biography of Cecilia BEAUX (1855-1942)

Birth place: Philadelphia, PA

Death place: Gloucester, MA

Addresses: Phila., until 1905; NYC/Gloucester, MA (1905-on)

Profession: Painter, teacher

Studied: Adolph van der Whelan in Phila., c.1872-73; William Sartain in Phila., c.1881-83; Académie Julian, Paris, with Bouguereau, T. Robert-Fleury, and B. Constant 1888-89; also with Charles Lazar in Paris. (Note: Beaux's name appears on registration records at the PAFA in 1877 and 1878-79 but she wrote in her autobiography that she never attended classes there)

Exhibited: PAFA, 1879 (first exh.) through 1943 (PAFA awards: Smith prize for her "Les Derniers Jours d'enfance," 1885; prizes in 1891, 1892; gold med., 1898; Temple gold, 1900); Paris Salon, 1887 (again won praise for her "Les Derniers Jours d'enfance"), 1889, 1896; World's Columbian Expo., Chicago, 1893; Phila. AC, 1893 (gold); NAD, 1893 (Dodge prize), 1914 (prize), 1915 (prize); Cl, 1896 (med.), 1899 (gold med.); St. Botolphe Cl., Boston, 1897; Paris Expo., 1900 (gold med.); Boston AC, 1900; Pan-Am. Expo., Buffalo, 1901 (gold med.); Wash. SA (1st prize) 1902; Durand-Ruel Gal., NYC, 1903 (solo); St. Louis Expo., 1904 (gold med.); Corcoran Gal, 1907-35 (1905, solo); Pan. Pac. Expo., 1915 (med.); NAWA, 1917 (prize); Knoedler Gal., NYC (solos) 1915, 1917; AIC, 1921 (med.); AAAL, 1927 (gold med.); Chi Omega, 1933 (gold).

Member: SAA, 1893; ANA, 1894; NA, 1902; NAC; Soc. des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1896; Phila. WCC; NAWA; AFA; PAFA (fellow); AAAL, 1935

Work: PAFA; NMAA; MMA; AIC; CGA; BMFA; Luxembourg Gal., Paris; Uffizi Gal, Florence, Italy (self-portrait); TMA

Comments: One of the most prominent women portrait painters of the 19th/20th century. William M. Chase called her not only "the greatest living woman painter, but the best that ever lived." In 1889, she returned from studying and exhibiting in Paris, and from 1895-1915 was the first full-time female instructor at the PAFA. During this period, she earned a substantial reputation as a portraitist, and continued to travel frequently to France. In 1896, she visited Giverny where she met Claude Monet. Beaux was a vital member of the national and international artistic community and formed friendships with many of her contemporaries, including John Singer Sargent, Childe Hassam, and Abbott Thayer. Among her more famous sitters were Henry James and Theodore Roosevelt. Stylistically, her portraits are often compared with those of John Singer Sargent.

Sources: WW40; autobiography, Background with Figures (1930); Baigell, Dictionary; exh. cats., A.J. Walker Gal., Boston (1985 and 1990); Pisano, One Hundred Years...the National Association of Women Artists, 30.