Mary Shepard Greene Explained

Mary Shepard Greene
Birth Date:26 September 1869
Birth Place:New York City, New York, United States
Death Place:Santa Fe, New Mexico
Nationality:American
Spouse:Ernest L. Blumenschein
Training:Raphaël Collin
Movement:Taos Society of Artists

Mary Shepard Greene Blumenschein (1869 - 1958) was an American artist, illustrator and jewelry designer.[1]

Biography

Mary Shepard Greene was born in New York City, the second child of Rufus, a wealthy businessman from Providence, and Mary Isabel Shepard Greene.[2] She studied at the Adelphi Academy in Brooklyn and then at the Pratt Institute.

Career

When she was only 17 years of age, she left for Paris in 1886 where she worked with Raphaël Collin,[3] an artist best known for establishing links with well-known artists working in Japan.

From 1906 to 1946 she exhibited her paintings at the National Academy of Design.[4]

In Paris in 1905, she met and married Ernest L. Blumenschein, also an artist. They moved back to New York in 1909 for the birth of their daughter, Helen. While there, they taught at Pratt and did work for various magazines such as McClure's, American and Century.[5]

Her husband had discovered Taos, New Mexico after an accident stranded him there in 1898. While he made annual summer trips there Mary stayed in New York.[6] She made her first trip to Taos in 1913.[7] After the sale of a house she had inherited made them financially independent, the Blumenscheins moved to Taos in 1919, eventually becoming part of the Taos Society of Artists. Mary's painting Acoma Legend was included in the "American Art Today" exhibition at the 1939 New York World's Fair.[8]

In the 1920s Mary returned to the Pratt Institute to study jewelry making. Her jewelry was exhibited in 1956 at the Museum of International Folk Art.[9] Her paintings are part of the collection of the Brooklyn Museum. Shepard Greene was included in the 2018 exhibit Women in Paris 1850-1900.[10]

Honors

upright|thumb|left|Un Regard FugitifIn 1900 she won third place at the Salon in Paris.[11] At the 1902 Salon she received a gold medal, becoming the second American woman to do so. In 1904 she received a silver medal in St. Louis at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. In 1915 she received the Julia A. Shaw Memorial Award from the National Academy of Design.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Mary Greene Blumenschein (1869-1958) . Fine Art Dealers Association.
  2. Book: Larson. Robert. Ernest L. Blumenschein : The Life of an American Artist. 2013. University of Oklahoma Press. Norman. 9780806143347. 140.
  3. Web site: Mary Shepard Greene Blumenschein (1869-1958) Biography Medicine Man Gallery. Medicinemangallery.com. en. 2020-01-09.
  4. Book: Shipp. Steve. American Art Colonies, 1850-1930. 1996. Greenwood Press. Westport, CT. 978-0-313-29619-2. 113. registration.
  5. Web site: Ernest Blumenschein papers, 1873-1964 . Smithsonian Institution . Archives of American Art.
  6. Web site: In Contemporary Rhythm: The Art of Ernest L. Blumenschein . Phoenix Art Museum.
  7. Web site: Mary Shepard Greene Blumenschein – NA Database. en-US. 2020-01-09.
  8. Book: Porter. Dean. Taos Artists and Their Patrons 1898-1950. 1999. University of New Mexico. Albuquerque. 978-0-8263-2109-1. 367.
  9. Book: Dearinger. David B.. Paintings and Sculpture in the Collections of the National Academy of Design Volume I, 1926-1925. 2004. Hudson Hills. New York. 978-1-55595-029-3. 53.
  10. Book: Madeline . Laurence . Women artists in Paris, 1850-1900 . 2017 . Yale University Press . 978-0-30022-393-4.
  11. Who's Who in Art . American Art Annual . 1924 . XX . 446.