Lucia Fairchild Fuller (December 6, 1870 – May 21, 1924) was an American painter and member of the New Hampshire

Cornish Art Colony The Cornish Art Colony (or Cornish Artists’ Colony, or Cornish Colony) was a popular art colony centered in Cornish, New Hampshire from about 1895 through the years of World War I. Attracted by the natural beauty of the area, about 100 artists ...

. She was inspired to pursue art by John Singer Sargent. Fuller created a mural entitled ''The'' ''Women of Plymouth'' for the

Woman's Building The Woman's Building was a non-profit arts and education center located in Los Angeles, California. The Woman's Building focused on feminist art and served as a venue for the women's movement and was spearheaded by artist Judy Chicago, graphic de ...

at the

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

in Chicago in 1893. Best known for her portrait miniatures, she was a founding member and treasurer of the

American Society of Miniature Painters The American Society of Miniature Painters (ASMP) was an association of miniature painters, organized in March 1899. The ten founding members of the ASMP included Virginia Richmond Reynolds, Isaac A. Josephi, William Jacob Baer, Alice Beckington ...

. She was awarded a bronze medal at the

Paris Exposition of 1900 The Exposition Universelle of 1900, better known in English as the 1900 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate developmen ...

, a silver medal at Buffalo in 1901, and a gold medal at the Saint Louis Exposition of 1904.

Early life and education

Lucia Fairchild was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts, the daughter of Elisabeth A. (née Nelson) and Charles Fairchild, who served during under President

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

's administration as the Secretary of the Treasury Department. Her paternal grandfather was

Jairus C. Fairchild Jairus Cassius Fairchild (December 27, 1801 – July 18, 1862) was an American Democratic politician and a businessman. He was the first State Treasurer of Wisconsin and the first Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin. He was the father of Wisconsin's tent ...

, the first Mayor of

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

, and her uncle was

Lucius Fairchild Lucius Fairchild (December 27, 1831May 23, 1896) was an American politician, soldier, and diplomat. He served as the tenth Governor of Wisconsin and represented the United States as Minister to Spain under presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and Ja ...

, Governor of Wisconsin. John Singer Sargent, a family friend, inspired Fairchild to become an artist. She wrote of her recollections of a visit to the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

with Sargent. She was educated at Shaw's Private School and the

Cowles Art School Cowles Art School (Cowles School of Art) was established in 1883, in a studio building located at 145 Dartmouth Street in Boston, Massachusetts. It was one of the largest art schools in the city and boasted an enrollment of several hundred until it ...

in Back Bay, Boston, under

Dennis Miller Bunker Dennis Miller Bunker (November 6, 1861 – December 28, 1890) was an American painter and innovator of American Impressionism. His mature works include both brightly colored landscape paintings and dark, finely drawn portraits and figures. One ...

, a friend of Sargent's. She then continued her studies at the Art Students League of New York, under

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 the muralist,

Henry Siddons Mowbray Harry Siddons Mowbray (August 5, 1858 – 1928) was an American artist. He executed various painting commissions for J.P. Morgan, F.W. Vanderbilt, and other clients. He served as director of the American Academy in Rome from 1902–1904. Bio ...

. Lydia Emmet was a colleague of hers at the Art Students League in 1889. Fairchild's skill in academic drawing classes at the League has recently been noted.

Career

An 1890 self-portrait demonstrates Fairchild's artistic abilities at age 18. She also did a portrait of her brother Blair Fairchild at the piano in 1891. Fairchild intended initially to paint murals, and was commissioned in 1893 to do one of six individual murals for the

at the

in Chicago, along with Lydia Emmet,

Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar De ...

, and Mary Fairchild MacMonnies. Her chosen subject was female New England settlers, and was titled ''The Women of Plymouth.'' It was considered a significant commission. After a multi-year love affair, Fairchild married in 1893 her fellow student, the American painter Henry Brown Fuller. After she became pregnant, the immediate need to provide financial support for her family was pressing. Her father had recently lost his fortune in Boston, and she had married against his wishes. Pregnant with her first child, she turned to portraiture, and produced chiefly miniatures. Her husband made it clear he was above the pursuit of money for his art. Fairchild Fuller resorted to living in a dark and small room in New York City, using her significant social connections to contract for commissions, producing nearly two hundred by 1903. She was awarded a bronze medal at the

, a silver medal at Buffalo in 1901, and a gold medal at the Saint Louis Exposition of 1904. Five works were at exhibited at the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition in San Francisco in 1915. Fairchild Fuller also exhibited her work in New Hampshire at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

in 1916. In 1899 she was a founding member and treasurer of the

. She also served as president in 1913. She was an elected member 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 f ...

and the Society of American Artists. She maintained memberships with the

National Association of Women Artists The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...

and the

New York Watercolor Club The American Watercolor Society, founded in 1866, is a nonprofit membership organization devoted to the advancement of watercolor painting in the United States. Qualifications AWS judges the work of a painter before granting admission to the soc ...

Personal and later life

The Fullers had two children, Clara Bertram, born in 1895, and Charles, born in 1897. In 1897, they purchased a home in Plainfield, New Hampshire, and were active members of the

. Fairchild Fuller's brother, "Jack" John Cummings Fairchild, married the painter Francis C. Lyons Houston's daughter,

Charlotte Fairchild Charlotte Fairchild (1876–1927) was an American photographer. Married to wealthy Bostonian John Cummings Fairchild in 1898, she initially had no interest in becoming an artist. However, after the sudden death of her husband in 1915, she had to su ...

, in 1898. The couple became estranged in 1901. Fairchild Fuller was portrayed in a 1902 painting, variously titled ''The Spinet'', or ''Lady and Spinet'', or ''Lady Playing Harpsichord,'' or ''Portrait of Lucia'', by Cornish Colony founder and painter, Thomas Wilmer Dewing. Dewing executed a nearly identical "partner" painting of her that summer. In 1905, Fairchild Fuller became separated from her husband, who returned to his family home in Deerfield, Massachusetts to live with his mother, Agnes Higginson Fuller. They remained owners of their home in Plainfield, and continued to spend time in the area, often renting the home to other artists, including Ethel Barrymore and the Zorachs. In 1905, Fairchild Fuller painted a second self-portrait, ''In the Looking Glass,'' a 6 x 4 inch watercolor on ivory, wherein she depicted herself as a mature woman with eyeglasses, looking directly at the viewer. The work, owned by Fairchild Fuller's family, was included in the 1987 publication ''American Women Artists, 1830-1930,'' by Eleanor Tufts, one of the first publications by the newly opened

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

. Fairchild Fuller moved to New York City, where she taught at the Art Students League in the years 1910-11 and 1914-15. The only school specializing in miniature painting in New York City, The American School of Miniature Painting, operated from 1914-24. Fairchild Fuller taught alongside the artist Elsie D. Pattee and trained the Texan artist Elsie Motz Lowdon. In 1920, Fairchild Fuller published an article about her friend from the Cornish Art Colony, the sculptor, Frances Grimes. They were the same age, had arrived in Cornish about the same time, and had shared a decade of experience in the Cornish Colony. Fairchild Fuller's recurrent illness forced her to return to her father's family hometown, Madison, Wisconsin in 1918. She died there of multiple sclerosis on May 21, 1924 at the age of 51.

Gallery

File:Clara B. Fuller MET DP162101 Cropped.jpg, ''Clara B. Fuller''. 1898. Watercolor on ivory. 4 1/2 x 2 13/16 in.

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

File:Lucia Fairchild Fuller - Head of a Young Girl - 1929.6.46 - Smithsonian American Art Museum.jpg, ''Head of a Young Girl''. ca. 1900. Watercolor on ivory. 3 1/4 x 2 3/8 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum File:Portrait of Hettie Sherman Evarts Beaman.jpg, ''Hettie Sherman Evarts Beaman''. ca. 1901. Miniature on ivory File:Lucia Fairchild Fuller - Girl with hand glass.jpg, ''Girl with hand glass'' ca. 1903. Reproduction as published 1912. File:Lucia Fairchild Fuller - Girl drying her feet.jpg, ''Girl drying her feet'' ca. 1903 Watercolor on paper. 5 3/4 x 4 1/4 in. File:Près d'une claire fontaine by Lucia Fairchild Fuller (1907).jpg, ''By a Clear Fountain'' 1907. Watercolor on ivory. 6 1/4 x 4 3/8 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum

Notes

References

External links

Index of Fairchild-Fuller family papers in the Dartmouth College Rauner Library
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fuller, Lucia Fairchild 1870 births 1924 deaths American women painters Painters from Wisconsin Artists from Boston Artists from Madison, Wisconsin Painters from Massachusetts 19th-century American painters 20th-century American painters Art Students League of New York alumni 20th-century American women artists 19th-century American women artists