shown in these cities, as it was in Cincinnati, almost every year until the onset of World War I in 1914. This exposure served to make her name known to the American public even though she did not return periodically to the United States, as many expatriate artists did."

To be continued 

 

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

Elizabeth Nourse: The First Communion

"The First Communion" by Elizabeth Nourse

"In her fourth-floor Parisian studio/apartment at 80, rue d'Assas, Elizabeth Nourse set to work on the largest oil she ever painted, 'La premiere communion (The First Communion)', a favorite subject of Salon painters and one that she had sketched in Saint Gildas-de-Rhuys, a coastal village in Brittany. She began with a simple line drawing of the composition - a nun in rich black as a foil for the filmy white dresses and veils of the two communicants - then made a board oil sketch from the drawing. She also painted a portrait study of the smaller of the two little girls, a child whose broad, flat features indicate her Breton origin. The final painting is a study of subtly contrasting tones and textures arranged within a shallow interior, and of the refined emotions shared by the two young girls and the devoted nun."

After being exhibited in the New Salon and two other exhibits in 1895, the painting was finally purchased in 1904 by Cincinnatian, Mrs. Susannah Walsh Hinkle, who initially hung it for a number of years at her estate, Belcamp, before giving it to the Cincinnati Catholic Women's Association, an organization of which she was a member and served as president. Both at their initial headquarters on 4th Street near the Taft Museum, and later on Marian Avenue near Xavier University, it was a beloved treasure and hung in the reception room for seventy years. But as the years passed, they realized that Nourse's masterpiece needed to be in a museum, and contacted the Cincinnati Art Museum's curator of American Art and Sculptor, Julie Aronson, 'who knew at first glance she wanted the painting. Over the years, the Cincinnati Art Museum curator had seen photographic reproductions of 'The First Communion,' but when she stood in front of the original 118-year-old, oil-on-canvas painting, she couldn’t help but be stunned by its beauty and scale. 'I immediately brought our director to see it,' says Aronson. 'Nourse was the only female painter from Cincinnati who achieved an international reputation during her lifetime.' 

After the purchase, an exhibition was put together around the new acquisition with 27 other paintings, watercolors, drawings and cloth dolls which the artist had completed between 1880 and 1913. 'Elizabeth Nourse: Rites of Passage' was a wonderful show, and the painting has remained displayed in the Cincinnati Wing of the museum. I have loved standing before 'The First Communion' many times to admire and study it.

To be continued 

 

("The First Communion" by Elizabeth Nourse. Excerpts from "Cincinnati Societaire" by Mary Alice Heekin Burke in "Elizabeth Nourse, 1859-1938: A Salon Career," ""Ritual Reflections," https://www.ohiomagazine.com/arts/article/ritual-reflections by Damaine Vonada, and "Timeline - Cincinnati Catholic Women," https://cincinnaticatholicwomen.org/timeline/)

Elizabeth Nourse: Return to France

"Self-Portrait" by Elizabeth Nourse

On September 12, 1893, Elizabeth Nourse's twin sister Adelaide died. Her body was placed in an elaborate oak coffin designed by Benn Pittman and carved by Henry Fry, one of Cincinnati's premier craftsmen, and was then taken to Pittsburgh for cremation - a funerary practice endorsed by her Swedenborgian husband that was not then approved by the Roman Catholic church. Their sister Catherine having died in 1885, Louise and Elizabeth were left by Adelaide's death as the only surviving members of their immediate family. It was a tragic loss for Elizabeth, who had always felt a special closeness to her twin.

After leaving the United States the next spring in April, the Nourses stopped in London for a visit and then returned to Paris to search for a new studio. They could locate nothing suitable, however, and in May went for the first time to Brittany to explore the seacoast that was to become their favorite vacation spot for many years. Elizabeth wrote enthusiastically about the beauties of Brittany and the hospitality of the many friends she and Louise made among the peasants there.

In October the sisters returned to Paris and at 80, rue d'Assas found studio accommodations in which they were to reside for the rest of their lives. The new studio was very near their former quarters but offered the advantage of providing splendid views from the Nourses' fourth-floor quarters. A Cincinnati visitor, Julia Walsh, described the apartment as being divided by a long, narrow hall with, on the left, three domestic rooms that overlooked the placid garden of the Couvent de Sion. On the right, a long studio served as living room and work place. This room had a large window with a low sill that offered a view of the Luxembourg Gardens from almost all parts of the room. Louise showed her visitor the kitchen with the many wooden cabinets she had carved and Elizabeth had decorated and explained laughingly, 'No, we don't eat in the kitchen, we cook in the dining room.'

To be continued 

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