Emily Edwards (October 7, 1888– February 16, 1980) was a co-founder and first president of the

San Antonio Conservation Society The Conservation Society of San Antonio (legally incorporated as the San Antonio Conservation Society) is located in the Bexar County city of San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas. Founding members were Emily Edwards, who became the organizatio ...

. She was an artist, historian and teacher, and a lifelong friend of

Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...

. She is remembered as being a key figure in preventing the paving over of the part of the

San Antonio River The San Antonio River is a major waterway that originates in central Texas in a cluster of springs in midtown San Antonio, about 4 miles north of downtown, and follows a roughly southeastern path through the state. It eventually feeds into the ...

that is now known as the

San Antonio River Walk The San Antonio River Walk is a city park and special-case pedestrian street in San Antonio, Texas, one level down from the automobile street. The River Walk winds and loops under bridges as two parallel sidewalks lined with restaurants and shop ...

San Antonio Conservation Society

On March 23, 1924, thirteen women gathered in San Antonio for the first meeting of the

(SACS). The two women who had organized SACS the day before were Rena Maverick Green and Edwards. They had met when Edwards had been renting a house from Rena's sister, Lucy Madison Maverick. Green and Edwards assembled what they believed were a cross-section of San Antonio's population who were interested in protesting the razing of a house that lay in the path of a proposed

bypass. Edwards was elected the organization's first president. Edwards used her artistic bent to put on a September puppet show for city commissioners aimed at preventing a section of the river (now known as the San Antonio River Walk) from being paved over. The title of the puppet show was "The Goose and the Golden Eggs". The Goose was representative of the river, and each egg representing an aspect of city culture that benefited from the river. Edwards served as the SACS president for two years, overseeing the organization's efforts to preserve the uniqueness of San Antonio.

Early life

She was born one of four daughters on October 7, 1888, to Frank Mudge Edwards and his wife Lillian Brockway Edwards of San Antonio. When she was seven years old, Emily's mother died, leaving her father to raise four daughters as a single father. At age ten, her father enrolled her at Ursuline Academy in San Antonio. After Ursuline, she continued her education at San Antonio Female Institute.

Artist

From early on, Edwards exhibited promise as an artist. She trained with known artists of her time. She took classes from

Pompeo Coppini Pompeo Luigi Coppini (19 May 1870 – 26 September 1957) was an Italian born sculptor who emigrated to the United States. Although his works can be found in Italy, Mexico and a number of U.S. states, the majority of his work can be found in T ...

in Texas, and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. She also trained with

Harry Mills Walcott Harry Mills Walcott (July 6, 1870 – November 4, 1944) was a leading American painter and teacher in the first few decades of the 20th century. He was known for highly decorative scenes of childhood. He was on the staff of the Art Institute of ...

John Vanderpoel John Henry Vanderpoel (November 15, 1857 – May 2, 1911), born Johannes (Jan) van der Poel, was a Dutch-American artist and teacher, best known as an instructor of figure drawing. His book ''The Human Figure'', a standard art school resource fea ...

, Ralph Clarkson and

Enella Benedict Enella Benedict (December 21, 1858 – April 6, 1942) was an American realism and landscape painter. She taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and was a founder and director for nearly 50 years for the Art School at the Hull Hous ...

. She enrolled in the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

in 1905, and also became an employee of the institute. At

Hull House Hull House was a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois, United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located on the Near West Side of the city, Hull House (named after the original house's first owner Cha ...

, she taught art classes to young women, and also taught art classes at the Francis W. Parker School in Chicago until 1917. The next several years, she taught at schools in San Antonio and in

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

. She expanded her creative skills by working as a stage designer in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and performing as a puppeteer in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. In the 1930s, she was Hull House's artistic director.

Diego Rivera and Mexico

Edwards began spending extended periods in

in 1925. She took classes from

, and remained a friend of his throughout the rest of his life. In all, Edwards spent a decade off and on in Mexico, practicing her craft and researching the Mexican influence on the art world. During that time, she published books and pamphlets on Mexican art. She married and divorced Librado de Cantabrana. The couple had one child that died in infancy.

Final years and death

From the 1950s onward, Edwards spent the rest of her life in San Antonio. She died on February 16, 1980.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Emily 1888 births 1980 deaths 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women artists American women painters Culture of San Antonio History of women in Texas Painters from Texas Artists from San Antonio School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni