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)