Pasadena Museum of History Showcases “Lost” California Women Artists

“Something Revealed: California Women Artists Emerge, 1860-1960” at PMH

For over a decade, Pasadena-based conservator Maurine St. Gaudens researched artists whose works came to her for restoration but who were identified only by initials or scant biographies.

By Jean Sudbury

Emerging from the Shadows: A Survey of Women Artists Working in California, 1860-1960, featuring 320 artists in four volumes, is the result of this inquiry.  It was completed with the assistance of Joseph Morsman, an independent historian and producer/developer of films and documentaries; Morsman pursued and sorted the tangled family histories and name changes of the women.

Together St. Gaudens and Morsman curated the exhibit at Pasadena Museum of History (PMH). Over 260 works by 130 of these women appear in the exhibit.  Six women exemplify the range of subjects, styles, media and technical expertise of the artists.

Taos Woman by Margaret Bruton (Photo – ColoradoBlvd.net/Jean Sudbury)

Margaret Bruton

In 1928 Margaret Bruton painted “Taos Woman,” an exceptional work showing in the face of a pueblo woman the last hopes of a dying race.  Born in Brooklyn in 1894, Bruton grew up in Alameda and studied art in San Francisco, New York, Monterey and Paris; she, her mother and her sisters traveled to Europe New Mexico and Mexico. Bruton exhibited in California and New York and won many awards for her paintings, murals and prints. Bruton died at home in Monterey in 1983.

Bus Stop by Elsie Palmer Payne (Photo – ColoradoBlvd.net/Jean Sudbury)

Elsie Palmer Payne

Elsie Palmer Payne painted “Bus Stop” in 1943; the face and posture of the African American woman at the bus stop speak of a resignation and fatigue that characterized Payne’s life.  Formally trained in San Francisco, Payne had a successful career as a commercial artist before marrying artist Edgar Payne in 1912.  They traveled extensively in the U.S. and Europe, but Elsie playing the supporting role to Edgar’s career.

The couple settled in Los Angeles in 1931; a year later Elsie could no longer tolerate Edgar’s domineering attitude and they separated.  In 1936 Payne founded the Elsie Palmer Payne Art School in Beverly Hills.  Her illustrative style using simple forms and bold colors is unique and she was highly productive. Payne died in 1971 at the age of 93, having moved to Minneapolis to be with her daughter.

Housewife by Ruth Blanchard Miller Kempster (Photo – ColoradoBlvd.net/Jean Sudbury)

Ruth Blanchard Miller Kempster

“Housewife” was painted by Ruth Blanchard Miller Kempster in 1935. Kempster was raised in Pasadena and attended the Stickney Memorial School of Fine Arts in Pasadena, the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles and L’Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris.  After an “unconventional” stint in Italy, Kempster returned to California in 1928 and married Henry Fracker. Using his name until their divorce in 1950 (after which she took her father’s first name: Kempster), her reputation as a realist painter grew and she won accolades, including a silver medal in art at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.

“Housewife” displays haunting sadness, perhaps reflecting Kempster’s frustration with the limitations imposed on talented women.  Kempster’s last significant exhibit was in 1953.  She died in 1978 in Santa Barbara.

Nelbert Chouinard artwork (Photo – ColoradoBlvd.net/Jean Sudbury).

Nelbert Chouinard

Nelbert Chouinard was born Nelbertina Murphy in 1879 in Montevideo, Minnesota. Chouinard attended school in Minneapolis before studying fine art at the Pratt Institute in New York and becoming a working painter and art teacher in New York.  In 1909, Chouinard moved to California, painting in her South Pasadena studio and teaching at Throop Polytechnic Institute (now Caltech) and other art programs.  She had her first solo show in Pasadena in 1916.  Chouinard left California during her brief marriage to Horace Chouinard; Horace died in 1918 and Chouinard returned to California.

Chouinard taught at the Otis Institute of Art and Design, developed art education programs which emphasized drawing as fundamental to art education and influenced many artists, animators and designers.  In 1921 Chouinard founded the Chouinard School of Art, which she directed until her death in 1969.  CSA merged with the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music in 1961 to become the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).  Three Chouinard landscape paintings are included at this exhibit and are part of the permanent collection of PMH.

Elizabeth Borglum artwork (Photo – ColoradoBlvd.net/Jean Sudbury).

Elizabeth Janes Putnam Borglum

Born in Racine, Wisconsin in 1848, Elizabeth Janes Putnam Borglum, is represented by ten paintings in the exhibit, including California landscapes.  Borglum studied at the California School of Design (now San Francisco Art Institute) and moved to Los Angeles in 1884 to study with William Keith, famous for his California landscapes in the Tonalist-Barbizon style.  Borglum met Gutzon Borglum in Los Angeles in 1885; he was her art pupil and 19 years younger.

The Borglums traveled, studied and exhibited in Europe until 1893.  Returning to California, they purchased a home (“El Rosario”) in Sierra Madre and then went back to Europe. Borglum moved to Sierra Madre in 1903 after she and Gutzon separated; they divorced in 1908. El Rosario became the base for Borglum’s art and teaching career.  She died in Venice, California in 1922.  Gutzon Borglum died in 1941 after becoming renowned for his sculpture work, including Mr. Rushmore.

Pauline Powell Burns

“Untitled Still Life” was painted by Pauline Powell Burns around 1890.  Burns was the first African American artist to exhibit work at a California exhibition (the Mechanics’ Institute Fair in San Francisco in 1890).

(R-L) Maurine St. Gaudens and Joseph Morsman (Photo – ColoradoBlvd.net/Jean Sudbury)

March is “Women’s History Month’ – a perfect time to see this remarkable presentation of California women artists of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

> ”Something Revealed: California Women Artists Emerge, 1860-1960” is extended through April 13.