Lilla Cabot Perry: Paris and the European Scene

"Girl Reading Book" by Lilla Cabot Perry

"Once settled in Paris by the winter of 1887, Lilla Cabot Perry first enrolled not at Julian's, but at the rival Academie Colarossi. As one might expect of any woman artist with three small children in tow, her attendance at classes was somewhat sporadic. Additionally, travel occupied much of the Perrys' time. Prior to settling in Paris, they spent a month touring the churches and galleries in London and the neighboring countryside. They then proceeded on a six-week tour of Spain, where Lilla spent hours working in the Prado. Her husband recorded her progress in his diaries: 

'At 1 p.m., Lilla gets permission to copy and begins on a little prince of Velasquez. She gets additional hours - painted the Prince C. head, and the head of Prince Ferdinand. Began the so-called Sibyl of Ribera and Titian's Mater Dolorosa.'

In spring of 1888 the Perrys marveled at the splendor of Florence and Venice.

In August, probably at the suggestion of artist and mentor Walter Gay, she and her family went to Munich, where she studied for two months with the German social realist Fritz von Uhde. Once acclaimed, now forgotten, von Uhde certainly merits special mention here because of his influence on her handling of certain subjects and the use of color. Uhde's portraits of child had special appeal for her. Furthermore, he appears to have been the first person to speak to her of the charms of Giverny.

The family returned to Paris from Munich in the fall of 1888, where she switched to the Academie Julian studying under Tony Robert-Fleury. She may have even been in the same class with Cecilia Beaux! It was at that time she completed her husband's portrait, and was encouraged to submit it to the prestigious Salon de la Societe des Artistes Francais of 1889, along with a portrait of her second daughter, Edith. To Lilla's utter surprise and delight, both paintings were accepted and her career took wings.

With renewed confidence, Lilla was admitted to Alfred Stevens' select Paris studio for ladies (no more than fifteen per class) during the second week in May 1889. Stevens was by then well past his prime, but his reputation as a master of elegant interiors featuring genteel ladies was still intact. These compositions - forerunners of the Boston School of painting - were certainly far more appealing to her than the mass productions that poured forth from Julian's over-crowded life classes."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist" by Meredith Martindale.)