Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D Part 13

A writer in the _Century Magazine_, March, 1899, says: "Of the colony of American artists, who for a decade or two past have made Paris their home, few have been more interesting and none more serious than Miss Ca.s.satt.... Miss Ca.s.satt has found her true bent in her recent pictures of children and in the delineation of happy maternity. These she has portrayed with delicacy, refinement, and sentiment. Her technique appeals equally to the layman and the artist, and her color has all the tenderness and charm that accompanies so engaging a motif."

In November, 1903, Miss Ca.s.satt held an exhibition of her works in New York. At the winter exhibition of the Philadelphia Academy, 1904, she exhibited a group, a mother and children, one child quite nude. Arthur Hoeber described it as "securing great charm of manner, of color, and of grace."

CATTANEO, MARIA. Bronze medal at the National Exposition, Parma, 1870; silver medal at Florence, 1871; silver medal at the centenary of Ariosto at Ferrara. Made an honorary member of the Brera Academy, Milan, 1874, an honor rarely conferred on a woman; elected to the Academy of Urbino, 1875. Born in Milan. Pupil of her father and of Angelo Rossi.

She excels in producing harmony between all parts of her works. She has an exquisite sense of color and a rare technique. Good examples of her work are "The Flowers of Cleopatra," "The Return from the Country," "An Excursion by Gondola." She married the artist, Pietro Michis. Her picture of the "Fish Market in Venice" attracted much attention when it appeared in 1887; it was a most accurate study from life.

CHARPENTIER, CONSTANCE MARIE. Pupil of David. Her best known works were "Ulysses Finding Young Astyanax at Hector's Grave" and "Alexander Weeping at the Death of the Wife of Darius." These were extraordinary as the work of a woman. Their size, with the figures as large as life, made them appear to be ambitious, as they were certainly unusual. Her style was praised by the admirers of David, to whose teaching she did credit.

The disposition of her figures was good, the details of her costumes and accessories were admirably correct, but her color was hard and she was generally thought to be wanting in originality and too close a follower of her master.

CHARRETIE, ANNA MARIA. 1819-75. Her first exhibitions at the Royal Academy, London, were miniatures and flower pieces. Later she painted portraits and figure subjects, as well as flowers. In 1872 "Lady Betty Germain" was greatly admired for the grace of the figure and the exquisite finish of the details. In 1873 she exhibited "Lady Betty's Maid" and "Lady Betty Shopping." "Lady Teazle Behind the Screen" was dated 1871, and "Mistress of Herself tho' China Fall" was painted and exhibited in the last year of her life.

CHASE, ADELAIDE COLE. Member of Art Students' a.s.sociation. Born in Boston. Daughter of J. Foxcroft Cole. Studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, under Tarbell, and also under Jean Paul Laurens and Carolus Duran in Paris; and with Vinton in Boston.

Mrs. Chase has painted portraits entirely, most of which are in or near Boston; her artistic reputation among painters of her own specialty is excellent, and her portraits are interesting aside from the persons represented, when considered purely as works of art.

[Ill.u.s.tration: From a Copley Print.

A PORTRAIT

ADELAIDE COLE CHASE]

A portrait called a "Woman with a m.u.f.f," exhibited recently at the exhibition of the Society of American Artists, in New York, was much admired. At the 1904 exhibition of the Philadelphia Academy Mrs. Chase exhibited a portrait of children, Constance and Gordon Worcester, of which Arthur Hoeber writes: "She has painted them easily, with deftness and feeling, and apparently caught their character and the delicacy of infancy."

CHAUCHET, CHARLOTTE. Honorable mention at the Salon, 1901; third-cla.s.s medal, 1902. Member of the Societe des Artistes Francais and of l'Union des femmes peintres et sculpteurs. Born at Charleville, Ardennes, in 1878. Pupil of Gabriel Thurner, Benjamin-Constant, Jean Paul Laurens, and Victor Marec. Her princ.i.p.al works are "Maree"--Fish--1899, purchased for the lottery of the International Exposition at Lille; "Breton Interior," purchased by the Society of the Friends of the Arts, at Nantes; "Mother Closmadenc Dressing Fish," in the Museum of Brest; "Interior of a Kitchen at Mont," purchased by the Government; "Portrait of my Grandmother," which obtained honorable mention; "At the Corner of the Fire," "A Little Girl in the Open Air," medal of third cla.s.s.

The works of Mlle. Chauchet have been much praised. The _Pet.i.t Moniteur_, June, 1899, says: "Mlle. Chauchet, a very young girl, in her picture of a 'Breton Interior' shows a vigor and decision very rare in a woman." Of the "Maree," the _Depeche de Brest_ says: "On a sombre background, in artistic disorder, thrown pell-mell on the ground, are baskets and a s.h.i.+ning copper kettle, with a ma.s.s of fish of all sorts, of varied forms, and changing colors. All well painted. Such is the picture by Mlle.

Chauchet."

In the _Courrier de l'Est_ we read: "Mlle. Chauchet, taking her grandmother for her model, has painted one of the best portraits of the Salon. The hands, deformed by disease and age, are especially effective; the delicate tone of the hair in contrast with the lace of the cap makes an attractive variation in white."

In the _Union Republicaine de la Marne_, H. Bernard writes: "'Le retour des champs' is a picture of the plain of Berry at evening. We see the back of a peasant, nude above the blue linen pantaloons, with the feet in wooden sabots. He is holding his tired, heavy cow by the tether.

The setting sun lights up his powerful bronzed back, his prominent shoulders, and the hindquarters of the cow. It is all unusually strong; the drawing is firm and very bold in the foreshortening of the animal.

The effect of the whole is a little sad; the sobriety of the execution emphasizes this effect, and, above all, there is in it no suggestion of the feminine. I have already noticed this quality of almost brutal sincerity, of picturesque realism, in the works of Mlle. Chauchet who successfully follows her methods."

Chaussee, Mlle. Cecile de.

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CHeRON, ELIZABETH SOPHIE. Born in Paris in 1648. Her father was an artist, and under his instruction Elizabeth attained such perfection in miniature and enamel painting that her works were praised by the most distinguished artists. In 1674 Charles le Brun proposed her name and she was elected to the Academy.

Her exquisite taste in the arrangement of her subjects, the grace of her draperies, and, above all, the refinement and spirituality of her pictures, were the characteristics on which her fame was based.

Her life outside her art was interesting. Her father was a rigid Calvinist, and endeavored to influence his daughter to adopt his religious belief; but her mother, who was a fervent Roman Catholic, persuaded Elizabeth to pa.s.s a year in a convent, during which time she ardently embraced the faith of her mother. She was an affectionate daughter to both her parents and devoted her earnings to her brother Louis, who made his studies in Italy.

In her youth Elizabeth Cheron seemed insensible to the attractions of the brilliant men in her social circle, and was indifferent to the offers of marriage which she received; but when sixty years old, to the surprise of her friends, she married Monsieur Le Hay, a gentleman of her own age. One of her biographers, leaving nothing to the imagination, a.s.sures us that "substantial esteem and respect were the foundations of their matrimonial happiness, rather than any pretence of romantic sentiment."

Mlle. Cheron's narrative verse was much admired and her spiritual poetry was thought to resemble that of J. B. Rousseau. In 1699 she was elected to the Accademia dei Ricovrati of Padua, where she was known as Erato.

The honors bestowed on her did not lessen the modesty of her bearing. She was simple in dress, courteous in her intercourse with her inferiors, and to the needy a helpful friend.

She died when sixty-three and was buried in the church of St. Sulpice. I translate the lines written by the Abbe Bosquillon and placed beneath her portrait: "The unusual possession of two exquisite talents will render Cheron an ornament to France for all time. Nothing save the grace of her brush could equal the excellencies of her pen."

Pictures by this artist are seen in various collections in France, but the larger number of her works were portraits which are in the families of her subjects.

CHERRY, EMMA RICHARDSON. Gold medal from Western Art a.s.sociation in 1891. Member of above a.s.sociation and of the Denver Art Club. Born at Aurora, Illinois, 1859. Pupil of Julian and Delecluse Academies in Paris, also of Merson, and of the Art Students' League in New York.

Mrs. Cherry is a portrait painter, and in 1903 was much occupied in this art in Chicago and vicinity. Among her sitters were Mr. Orrington Lunt, the donor of the Library of the Northwestern University, and Bishop Foster, a former president of the same university; these are to be placed in the library. A portrait by Mrs. Cherry of a former president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Mr. O. Chanute, is to be placed in the club rooms of the society in New York. It has been done at the request of the society.

An exhibition of ten portraits by this artist was held in Chicago in 1903, and was favorably noticed. Mrs. Cherry resides in Houston, Texas.

CLEMENT, ETHEL. This artist has received several awards from California State fair exhibits, and her pastel portrait of her mother was hung on the line at the Salon of 1898. Member of San Francisco Art a.s.sociation and of the Sketch Club of that city. Born in San Francisco in 1874. Her studies began in her native city with drawing from the antique and from life under Fred Yates. At the Cowles Art School, Boston, and the Art Students' League, New York, she spent three winters, and at the Julian Academy, Paris, three other winters, drawing from life and painting in oils under the teaching of Jules Lefebvre and Robert-Fleury, supplementing these studies by that of landscape in oils under George Laugee in Picardie.

Her portraits, figure subjects, and landscapes are numerous, and are princ.i.p.ally in private collections, a large proportion being in San Francisco. Her recent work has been landscape painting in New England. In 1903 she exhibited a number of pictures in Boston which attracted favorable attention.

COHEN, KATHERINE M. Honorary member of the American Art a.s.sociation, Paris, and of the New Century Club, Philadelphia. Born in Philadelphia, 1859. Pupil of School of Design, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and of St. Gaudens at Art Students' League; also six years in Paris schools.

This artist executed a portrait of General Beaver for the Smith Memorial in Fairmount Park. She has made many portraits in busts and bas-reliefs, as well as imaginary subjects and decorative works. "The Israelite" is a life-size statue and an excellent work.

COLLAERT, MARIE. Born in Brussels, 1842. Is called the Flemish Rosa Bonheur and the Muse of Belgian landscape. Her pictures of country life are most attractive. Her powerful handling of her brush is modified by a tender, feminine sentiment.

I quote from the "History of Modern Painters": "In Marie Collaert's pictures may be found quiet nooks beneath clear sky-green stretches of gra.s.s where the cows are at pasture in idyllic peace. Here is to be found the cheery freshness of country life."

COMAN, CHARLOTTE B. Bronze medal, California Mid-Winter Exposition, 1894. Member of New York Water-Color Club. Born in Waterville, N. Y.

Pupil of J. R. Brevoort in America, of Harry Thompson and emile Vernier in Paris. This artist has painted landscapes, and sent to the Philadelphia Exposition in 1876 "A French Village"; to the Paris Exposition, 1878, "Near Fontainebleau." In 1877 and 1878 she exhibited in Boston, "On the Borders of the Marne" and "Peasant House in Normandy."

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