Gertrude Fiske: Education

A beautiful painting by Gertrude Fiske

Young and wealthy women of Boston were expected to be well educated, join society by 'coming out' into courtship, and subsequently enter into marriage - the idea of a working career woman was not yet considered socially appropriate. Gertrude Fiske received her education at Miss May's Finishing School until she turned eighteen. By 1896, she had passed her final examination for entrance to the newly chartered women's university - Radcliffe College - but for reasons unknown she never attended. Through the turn of the new century, she continued as a keen equestrian and a serious golfer, winning the Amateur Golf Championship of Massachusetts in 1901.

In 1904, Fiske enrolled in the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, at the age of 25 and concentrated solely on her art. She was one of the few students to stay for the full seven-year curriculum. The school opened in 1877 in the basement of the new MFA and was established to provide a formal arts education previously unavailable outside of New York or Philadelphia. By 1900, 86 percent of the student body were women and many of them went on to find professional success during this time, but not all women entered the school with the goal of becoming professional artists.

Fishke studied under noted Boston School painters Edmund C. Tarbell and Frank W. Benson. She took advantage of the full formal curriculum which included Antique (the study of classical sculptures) and Life (live models) with Philip Leslie Hale, Still Life with Mary Brewster Hazleton, Modeling with Bela Pratt, and Advanced Painting, Portrait and Master Class with Tarbell. Her early paintings reflect the rigorous academic and traditional instruction of the museum school and her teachers' influence - this 'Boston' style with an emphasis on light-filled rooms, finely detailed, and expertly crafted portraits and figure paintings, elegant women posed, poised, and gracious. After Fiske completed her studies, she took a trip to France, a visit captured by bright, scenic oil sketches recording her travels."

To be continued

 

(Excerpts from "Gertrude Fiske: American Master" by Carol Walker Aten (Author), Lainey McCartney (Author), Richard M. Candee (Author) and Gerald W.R. Ward. (Editor).)