Ferol Katherine Sibley Warthen (May 22, 1890 – January 21, 1986), also known as Mrs. Lee R. Warthen, was an American painter and printmaker. Warthen was born Ferol Sibley in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

. She received a full scholarship to the Columbia Art School in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, which she attended from 1908 until 1910. From 1911 until 1913 she was a student of

William Merritt Chase William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later would become Parsons School of Design. ...

and

Kenneth Hayes Miller Kenneth Hayes Miller (March 11, 1876 – January 1, 1952) was an American painter, printmaker, and teacher. Career Born in Oneida, New York, he studied at the Art Students League of New York with Kenyon Cox, Henry Siddons Mowbray and with Willia ...

at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

, and she received her bachelor's degree in education from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. She continued her studies later in life with

Karl Knaths Karl Knaths (October 21, 1891 – March 9, 1971) was an American artist whose personal approach to the Cubist aesthetic led him to create paintings which, while abstract, contained readily identifiable subjects. In addition to the Cubist painte ...

, Blanche Lazzell, and

Un'ichi Hiratsuka , born in Matsue, Shimane, was a Japanese woodblock printmaker. He was one of the prominent leaders of the '' sōsaku hanga'' ("creative print") movement in 20th century Japan. Hiratsuka's father was a shrine carpenter, and his grandfather was ...

. She moved to the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

area in the 1930s, and remained there for the rest of her life, though she exhibited widely elsewhere. A specialist in woodblock prints, she also worked in oils, watercolor, and

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache h ...

. Organizations with which she exhibited include the Society of Independent Artists, 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 ...

, the Philadelphia Water Color Club, the

Provincetown Art Association The Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) is located at 460 Commercial Street in Provincetown, Massachusetts. It is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and is the most attended art museum on Cape Cod. The museum's permanent coll ...

, the Washington Print Club, the Washington Printmakers Society, and the Washington Water Club; she also belonged to the Society of Washington Artists, the Philadelphia Color Print Society, and Boston Printmakers. From 1973 until 1974 she was the subject of a solo exhibition at the National Museum of American Art. Warthen was associated with the

Provincetown Printers Provincetown Printers was an art colony in Provincetown, Massachusetts during the early 20th-century of artists who created art using woodblock printing techniques. It was the first group of its kind in the United States, developed in an area when ...

during her career, and frequently summered in Provincetown. Married to Lee Roland Warthen, she died in Silver Spring,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. Three pieces by Warthen are in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. These include a gouache study for a mural, ''Cotton Scene'' (1941), for the post office of

Hartselle Hartselle is the second largest city in Morgan County, Alabama, United States, south of Decatur. It is part of the Decatur Metropolitan Area and the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

, and two woodcuts, ''Table Top'' (1963) and ''Lighthouse'' (1972). ''Cotton Scene'' has been relocated to the Hartselle Chamber of Commerce office in the town's historic railroad depot. A painting, ''Ladies Luncheon'', is owned by the Cape Cod Museum of Art.

References

1890 births 1986 deaths American women painters American women printmakers 20th-century American painters 20th-century American printmakers 20th-century American women artists People from Aberdeen, South Dakota Artists from South Dakota Painters from Washington, D.C. Art Students League of New York alumni Students of William Merritt Chase Ohio State University College of Education and Human Ecology alumni Section of Painting and Sculpture artists {{US-painter-1890s-stub