biography of Helene Watson PHELPS (1864-1944)

Birth place: Attleboro, MA

Addresses: Providence, RI, 1886-on; NYC, 1899-1906, and c.1930s-on)

Profession: Painter

Studied: Académie Julian, Paris with Collin, T.R.-Fleury, Bouguereau, Giacomotti, and Deschamps, 1884-86.

Exhibited: Paris Salon, 1886; Soc. Am. Artists, 1898; Boston AC, 1888-1908; NAD, 1892-95; PAFA Ann., 1899, 1906; Pan-Am. Expo, Buffalo, 1901 (prize); NY Women's AC, 1907 (prize), 1909 (prize); Corcoran Gal annual/biennial, 1907, 1910; NAWPS, 1914 (prize), 1915 (prize); AIC

Member: NAWPS; Providence AC; SPNY; Yonkers AA; Newport AA; PBC; NAC.

Work: NGA; RISD; NAC

Comments: She painted portraits of elegant society notables as well as immigrant children and European fisherfolk.

Sources: WW40; C. Bert, Sketches (Providence, No.2, Dec. 1991); Fink, American Art at the Nineteenth-Century Paris Salons, 380; Petteys, Dictionary of Women Artists, cites alternate birth date of 1859; Falk, Exh. Record Series.