Elizabeth Nourse (1859–1938) — American realist artist, whom enthusiastic fans and critics called: "the first woman artist in America." Of course, there was some exaggeration in this, women in the United States painted before her, but no one became so famous and received such widespread recognition.
Norman peasant woman and her son
Elizabeth came from a large Catholic family, where 10 children were raised. Unfortunately, not all of them managed to live to adulthood: only Elizabeth and her two sisters. From childhood, she showed talent for drawing, eventually she was accepted to the art school in Cincinnati, where she was one of the first girls admitted to classes: the rest were all boys. However, Elizabeth knew how to stand up for herself, and drew better than anyone in the class. Her studies lasted for seven years, and after its completion, critics wrote: "If Elizabeth does not marry and does not waste her talent on all sorts of women's trifles, then we will hear about her more than once."
Dreams
She moved into the house with her older sister Louise, who took care of the household and negotiated with potential buyers of Elizabeth's paintings, leaving her plenty of time for creativity. Gradually, Elizabeth's paintings became more and more expensive, and people bought them more and more willingly. The girls had plenty of money, but the artist understood that she was in a certain stagnation, working only on commission in Cincinnati.
First Communion
It was necessary to move on, and in 1877 Elizabeth went to Paris to study painting at a higher level. Her sister Louise was with her, and after the death of her parents, she became her only truly close person.
Closed Shutters (1910) The artist's sister posed for the painting
In Paris, Elizabeth entered the private Académie Julian, which specialized in training women artists. In those years, there was no talk of full equality, and Elizabeth would not have been able to study equally with everyone else at a state, rather than private, Academy of Arts. It was considered unacceptable for women to work with nudity, so she has almost no nude paintings, even a mother feeding a baby is depicted with her breasts covered.
Motherhood
But nothing could make Elizabeth give up her plans, and she decided to paint not in her native Cincinnati, which was considered a province in the art world, but in the main city of all artists, Paris, where she opened her studio.
The Fisher Girl of Picardy
However, Elizabeth constantly encountered some disdain from fellow artists and conservative critics. It was believed that most women would get married anyway and, immersed in family life, forget about painting. Painting nudes, especially male ones, was not very welcome. However, for Elizabeth, art and career were more important than marriage and raising children, and her strength of character and determination could be envied by men. She was one of the first in a generation of freedom-loving women artists, always trying to act according to her conscience and her own convictions.
Thoughts
When the First World War began, Elizabeth stayed in Paris, helping refugees, giving them a considerable part of her savings and collecting money for them from all her friends. After the war, she was even awarded the medal "For outstanding services to humanity", and no one can say that the award was undeserved.
Self-portrait 1892
Only at the age of 65, Elizabeth refused to participate in exhibitions, but she did not abandon painting and continued to paint. True, her last years were unhappy: she was diagnosed with cancer and had her mammary gland removed, her beloved sister Louise died, whose death she took very hard. Perhaps, if she had a family and children, this news would have been less painful, and Elizabeth would not have felt so lonely. But she made her choice, to the delight of many art lovers.
Although she was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Nourse spent most of her life in France. Her work was exhibited at the Paris Salon, where she earned respect for her attention to detail, realism, and skill in depicting emotion.
Elizabeth favored realism even when Impressionism dominated the art scene. She refused to follow fashion trends, focusing on honest and authentic depictions of life.
Nourse's work has often been seen as a reflection of female autonomy and strength. She depicted women not only as mothers and housewives, but also as independent individuals, a rarity for her era.
During World War I, Nourse was active in charity work, helping French refugees. She even sold some of her works to support the country's reconstruction efforts.
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