Florence Howell Barkley (1880-1954) was an American landscape painter and illustrator best known for depictions of seascapes in oil and watercolor and illustrations in many popular newspapers in pen and ink. During this time, she was one of few women who was able to receive formal training in the arts. Although her most well-known work was created in 1912 and exhibited in 1913, her career was disrupted by

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and thereafter consisted mostly of freelance illustration work.

Early life

Florence Howell Barkley was born Mary Florence Barkley in

Maysville, Kentucky Maysville is a home rule-class city in Mason County, Kentucky, United States and is the seat of Mason County. The population was 8,782 as of 2019, making it the 51st-largest city in Kentucky by population. Maysville is on the Ohio River, north ...

, on February 17, 1880 to Henry Clay Barkley, an Irish immigrant and hardware worker, and Isabella Imogene Howell. She and her seven siblings grew up in Maysville and all attended school. After the death of her parents in 1897, Barkley lived with her sister Helen, her brother Frank, her brother Harry, and his wife Lillie. Her brothers opened up a small shoe store, H.C. Barkley & Company, while she and her sister kept house. During this time, Barkley and her sister Helen began to create paintings of landscapes and floral arrangements in watercolor and pastel that they would submit to contests in the Mason County Fair. Barkley lived in Maysville with siblings until she was 20 years old.

Education

In 1900, at the age of 20, Barkley moved to Cincinnati to study art. She was educated at the

Art Academy of Cincinnati The Art Academy of Cincinnati is a private college of art and design in Cincinnati, Ohio, accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. It was founded as the McMicken School of Design in 1869, and was a department of the U ...

, where she studied landscape painting. Barkley then attended the

Philadelphia School of Design for Women Philadelphia School of Design for Women (1848–1932) was an art school for women in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Housed in the former Edwin Forrest House at 1346 North Broad Street, under the directorship of Emily Sartain (1886–1920), ...

, she was one of many women to be trained by

Robert Henri Robert Henri (; June 24, 1865 – July 12, 1929) was an American painter and teacher. As a young man, he studied in Paris, where he identified strongly with the Impressionists, and determined to lead an even more dramatic revolt against A ...

. Henri aided in the development of female

modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

as his students applied his modernist ideals across different media. Barkley flourished under his instruction, then creating some of her most famous works. She was friendly with several other notable female artists at the school, including

Josephine Hopper Josephine Verstille Hopper (née Nivison; March 18, 1883 – March 6, 1968) was an American painter who studied under Robert Henri and Kenneth Hayes Miller, and won the Huntington Hartford Foundation fellowship. She was the wife of Edward Hopper ...

and

Henrietta Shore Henrietta Mary Shore (January 22, 1880 – May 17, 1963) was a Canadian-born artist who was a pioneer of modernism. She lived a large part of her life in the United States, most notably California. Early life Shore was born in Toronto, Canada, to ...

Career

Barkley moved to

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 ...

to work for ''The World'' as an illustrator. She worked as an illustrator part-time and created landscape paintings in her free time. Florence Howell Barkley - Jerome Avenue Bridge - Armory Show 1913

Florence Howell Barkley - Jerome Avenue Bridge - Armory Show 1913

Barkley's most notable work is the landscape painting, "Jerome Avenue Bridge". This oil painting depicts the

Macombs Dam Bridge The Macombs Dam Bridge ( ; also Macomb's Dam Bridge) is a swing bridge across the Harlem River in New York City, connecting the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. The bridge is operated and maintained by the New York City Department of Trans ...

, located in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, near her residence. Originally titled "Landscape over the City", this work, priced at $100, was exhibited in Gallery E of the

Armory Show The 1913 Armory Show, also known as the International Exhibition of Modern Art, was a show organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors in 1913. It was the first large exhibition of modern art in America, as well as one of ...

in 1913. It was shown near works of

Arthur Bowen Davies Arthur Bowen Davies (September 26, 1862 – October 24, 1928) was an avant-garde United States, American artist and influential advocate of modern art in the United States c. 1910–1928. Biography Davies was born in Utica, New York, the son of ...

Walt Kuhn Walter Francis Kuhn (October 27, 1877 – July 13, 1949) was an American painter and an organizer of the famous Armory Show of 1913, which was America's first large-scale introduction to European Modernism. Biography Kuhn was born in New York ...

, and

Joseph Stella Joseph Stella (born Giuseppe Michele Stella, June 13, 1877 – November 5, 1946) was an Italian-born American Futurist painter best known for his depictions of industrial America, especially his images of the Brooklyn Bridge. He is also as ...

. Barkley was one of fifty women whose work was exhibited at the show. Two of her works were exhibited from April 10 to May 6, 1917 as part of the First Annual Exhibition of The Society of Independent Artists at

Grand Central Palace The Grand Central Palace was an exhibition hall in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The name refers to two structures, both located on Lexington Avenue near Grand Central Terminal. The original structure was a six-story structure built in 1893 ...

, New York City. At the beginning of her career,

broke out and she stopped painting and worked for the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

. Barkley was employed after the war, in 1921, by New York's ''

Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine ''The Century Magazine'' was an illustrated monthly magazine first published in the United States in 1881 by The Century Company of New York City, which had been bought in that year by Roswell Smith and renamed by him after the Century Associatio ...

''. She created illustrations for hundreds of articles. Her illustration style was modern with loose strokes and slightly abstracted figures. ''The Century Monthly'' stated that "the flaky style of Florence Howell Barkley is charming." At this point in her career, Barkley worked almost entirely in black and white pen and ink. She lived in New York's 15th Ward with Grace James, also an artist. In 1930, Barkley's widowed sister, Helen and niece Isabel moved to New York to live with Barkley. She supported Helen and Isabel, who took care of their apartment, through freelance illustration jobs.

Death and legacy

Barkley died in 1954 at the age of 74 in East Northfield, Massachusetts. Her work is included in the

Museum of the City of New York A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these i ...

. Her paintings are expressive, romantic, and showcase the introduction of female artwork into American modernism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barkley, Florence Howell 1880 births 1954 deaths American women illustrators 20th-century American illustrators Modern artists Painters from Kentucky People from Maysville, Kentucky Art Academy of Cincinnati alumni 20th-century American women painters 20th-century American painters Philadelphia School of Design for Women alumni American women artists