Eliza Pratt Greatorex (December 25, 1819 – February 9, 1897) was an Irish-born American artist who was affiliated with the
Hudson River School
The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area, ...
. She is known for her landscape paintings as well as for several series of pen-and-ink drawings and etchings that were published in book form. She was the second woman to be elected an associate of the
National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...
, following
Ann Hall
Ann (or Anne) Hall (1792–1863) was an American painter and miniaturist.
Ann Hall has been described as the most successful miniature painter active in early nineteenth-century New York, renowned for her engaging portraits, especially of child ...
.
Family and education
Eliza Pratt was born in
Manorhamilton
Manorhamilton () is the second-largest town in County Leitrim, Ireland. It is located on the N16 from Sligo and from Enniskillen.
History
Before the Plantations of Ireland, the settlement was known, and continues to be known in the Ir ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, the daughter of James Calcott Pratt, a Methodist minister.
[ The family moved to ]New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
in 1840, where in 1849 she married Henry Wellington Greatorex
Henry Wellington Greatorex (1816 – September 1858) was an English-American musician.
Career
He was born in Burton upon Trent, England. He received a thorough musical education from his father, Thomas Greatorex, who was for many years organist o ...
, a musician.[ They had three children: two daughters, Elizabeth Eleanor and Kathleen Honora — both of whom would grow up to become artists — and a son, Thomas, who settled in Colorado. Mortally wounded during an altercation in Silverton, Thomas Greatorex died at ]Durango
Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...
in 1880.[
Between 1854 and 1856, Greatorex studied art with the painters ]William Wallace Wotherspoon
William Wallace Wotherspoon (November 16, 1850 – October 21, 1921) was a United States Army general who served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army in 1914.
Early life
Wotherspoon was born in Washington, D.C., on November 16, 1850, th ...
and James Hart and his brother William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
in New York,[ and by 1855 she had begun exhibiting sketches.][ However, it was only when Greatorex was widowed in 1858 that she was able to pursue art full-time.][ She subsequently supported herself and her children through help from her siblings, sales of her art, and by teaching for 15 years at a girls' school.][
In 1861–62, she studied with the painter Émile Lambinet outside Paris.][ In 1870, she traveled to Germany with her daughters and they studied at the Pinakothek in Munich.][ In 1872, Greatorex published ''The Homes of ]Oberammergau
Oberammergau is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany. The small town on the Ammer River is known for its woodcarvers and woodcarvings, for its NATO School, and around the world for its 380-year tradition of ...
'', an account of her three-month visit to the village and its passion-play, illustrated by twenty heliotype prints of pen and ink drawings. Dissatisfied with commercial reproductions of her work, she went to Paris to study engraving with Charles Henri Toussaint.[ Greatorex and her daughters purchased Les Ramparts, a residential compound in the town of Moret sur Loing et Orvanne. American sculptor ]George Grey Barnard
George Grey Barnard (May 24, 1863 – April 24, 1938), often written George Gray Barnard, was an American sculptor who trained in Paris. He is especially noted for his heroic sized '' Struggle of the Two Natures in Man'' at the Metropolitan Museu ...
rented a studio on the property. Greatorex and her daughters befriended Impressionist painter Alfred Sisley
Alfred Sisley (; ; 30 October 1839 – 29 January 1899) was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedicatio ...
, whom they helped to support by furnishing their home with his works. Impoverished at the time of his death in 1899, Sisley was buried in the Greatorex family plot in he Cimetiere de Moret-sur-Loing.
Art career
Greatorex first became known as a landscape painter of the Hudson River School
The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area, ...
.[ She often worked '']en plein air
''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors.
This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...
'', and her landscapes reflect her careful observation of her environment.[ Her best-known paintings are ''View on the Houstonic'' (1863), ''The Forge'' (1864), and ''Somerindyke House'' (1869).][ One series of paintings was executed on panels taken from specific churches; these include ''Bloomingdale Church'' and ''The North Dutch Church'' (painted on panels taken from the North Dutch Church on Fulton Street in New York City) and ''St. Paul's Church'', painted on a panel taken from that church.
After a few years, Greatorex's artistic practice migrated from painting to pen-and-ink sketches, which she elaborated as etchings. Experimenting with new printing methods, Greatorex published many of her images in book form.][ Many of her sketches consist of architectural subjects, often framed by foliage, and drawings of landscapes produced during several trips to Europe in the 1860s and 1870s. In 1870–1872, she visited ]Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
and Ober-Ammergau, Germany; Munich, Austria; and various parts of Italy. The Nuremberg and Ober-Ammergau trips led to the publication of ''Etchings in Nuremberg'' (1873) and ''The Homes of Ober-Ammergau'' (1873).[ Her large pen-and-ink drawing of ]Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...
's house in Nuremberg is now in the Vatican in Rome.[
In the summer of 1873, she traveled to the Rocky Mountains with her daughters and published a series of etchings from her sojourn in Colorado.][ The preface was written by ]Sara Jane Lippincott
Sara Jane Lippincott (pseudonym Grace Greenwood) (née Clarke; September 23, 1823 – April 20, 1904) was an American author, poet, correspondent, lecturer, and newspaper founder. One of the first women to gain access into the Congressional p ...
.
With an eye to America's upcoming centennial, in 1875 Greatorex published ''Old New York from the Battery to Bloomingdale'', a book of drawings of historic buildings demolished during the post-Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
real estate development of Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, with a commentary by her sister Matilda Despard, and an introduction by William Cullen Bryant
William Cullen Bryant (November 3, 1794 – June 12, 1878) was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the ''New York Evening Post''. Born in Massachusetts, he started his career as a lawyer but showed an interest in poetry ...
.[ Sketches from this series, along with selected paintings were exhibited in the ]1876 Centennial Exposition
The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...
in Philadelphia.[
In 1868 Greatorex was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design, becoming the second woman to receive that recognition after ]Ann Hall
Ann (or Anne) Hall (1792–1863) was an American painter and miniaturist.
Ann Hall has been described as the most successful miniature painter active in early nineteenth-century New York, renowned for her engaging portraits, especially of child ...
, who had died some six years earlier.[ She was also a member of the Artists' Fund Society of New York.][ Greatorex belonged to a circle of ]feminists
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male poi ...
that included Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony (born Susan Anthony; February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to s ...
, Mary Louise Booth
Mary Louise Booth (April 19, 1831March 5, 1889) was an American editor, translator, and writer. She was the first editor-in-chief of the women's fashion magazine, ''Harper's Bazaar''.
At the age of eighteen, Booth left the family home for New Yo ...
, and Sarah Jane Lippincott, (alias Grace Greenwood). Greatorex and painter Edward Lamson Henry helped to establish the Cragsmoor art colony near Ellenville
Ellenville is a village within the town of Wawarsing, Ulster County, New York, United States. Its population was 4,135 at the 2010 census.
Geography
The village of Ellenville is about 90 miles northwest of New York City and 90 miles southwest ...
, New York.
During the 1870s and 1880s, she frequently exhibited her work at the Paris Salon
The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...
, the National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...
(New York), and at venues in Washington and Boston.[
Greatorex died in ]Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
on February 8, 1897. She and her daughters are buried in the local cemetery at Moret-sur-Loing
Moret-sur-Loing (, literally ''Moret on Loing'') is a former commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is situated on the river Loing, close to its confluence with the Seine. Moret–Veneux-l ...
,
Greatorex's work was included in a 2010 exhibition by the Thomas Cole
Thomas Cole was an English-born American artist and the founder of the Hudson River School art movement. Cole is widely regarded as the first significant American landscape painter. He was known for his romantic landscape and history paintin ...
National Historical Site and Hawthorne Fine Art entitled ''Remember the Ladies: Women of the Hudson River School.''[
A definitive biography; '' Restless Enterprise: The Life and Art of Eliza Pratt Greatorex'' by Dr. Katherine E. Manthorne was published in 2020 by the ]University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...
.
Publications
These books by Greatorex include portfolios of her work.[
*''Relics of Manhattan: A Series of Photographs from Pen and Ink Sketches Taken on the Spot'' (1869)
*''The Homes of Ober-Ammergau: A Series of Twenty Etchings in Heliotype, from the Original, Pen-and-Ink Drawings, Together with Notes from a Diary'' (1872)
*''Summer Etchings in Colorado'' (1873)
*''Old Landmarks of New York'' (1874?)
*''Old New York, from the Battery to Bloomingdale'' (1875)
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greatorex, Eliza Pratt
1819 births
1897 deaths
19th-century Irish women artists
19th-century American painters
National Academy of Design associates
People from County Leitrim
American draughtsmen
Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923)
Hudson River School painters
Irish women painters
American women painters