Cecilia Beaux was born in Philadelphia in 1855. Her mother died just days after her birth, and Beaux and her sister went to live with their grandmother and aunts. Her adoptive family exposed her to fine art throughout her childhood and, once in school, Beaux excelled in her drawing classes and began training in the studio of Catherine A. Drinker, an artist and a cousin of her uncle Will Biddle. From 1881-1883 she attended life classes directed by William Sartain, who traveled to Philadelphia from New York to give criticisms. She also counted the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts master Thomas Eakins among her early influences, though she did not receive direct instruction from him.
Her first major success in painting was a double-portrait of her sister and nephew entitled
In Paris, she joined the Academie Julien, where she received criticisms from Tony Robert Fleury and William Adolph Bougereau. She spent the summer in Concarneau, Brittany, where Alexander Harrison and Charles Lazar critiqued her work, and returned to Paris, where she attended the Academie Colarossi under and sought out private criticisms in the atelier of Benjamin Constant. She copied paintings and classical sculpture at the Louvre, and traveled throughout Europe to view the works of old masters. In England, she painted several portraits of her friends, the Darwins, before returning to Philadelphia in August of 1889. She traveled to Europe several more times in her life, including a trip in 1896 to see six of her paintings exhibited at the Salon de Champs de Mars. At the time this was an unprecedented number of paintings shown there by an American, and their strength earned her a membership in the Societé Nationale des Beaux-Arts.
In the 1890s, Beaux earned a living painting commissioned portraits at her Philadelphia studio, while experimenting with and refining her style and technique with portraits of friends and family such as
In the late 1890s, Beaux painted several works for which she would be repeatedly honored, including
By 1905 Beaux was living and working primarily in New York during the winter, and at "Green Alley," a home she built in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in the summer. She was introduced to Gloucester by her friend, the Harvard economist A. Piatt Andrew, and entertained a steady stream of intellectual, literary, and artistic friends such as Isabella Stuart Gardner, William James, and Thornton Oakley. Beaux continued to amass prizes and honors for her artwork, including an honorary doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania in 1908. She had solo exhibitions at Macbeth Gallery in 1910, the Corcoran Gallery in 1912, and M. Knoedler Gallery in 1915 and 1917. She had regular public speaking appearances, published articles, and interviews on such subjects as art education, women in art, and modernist art, the pervasive influence of which she eschewed as a passing fad.
In 1919, she traveled to war-torn Europe as the official portraitist of the United States War Portraits Commission painted the portraits of three European war heroes: Cardinal Mercier, Admiral Beatty, and Georges Clemenceau. In 1924, she broke her hip in Paris, and although she continued to paint, she would never again be the prolific painter of her earlier years due to the injury. She wrote her autobiography
The papers of the painter Cecilia Beaux measure 3.3 linear feet and date from 1863 to 1968.
Biographical Materials include autobiographical notes written by Beaux, published biographical essays, and articles about Beaux. A lengthy correspondence from Beaux to her friend A. Piatt Andrew of Massachusetts is found, as well as correspondence with family and professional associates. Lengthy letters from Beaux to her family during trips to Europe contain scattered illustrations. Professional correspondents include other artists, teachers, patrons, critics, curators, dealers, and writers.
Writings include one early diary from the 1870s, and a series of eleven additional diaries dating from 1905 to 1913, which record daily activities related to her artwork and personal life. Numerous lectures and essays from her later career are found, often in multiple drafts, as are manuscripts of published and unpublished poems by Beaux. A single sketch, a study for a portrait, is also found.
A floor plan, lists of paintings, receipts, written bids, and other notes document the exhibition and sale of Beaux's artwork. Printed materials related to her career include exhibition catalogs and other ephemera, a scrapbook of primarily clippings related to her early career, and loose clippings related to her later career. Photographs include formal portraits of Cecilia Beaux and informal photographs of Beaux alone and with colleagues, friends, and family members in various settings including Concarneau, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Gloucester, and Malines, Belgium. Also found is a photograph of John Singer Sargent painting.
The collection is arranged into 6 series, with multiple subseries in Series 2:
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts holds additional papers related to Cecilia Beaux, particularly personal photographs. Portions of these papers were loaned to the Archives of American Art for microfilming in 1985 and were microfilmed on reel 3658.
The Archives of American Art also holds the Dorothea Gilder papers regarding Cecilia Beaux.
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels 3425 and 3658) including a sketchbook and other related papers. Lent materials were returned to the lenders and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Portions of the papers were first lent for microfilming by Harrison Cultra in 1968. The bulk of the collection was donated in1970-1971 by Catherine Drinker Bowen, Beaux's niece, and by Cultra. In 1985, the sketchbook on reel 3425 was lent for microfilming by art dealer Jeffrey Brown with additional material by The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. A palette was donated by Helen Seely Wheelwright, whose former husband, Paul Seeley, was an artist and friend of Beaux. Awards and diplomas were gifted in 1995 by Cecilia Saltonstall, a descendant of Beaux. Material and a poster reproduction of Beaux's portrait of Rear-Admiral Sampson advertising an article in Century Magazine, 1899, was donated in 1991 by Alfred J. Walker, a dealer who organized a Beaux exhibition. He received the material along with artwork he exhibited from the estate of Richard Barker, who had received them from Harrison Cultra. Cultra had inherited them from Beaux's niece, Ernesta Drinker Barlow.
The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the
The papers of
Photographs of works of art have not been digitized.
Material lent for microfilming are available on 35mm microfilm reels 3425 and 3658 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
Cecilia Beaux papers, 1863-1968. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Papers were donated in four separate accessions between 1970 and 1995 and partially microfilmed on reels 426-429 and 1369. At this time, nitrate negatives in the collection were printed and copy negatives made. Loaned materials that were later donated were microfilmed on reels N/68-48 - N/68-49. All accretions were integrated, re-processed, and described in a finding aid by Megan McShea in 2006 and scanned in 2007 with funding provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
This series contains biographical notes and narratives about Cecilia Beaux, with notes in Beaux's own handwriting; documentation of prizes and honors she received; certificates of organizational memberships in the Societé Nationale des Beaux-Arts and the Hispanic Society of America; and artifacts, including her oil palette.
Additional biographical narratives can be found in Correspondence, Writings, and Printed Materials. See series descriptions for further details.
Biographical Notes and Articles
Prizes, Awards, and Honorary Degrees
Oversized material housed in OV 4.
Memberships
Oversized material housed in OV 4.
Artifacts, Including Palette
Oversized material housed in OV 5.
Oversized material digitized with Box 1, Folders 2-3.
Oversized material digitized with Box 1, Folder 4.
Correspondence is arranged into 2 subseries:
Cecilia Beaux Letters to A. Piatt Andrew
Cecilia Beaux Letters to A. Piatt Andrew
Cecilia Beaux Letters to A. Piatt Andrew
Cecilia Beaux Letters to A. Piatt Andrew
Cecilia Beaux Letters to A. Piatt Andrew
Cecilia Beaux Letters to A. Piatt Andrew
Cecilia Beaux Letters to A. Piatt Andrew
Cecilia Beaux Letters to A. Piatt Andrew
Cecilia Beaux Letters to A. Piatt Andrew
General Correspondence
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Cecilia Beaux
Cecilia Beaux
Cecilia Beaux
Aimee Ernesta Drinker and Henry Drinker
James and Henry Drinker, Jr.
A-D
Leavitt Family
E-O
P-W
Unsigned, Illegible, First Names, Initials Only, and Fragments
This series includes twelve diaries, notebooks, lectures, essays, poetry, and notes written primarily by Cecilia Beaux, as well as a collection of poems and essays about Cecilia Beaux by various authors including Royal Cortissoz, Richard Watson Gilder, and others. A single sketch on notepaper, which appears to be a study for a portrait, is filed at the end of this series.
Twelve diaries contain entries recording daily activities, including regular notes on her work in the studio and with various sitters for portraits. Some entries are quite brief, and others go on at length about her social life in Europe and America; occasional meetings with prominent figures such as Ida Tarbell, Clarence Day, J. Alden Weir, George Bellows, the Roosevelts, and others; jurying; sitters; women's suffrage; and women in art.
Lectures and essays on a variety of art subjects are found, usually in the form of annotated typescripts and often in multiple drafts, filed chronologically with their titles or subjects listed in folder headings. The latest draft of each work is filed first in each folder. Beaux writes of her own experiences as an artist, art techniques, education, critical or theoretical ideas, and autobiographical subjects which are unrelated to art. Included are several essays in the form of letters to unidentified recipients, including a detailed account of her time time spent in Malines, Belgium, to paint Cardinal Mercier in 1919. Lengthy prose fragments, many of them autobiographical, are possibly drafts from her 1930 memoir,
Poems by Beaux are arranged chronologically, with published poems filed first, along with clippings of their published versions, followed by unpublished poems, titled and untitled. Additional poems are found in her 1868-1884 school notebook. Writings about Cecilia Beaux include poems by Richard Watson Gilder, Adrian Smith, and Adeline Adams; and prose by Royal Cortissoz, Paul Bion, and Eugene Neuhaus. Also found here are corrected galley proofs for an unattributed, published article on American Art that quotes Beaux extensively.
Notebooks include school notes and poetry, expenses, contacts, and what appear to be teaching records. A notebook labeled "Important Data" contains summaries by year of autobiographical data. Other notes include corrections and annotated proofs for Background with Figures, and collection notes by Beaux and others that relate to items in this collection.
Printed editions of some poems and essays are also found in Printed Materials. Additional autobiographical notes and essays are found in Biographical materials and Correspondence. See series descriptions for further details.
Diary
Diary
Diary
Diary
Diary
Diary
Diary
Diary
Diary
Diary
Diary
Diary
Diary
Diary
"What Should the College A.B. Course Offer to the Future Artist?"
"The Public and Modern Art,"
"The Public and Modern Art,"
"Portraiture"
Barnard College Anniversary Lecture
Address at the Dinner Given by a Committee of Artists to Lieut. Lemordant at the Vanderbilt Hotel
"Gilbert Stuart"
Address to the Comtemporary Club of Philadelphia Shortly after Sargent's Death
Address to the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Address and Memorial Meeting, Cardinal Mercier, Contemporary Club of New York
"Color"
Address to Chi Omega
Address to the Present Day Club
"Professional Art Schools,"
"The Eakins Exhibition,"
Letter-essays Including Letters from Malines
Letter to the
"Jean Julien Lemordant aus Etats-Unis,"
"My Aunt and I Have My Ghost,"
"Balthazar's Tale,"
On Beaux's Religious Background
On Educating Children in the Platic Arts
Miscellaneous Essays
Includes eulogies for Childe Hassam and Frederick MacMonnies, "Composite Photography," "Originality," "An Ancient Allegory of Life," and other brief, untitled writings
Prose Fragments
Prose Fragments
Prose Fragments
Prose Fragments
Prose Fragments
Prose Fragments
Titled Poems
Titled Poems
Titled Poems
Untitled Poems
Poetry, Fragments and Miscellany
Poems by Others
Writings by Others about Cecilia Beaux
Oversized material housed in OV 6
Oversized material digitized with Box 3, Folder 1
School Notes and Poetry
Expenses and Other Notes
"People Who Came to Teas"
"Important Data" (1916-1928)
Corrections and Proofs for
Collection Notes
Miscellaneous Notes
Sketch
This series contains exhibition records, a list of artwork, and receipts and contracts, mostly related to Beaux's artwork. Exhibition records include a floor plan for an exhibition at the St. Botolph Club in Boston, receipts and lists of paintings related to an exhibition at Knoedler Gallery, a list of paintings for an exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery, and extensive documentation of the solicitation of paintings for the 1935-1936 retrospective exhibition at the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
A list of artwork which appears to have been written by Beaux is organized by the studio in which the painting was made. Among the receipts and contracts are handwritten bids on her painting "Foggy Morning," receipts for the sale of "The Dreamer" and a magazine illustration, and her contract with Houghton Mifflin for her 1930 memoir.
Correspondence related to exhibits, sales, and production of artwork is found in the Correspondence series. Catalogs and reviews of exhibitions are found in Printed Materials.
Exhibition Records
Oversized material housed in OV 6
Oversized material digitized with Box 3, Folder 10
List of Artwork
Receipts and Contracts
This series contains printed materials related to Beaux's exhibitions and career as an artist, including catalogs, announcements, invitations, clippings, articles, pamphlets, broadsides, a poster, and prints of Beaux's paintings.
The Scrapbook contains clippings from her early career, as well as letters, telegrams, and notes from patrons, sitters, and other art world figures such as Clement A. Griscom, Russell Smith, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the National Academy of Design, the Art Club of Philadelphia, Horace Brodsky, Thomas Hovenden, J.C. Nicoll, and H.S. Morris. Loose clippings continue the chronological sequence of clippings and generally do not duplicate clippings in the scrapbook. Clippings include reviews and other articles related to her artwork and career. Pamphlets, broadsides, and other miscellany include a broadside of a poem, "Sargent," written by Beaux in 1925. Prints include an engraving of the painting "Mother and Daughter," a lithograph portrait of S. Weir Mitchell, and a Century magazine advertising poster featuring Beaux's sketch of Rear-Admiral Sampson.
Additional printed materials are found in the Biographical Materials series, and additional halftone prints of Beaux's paintings are found in the Writings series.
Exhibition Catalogs, Announcements, Tickets, and Invitations
Scrapbook
Clippings
Oversized material housed in OV 6
Clippings
Clippings
Clippings
Clippings
Clippings
Clippings
Clippings
Clippings
Clippings
Pamphlets, Broadsides, and Miscellany
Prints of Beaux artwork
Oversized material housed in OV 6
Oversized material digitized with Box 3, folders 15 and 27
Photographs in this series include formal portraits of Cecilia Beaux and informal photographs of Beaux alone and with colleagues, friends, and family members in various settings including Concarneau, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Gloucester, and Malines, Belgium. Also found is a photograph of John Singer Sargent painting, shot from behind, and photographs of paintings by Beaux.
Photographs are arranged by subject and described in the folder list. Nitrate negatives of photographs taken at Green Alley and snapshots of family members were printed and discarded. Images in this group are separated into folders for vintage prints made during Beaux's lifetime, recent prints from the discarded nitrate negatives, duplicates, and copy negatives.
Additional photographs are found in the Correspondence series. See series description for further details.
Portraits of Cecilia Beaux
Portraits of Cecilia Beaux
Beaux in Groups
One photograph believed to be CB in Concarneau, France with Mary Ursula Whitlock, Alexander Harrison, and others; the other shows Beaux with the Carnegie Institute Jury in 1899, including Walter Elmer Schofield, Anders Zorn, and Frank Duveneck, (front row L to R) John Wesley Beatty, William Merritt Chase, Cecilia Beaux, Edmund Tarbell, Julian Alden Weir, unidentified English judge, and possibly Charles Harold Davis.
Beaux in Groups
Beaux in Academic Robes
Beaux Painting Cardinal Mercier, Malines, Belgium, 1919
Green Alley, Gloucester, Massachusetts
Several pictures depict Beaux outside her home, alone and with others who are unidentified; includes vintage prints.
Green Alley, Gloucester, Massachusetts
Several pictures depict Beaux outside her home, alone and with others who are unidentified; recent prints from discarded nitrate negatives.
Several pictures depict Beaux outside her home, alone and with others who are unidentified; recent duplicate prints from discarded nitrate negatives.
Several pictures depict Beaux outside her home, alone and with others who are unidentified; copy negatives.
Beaux's Family Members
Pictured are Beaux's nephew Harry Drinker and her Aunt Eliza; vintage prints.
Beaux's Family Members
Pictured are Beaux's nephew Harry Drinker and her Aunt Eliza; recent prints from discarded nitrate negatives.
Pictured are Beaux's nephew Harry Drinker and her Aunt Eliza; copy negatives.
John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent
Unidentified Woman
Photographs of Works of Art, Installation Views