Eva Scott Fényes (1849-1930) was an American painter known for watercolor landscape of the American west.
She was also known for her philanthropic activities.
Biography
Fényes was born on November 9, 1849, in New York City as the only child of Leonard and Rebecca Briggs Scott. She attended Pelham Priory School, the first girls’ preparatory school in the New York area, where she receives her first art training. In 1868/69 she travels through Southern Europe and Northern Africa with her parents, spending six weeks in Egypt, where she receives art training from
Sanford R. Gifford.
On November 19, 1878, she married Lieutenant William Sullivane Muse, US Marine Corps, Fort Monroe, Virginia, with whom she had one child,
Leonora Scott Muse Curtin (1879-1972). In 1889 Eva and her daughter come to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to seek divorce.
In 1895 she travels to Egypt again, where she meets her second husband, Hungarian nobleman
Adalbert Fényes de Csokaly. They marry in Budapest in 1896 and return to the United States and settle in Pasadena.
Though never a professional artist, Fényes was an accomplished watercolorist. With the urging of
Charles Fletcher Lummis
Charles Fletcher Lummis (March 1, 1859, in Lynn, Massachusetts – November 25, 1928, in Los Angeles, California) was a United States journalist, and an activist for Indian rights and historic preservation. A traveler in the American Southwest, h ...
she created over 300 landscapes which often included Southwest architecture features such as missions and adobe structures.
Soon after her second marriage, Fényes and her husband settled in
Pasadena, California.
She commissioned
Robert D. Farquhar to design a house, known as the
Fenyes Mansion, and now the home of the
Pasadena Museum of History.
Fényes was a member of the Landmarks Club of California, the Pasadena Music and Art Association, and the Southwest Society. She also served on the board of trustees of the
Southwest Museum.
In 1926 Eva Scott Fényes, her daughter and granddaughter
Leonora Paloheimo (1903-1999) built a home in Santa Fe,
Acequia Madre House
Acequia Madre House is a house built at 614 Acequia Madre (Santa Fe), Acequia Madre in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe, in the U.S. state of New Mexico, in 1926 in the Territorial Revival architecture, Territorial Revival style.
Built by Eva Scott ...
, that is now run by the Paloheimo Foundation and also home to the Women's International Study Cente
Fényes died in 1930.
Her watercolors and sketchbooks are in the collections of the
Autry Museum of the American West, Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles, the
Pasadena Museum of History and the Acequia Madre House in Santa Fe.
Gallery
Eva Scott Fényes - The Mission of San Gabriel Arcangel, circa 1900.jpg, ''The Mission of San Gabriel Arcangel'', circa 1900
Eva Scott Fényes - The Belfry and Bells of Mission San Gabriel Arcangel, 1902.jpg, ''The Belfry and Bells of Mission San Gabriel Arcangel'', 1902
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fényes, Eva Scott
1849 births
1930 deaths
19th-century American women artists
20th-century American women artists
Artists from New York City