Ella Condie Lamb: A Conflict of Interests

"Portrait of Mary Dale" by Ella Condie Lamb

"Ella Condie Lamb's father, James, offered to pay for another year of study in Europe. Ella's reply is an important letter because it eloquently expresses her understanding of herself and her personality, and because it shows that she sees clearly the consequences of the choice she must make. A sense of plight blends with common sense: it would not be possible to be a famous artist, to be 'truly great,' which to her meant to create, not imitate, while at the same time live a traditional family life. She has come to realize that one must give up everything to be 'great,' including 'all my most womanly instincts.'

One cannot help but be moved by her gentle effort to set forth that reality to the father who saw the potential for greatness in his gifted daughter: 

 

January 25, 1885

My dear Papa, This morning I received your letter containing the startling proposition of my staying abroad until the summer of '86.

 

Please do not think that the time and money spent in my coming abroad have been wasted so far, as regards an art education. I feel sure that I have gained more in doing what I have been doing - namely - seeing the good and grand examples of art in the galleries, museums and buildings, in taking in new ideas about all sorts of things and in having a little time to myself in which to get those ideas a little straightened, than I should have gained had I actually been at work at an art school which probably would not have differed essentially from the League.

 

It is the fine pictures and the surroundings of the Art schools here that make them superior. We have found that Herkomer's school was not a success and now that I have your permission, I am all ready to start for Paris, only waiting money and directions about same...

 

As for my staying another year, I cannot at present bear to contemplate the idea of being away from home another long year - but that possibility can be decided after two or three months at a Paris school.

 

I have had all the conceit taken out of me by seeing things here - not of my powers of imitation - but, I have learnt that that is not all that is needful - and to be truly great, one must be able to create - and interpret - Nature.

 

Papa, were I a boy, and able to give up all my time, future and interest and duties, for years and years to the one pursuit, I would not feel so - but, as I am a girl, and as there always have been duties, so I suppose there always will be duties, to divide my time and energies.

 

By all this, I do not mean that my studies are useless, oh no! I always will work whenever I have the chance - but I do not want you to expect as much from me as if I were a boy and could give up everything for it.

 

You know it is one of my greatest wishes to have a home - and so unless I lose all my most womanly instincts and feelings I am afraid I shall never be a 'great artist,' in the sense of making a name and fame for myself - although, as I always have, so will I always try to work, whenever I can. 

 

I cannot tell you how much good this winter is doing me, not only in the art sense, but in every other! But, I cannot yet say I would like to stay another year...'"

 

Her letter gives us valuable insight into the values of that time and helps us understand some of the issues that faced female artists.

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Ella's Certain Window" by Barea Lamb Seeley.) 

Ella Condie Lamb: The Herkomer School

"House in Watford, England" by Ella Condie Lamb

"In the fall of 1884, Ella Condie Lamb traveled to England to study at the art school of Sir Hubert von Herkomer, situated in Bushey, near London. Unfortunately, she quickly realized that she was not going to make progress while at the Herkomer school. Not long after his return to New York, her father received a letter from Ella explaining the situation in detail:

'My dear Papa, Ever since you left it has been growing more and more unbearable at the school. We would start in the morning feeling like work ... and then in would come Mr. Herkomer to criticize. I don't mind how severe they were - that was nothing - they were not as severe as those I have been used to, but he would say I must do certain things - and others I must not do -  which all my teachers had instructed me as being the best way. He would talk as if I were not trying and leave me without an idea to start fresh on after having pulled all my work down as being totally wrong. Then he contradicted himself so that I got not to trust him. Always the same tone he assumed was of complete authority, as, you must do so and so whether you know why or not, - 'Don't follow your own reason but mine,' - whereas Mr. Chase and all the others always said, 'Do nothing I tell you because I tell you, not until you can see it so yourself!' 

So Ella made a decision to leave the school, describing her actions to her father:

'This morning we screwed up our courage and went to tell Mr. Herkomer for we had learnt he was a man who would not be thwarted and would be savage with the idea of anyone disagreeing with his judgment. Well we got in and got out and told him simply and politely that we would have to leave the school because we could not submit to the rules and could not stay and disobey them - that the influence of the work was bad and that the strain was too much for me. He gave us a good talking to and ended by saying it was not honorable.... We went away shaking hands with him at the door. We went into the school to get our things - when he passed us in the hall with a look of perfect fury on his face.'

Ella went on: 'And now my plan, subject to your approval, is this: to stay on in Bushey until the spring as before and work quietly at home here on models from the village or at still life.' Ella filled sketchbooks with country landscapes and village lanes. She went frequently to the British museum and produced several accurate studies of the draped figures of the Elgin Marbles. Very much on her own, writing in detail of all she sees and does, she expresses bewilderment at the shifting sense of identity which came from many new experiences and from the increase in confidence in her artistic powers. 'I find myself wondering if I be really I,' she wrote to her father. 'Papa, always do I thank you for giving me such Wonderful Opportunities.'"

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Ella's Certain Window" by Barea Lamb Seeley.) 

Ella Condie Lamb: Further Studies at the League

"Dick Lamb" by Ella Condie Lamb

Ella Condie Lamb wrote more on her instruction at the Art Students League:

'J. Carol Beckwith had the Antique and the men's morning Life class ... and C.Y. Turner the women's Life in the afternoons. Less picturesque than either Chase or Beckwith, he was sturdy and sincere and gave us good sound instruction. I learned to study the balance of a figure's masses, to see it as a whole - to 'think not of your drawing but only of what you are looking at...' There were also the evening lectures. Thomas Dewing, just back from Paris, on composition, J. Scott Hartley on anatomy, Frederick Dielman on perspective, and three or four special and inspired talks from George Inness.

From England came the great Hubert Herkomer, to paint portraits... He talked to us also. Tall, his skin dead white, with black eyes and straight hair that hung, intensely black, over his forehead, he was compelling and hypnotic - until he aroused one's antagonism.'

Life class, portrait class, sketch class, seven hours a day, five days a week. It was an intense but fulfilling time.

At this time a catastrophic event occurred in the Condie family. Ella's beloved mother became fatally ill. Ella, being the only daughter still at home, became her nurse. The center of her sheltered, cultured, loving world would soon be taken from her, her sisters, and her father. 'That year of 1883 I gladly gave up most of my study,' she wrote, 'to take care of my mother, who was fast leaving us. In October a 'beautiful, unselfish and noble life' came to an end.

Her father proposed that his talented daughter pursue her studies in Europe. 'My days at the League ended in 1884 ... days and friends I so vividly remember,' she penned, then added that perhaps the most vivid of those friendships were those made with Fannie Abbot, Dick Lamb, and with his brother Charles (of whom we shall hear more). But she bid farewell and departed for London and Paris."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Ella's Certain Window" by Barea Lamb Steeley.)

 

Ella Condie Lamb: The Art Students League

"Portrait of William Merritt Chase"
by J.S. Sargent

"Ella Condie Lamb left the National Academy of Design and entered a school where, '...everyone worked intensely, with a single purpose - to fit one's self for a life work.' So wrote Ella about her three years of study at the Art Students League.

This move was a major event in her life. She and her friend, Laura went at one into the League's Life Drawing classes taught by Walter Shirlaw and C.Y. Turner, and into William Merritt Chase's painting class. The League had been formed only six years before. Wrote Allen Tucker: 

'Without influence, without money, without a building, they started the first independent art school in the country. They hired teachers they thought well of... They made a place where people could come and study. The student paid for a month or for a year. A body of students grew up for no other reason on earth than to learn, men and women working for the sake of really knowing, with no certificate and no reward.'

Ella described her class with William Merritt Chase:

'He put us first at the skull, for construction, then the model, with soft charcoal - 'use it like paint.' Every morning I bought a loaf of brown bread which I kneaded into pellets for erasure as did the other students. The floor became covered with crumbs and pellets. The moment the room was empty large tame rats appeared from behind stacked stretchers for their daily feast until faithful Thomas appeared with his broom.

Chase let us set our palettes with big gobs of paint and we used large brushes. He alternated us from the portrait head - a new one each day - to still life arranged from his own collection of draperies, copper, brass, and pottery. He introduced us to 'Hunt's Talks on Art,' which we carried around like prayer books. His own talks were especially valuable. 

Always immaculate, with light spats and black-ribboned eyeglasses, he would seize some fortunate student's palette and work for an hour while we all watched breathlessly (never a dab of paint on himself). This fine frenzy of his has been perpetuated in Sargent's portrait of him in the Metropolitan Museum.

He acquainted us with Millet and the Dutch and Spanish masters by the photographs he brought to class or by his own copies in his wonderful studio on 10th Street, which we were invited to visit on Saturday afternoons.'"

Ella Condie Lamb: Student at the National Academy of Design

"Old Man Model" by Ella Condie Lamb

"The National Academy of Design was established in 1825. Samuel R.B. Morse (inventor of Morse code) was its first president. Ella Condie Lamb was overjoyed to be a student there, her intense longing for serious training was being met. 'I spent day after day of seven hours of absorbing work which passed only too quickly.'

To be in the 'Antique' class meant that a student drew from plaster casts. Capable of great concentration, she accepted the discipline of routine study.

'Professor Wilmarth started me on block head, feet, and hands. In the late afternoon we had a sketch class where we took turns posing, experimented with mediums, and admired each other's results as never in serious class work. Life classes - the men worked mornings, the women, afternoons - were all presided over by Professor Wilmarth. There were lectures in the evening, Frederick Dielman on perspective, J. Wells Champney gave us anatomy and brought us a human hand to show us how the tendons worked.'

Ella also met her two best friends, Laura Opper and Fannie Lee, at The Academy. All of them serious students, the three kindred spirits were also always ready for any fun, such as sketching expeditions and picnics in the spring. These were friendships that were broken only by death, forty-five years later.

Especially joyful were visits to the studios of professional artists. 'Every year, they kept open house. A studio was a mysterious place which filled my soul to the brim. The joy of being admitted to see intimately the surroundings and workshops of well-known artists! I went from room to room with awe and admiration.' She knew she had found her place, and wrote, 'I belonged to that world.'

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Ella's Certain Window" by Barea Lamb Steeley.) 

Ella Condie Lamb: Life in the City

"Portrait of a Young Model" by Ella Condie Lamb

"The move to the city entirely changed Ella Condie Lamb's life, but respect and a sense of honor for the forms of tree and flower, forests, clouds, sky, mountains, indeed for all of Nature, had been established. She chose nature often as subject matter and would never presume to distort its forms - 'God's handiwork.' On the contrary, the natural world was to be closely observed and recorded with the same 'passionate love of nature' conveyed by her mother 'and born in me.' 

They lived on the northeast corner of 22nd Street and 9th Avenue in Kingston, NY, in a four-story house of which her father's business, a pharmacy, was the lowest floor. She attended Public School 45 for girls, and wrote: 

'There was one study I never had enough of - Drawing, under Frank Melville. First geometric forms, until I was allowed to copy lithographs...and kept at it until some of my original badly designed panels decorated the back of the platform. Miss Tate, the principal, had an exaggerated idea of my ability. I was always sent with a companion to buy art materials for the school. It was an intense pleasure to handle the pretty papers and pick out crayons and pencils and the leather or paper stumps. I had many household chores to do, but the afternoons were my own. I usually spent the time drawing, sometimes from lithographs, sometimes from still life ... or copying illustrations by Jasper K. Kelly in 'St. Nicholas' magazine...I admired his vigorous drawings immensely.'

It is at this point in her memoirs that Ella wrote eloquently of her joy when at last she was allowed to study the disciplines of Art every day:

'Impatient was I to get to some artwork. Bowing to my sister Lizzie's illness and her coming home for a time with two children and my mother's need of help, wait I had to, until December 1878, when I entered the Antique class at the National Academy. Life opened and blossomed and was full to the brim with the fullness and rapture and absorption only a student of any form of art can know.'

Her formal training had begun, and a year later her brother-in-law, the noted engraver Victor Bernstrom, impressed by her ability, wrote, 'You stand on the threshold of an art world.' She was just sixteen."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Ella's Certain Window" by Barea Lamb Seeley.)

Ella Condie Lamb: Growing Up

"The English Cousin" by Ella Condie Lamb

"Ella Grace Condie was born in New York City on August 30, 1862. From early childhood she noticed everything around her and responded by drawing. Even at a young age her drawings conveyed conviction and control. 'Invaluable advice,' she deemed the command of her grammar school drawing teacher when he said, 'Carry a sketchbook with you always and draw everything you see. Sketch, sketch, sketch.' This was 'advice which gave me much facility and trained my eyes to see.' At about eight years old, she borrowed her older sister's book, 'Artistic Anatomy of the Human Figure,' and with care and scrutiny copied the skeleton 'on the eleventh page.' 

Ella's family were close, and consisted of an English mother, Sarah, a Scotch father, James, and three girls, one of whom was James' daughter from his first marriage. His first wife had died in childbirth. During the Civil War, James bought a farm in Kingston, New York, which became the home of his wife, three daughters, and father-in-law. Ella wrote of it: 

'From the house one looked across the drive over to the apple orchard, which in the spring was a sea of white and pink, and underneath was the swing! Oh, the joy of lazily rocking back and forth gazing up at the blue sky through the pink blossoms! In the garden were lilies, from which we made fragrant chains, phlox, poppies, all quickly turned into ladies with ballet skirts. My mother, who had a passionate love of Nature, was very happy on the farm. This same love for nature must have been born in me...'

The move to the city entirely changed Ella's life, but respect and a sense of honor for the forms of tree and flower, forests, clouds, sky, mountains, indeed for all of Nature, had been established. She chose nature often as subject matter and would never presume to distort its forms - 'God's handiwork.' On the contrary, the natural world was to be closely observed and recorded with the same 'passionate love of nature' conveyed by her mother 'and born in me.'

At last came the time when all this dream-life ended. The WallKill Valley Railroad had the right-of-way. 'My father was forced to sell them land for their tracks. They cut down our fruit trees and on a rare June morning, as we said goodbye, my mother and I were openly weeping. I saw seven large cherry trees, lying prone, laden with unripe fruit. And so we came to the city, and I entered upon the serious business of life.'"

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Ella's Certain Window" by Barea Lamb Seeley.)