Lydia Field Emmet (January 23, 1866 – August 16, 1952) was an American artist best known for her work as a
portraitist
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this re ...
. She studied with, among others, prominent artists such as
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. ...
,
Harry Siddons Mowbray,
Kenyon Cox
Kenyon Cox (October 27, 1856 – March 17, 1919) was an American painter, illustrator, muralist, writer, and teacher. Cox was an influential and important early instructor at the Art Students League of New York. He was the designer of the League ...
and
Tony Robert-Fleury
Tony Robert-Fleury (1 September 18378 December 1911) was a French painter, known primarily for historical scenes. He was also a prominent art teacher, with many famous artists among his students.
Biography
He was born just outside Paris, and st ...
.
[Swinth, Kirsten. ''Painting Professionals: Women Artists & the Development of Modern American Art, 1870-1930,'' Chapel Hill, NC: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 2001] Emmet exhibited widely during her career, and her paintings can now be found hanging in the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
, and many prestigious art galleries, including the
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 ...
.
[Tufts, Eleanor. ''American Women Artists, 1830-1930,'' Washington, DC: National Museum of Women in the Arts (U.S.), International Exhibitions Foundation, 1987]
Early life and family
![Brooklyn Museum - Lydia Field Emmet - William Merritt Chase - overall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Brooklyn_Museum_-_Lydia_Field_Emmet_-_William_Merritt_Chase_-_overall.jpg)
Emmet was born on January 23, 1866, at
New Rochelle
New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state o ...
,
New York, the seventh of eight children born to merchant William Jenkins Emmet and illustrator
Julia Colt Pierson.
Emmet's paternal great-grandfather,
Thomas Addis Emmet
Thomas Addis Emmet (24 April 176414 November 1827) was an Irish and American lawyer and politician. He was a senior member of the revolutionary Irish republican group United Irishmen in the 1790s. He served as Attorney General of New York from ...
, was a prominent lawyer who later served as
New York State Attorney General
The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government o ...
. Thomas was an
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
who held a pivotal position in the Dublin Society of the
United Irishmen
The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional refor ...
after the failure of the
Irish Rebellion of 1798
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirà Amach 1798; Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influenced ...
.
[James P. Byrne, Philip Coleman, Jason King. ''Ireland and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History,'' pp. 295-296. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2008] In historical accounts of the period, Thomas is overshadowed by his younger brother
Robert Emmet
Robert Emmet (4 March 177820 September 1803) was an Irish Republican, orator and rebel leader. Following the suppression of the United Irish uprising in 1798, he sought to organise a renewed attempt to overthrow the British Crown and Prote ...
, who was hanged in 1803 for high treason by the British government, for his abortive attempt to implement an Irish rebellion.
[''Time'' magazine. Friday, May 4, 2007](_blank)
/ref> Thomas immigrated to the United States with his family shortly after the execution of his brother.
Emmet's paternal grandfather, Judge Robert Emmet (1792–1873), married Rosina Hubley, served as the captain of a cavalry regiment in the War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...
, and followed in his father's footsteps becoming a prominent New York jurist. He retained an interest in Irish politics, and served as president of the Repeal Movement in the United States, ''"in sympathy with the efforts of Daniel O'Connell
Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilizat ...
to bring about a repeal of the so-termed union with England."''[''Biographical record of the graduates and former students of the Yale Forestry School,'' p. 39. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press, 191]
/ref>
Emmet's maternal grandfather, Josiah G. Pierson, was an inventor who established the firm of J. G. Pierson & Brothers in Ramapo, New York
Ramapo is a town in Rockland County, New York, United States. It was originally formed as New Hampstead, in 1791, and became Ramapo in 1828."Ramapo", in Peter R. Eisenstadt and Laura-Eve Moss (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of New York State'. Syr ...
; an iron works that manufactured cut nails.[Swank, James Moor. ''History of the Manufacture of Iron in All Ages,'' p. 108. Philadelphia, 188]
/ref> Pierson is believed to have invented the first properly functioning nail-cutting machine, with a patent registered for this device in 1795. Josiah was the son of Congressman Jeremiah Halsey Pierson (1766–1855).
Emmet's two surviving sisters, Rosina Emmet Sherwood (1854–1948) and Jane Emmet de Glehn (1873–1961), also became successful artists, as did their first cousin Ellen Emmet ("Bay") Rand (1876–1941).[''Lydia Field Emmet,'' Schwarz Gallery, Philadelphia. Copyright, 2009. http://www.schwarzgallery.com/index.php?page=artist&modifier=detail&artist=69 Accessed September 9, 2009]
One of Emmet's brothers, William LeRoy Emmet, was an accomplished engineer employed by General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...
.[Weber, Robert J. ''Inventive Minds: Creativity in Technology, Vol 49,'' p. 293 New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1992] A graduate of the United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...
at Annapolis, he was a pioneer in the areas of current electricity and power generation, best known for his work with steam turbines, mercury vapor, and electric ship propulsion. Another of her brothers was Robert Temple Emmet, a West Point
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
graduate, and Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valo ...
recipient. Her brother Devereux Emmet was a pioneering American golf course architect
A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...
who, according to one source, designed more than 150 courses worldwide. Her brother Christopher Temple Emmet
Christopher Temple Emmet (1761 – February 1788) was an Irish barrister and poet.
Early life
Emmet was born at Cork in 1761. He was the eldest son of Elizabeth (née Mason) Emmet (1740–1803) and Robert Emmet, M.D. (1729–1802), a state phys ...
was an noted attorney and sportsman.
Education
Emmet was given her first art lessons as a child by her older sister Rosina. Emmet and Rosina went on to attend the Académie Julian in Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
in 1884–1885.
The Emmet family had suffered severe economic setbacks in the aftermath of the Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
. The sisters were able to study abroad only after receiving an inheritance from their cousin, Bache Whitlock. However, the Emmets were disappointed with Julian's, and Rosina commented that the admission standards were ''"so low that it is not very inspiring. If they (instructors) criticized conscientiously they would punch holes through some of the vile paintings and make them begin from drawing casts."'' The Emmets did hold a high opinion of at least one of their instructors, Tony Robert-Fleury, whom Lydia found to be ''"so much brisker and more severe and decided, besides being very inspiring."''
After returning to New York, the Emmet sisters, and their cousin Ellen, became students of notable American painter and instructor William Merritt Chase. During her tenure in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, Emmet also studied with such artists as: Harry Siddons Mowbray, Kenyon Cox
Kenyon Cox (October 27, 1856 – March 17, 1919) was an American painter, illustrator, muralist, writer, and teacher. Cox was an influential and important early instructor at the Art Students League of New York. He was the designer of the League ...
and Robert Reid. She continued her training in Paris with William-Adolphe Bouguereau
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings, he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female ...
, Louis-Joseph-Raphaël Collin, Tony Robert-Fleury
Tony Robert-Fleury (1 September 18378 December 1911) was a French painter, known primarily for historical scenes. He was also a prominent art teacher, with many famous artists among his students.
Biography
He was born just outside Paris, and st ...
, and the American sculptor and painter Frederick William MacMonnies
Frederick William MacMonnies (September 28, 1863 – March 22, 1937) was the best known expatriate American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts school, as successful and lauded in France as he was in the United States. He was also a highly accomplishe ...
. She worked mainly in the mediums of watercolor and oil.[Tappert, Tara Leigh: ''The Emmets: A Generation of Gifted Women.'' New York: Borghi and Co., 1993.]
While studying in Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
, Emmet and her cousin Ellen joined a summer colony of American artists, including John Leslie Breck and Theodore Robinson
Theodore Robinson (June 3, 1852April 2, 1896) was an American painter best known for his Impressionist landscapes. He was one of the first American artists to take up Impressionism in the late 1880s, visiting Giverny and developing a close frien ...
, at Hotel Baudy near Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. Durin ...
's home in Giverny, France.
Career
One of Emmet's first artistic achievements came in 1883, at the age of sixteen, when she was commissioned to illustrate Henrietta Christian Wright's children's book ''Little Folk in Green''.
In order to supplement her income, Emmet worked during the early 1890s as the assistant of her former instructor, 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. ...
, teaching preparatory classes at his Shinnecock Hills Summer School of Art on Long Island, New York.
In 1893, Emmet was selected, along with prominent women American artists such as 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 ...
, Mary MacMonnies-Low, Lucia Fairchild Fuller and her sister, Rosina (Emmet) Sherwood, to paint murals in the newly constructed 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 ...
. Emmet's contributions included a painting entitled ''Seal of the New York State Board'' and a mural entitled ''Art, Literature and Imagination''.
Emmet later designed stained glass windows for Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art NouveauL ...
and was a prolific illustrator for '' Harper's Bazaar'' magazine. She also received commissions from the Associated Artists, and a commission from President Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
to paint an official portrait of the First Lady, Lou Henry Hoover
Lou Hoover (née Henry; March 29, 1874 – January 7, 1944) was an American philanthropist, geologist, and First Lady of the United States from 1929 to 1933 as the wife of President Herbert Hoover. She was active in numerous community organizatio ...
, which now hangs in the White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
.
In 1896 Field Emmet designed the Cullum Geographical Medal
The Cullum Geographical Medal is one of the oldest awards of the American Geographical Society. It was established in the will of George Washington Cullum, the vice president of the Society, and is awarded "to those who distinguish themselves by ...
, one of the oldest awards of the American Geographical Society, established in the will of Major General
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...
George Washington Cullum
George Washington Cullum (25 February 1809 – 28 February 1892) was an American soldier, engineer and writer. He worked as the supervising engineer on the building and repair of many fortifications across the country. Cullum served as a general ...
(1809–92), the vice president of the Society, and is awarded "to those who distinguish themselves by geographical discoveries or in the advancement of geographical science".
Though best known for her portraits of children, Emmet preferred to paint adult sitters, as she did not consider child portraits to be especially challenging work. One of Emmet's most famous portraits is that of her young nephew, playwright Robert Emmet Sherwood.
Emmet exhibited her work frequently at 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 participated in several major international expositions.[Swinth, Kirsten. ''Painting Professionals: Women Artists & the Development of Modern American Art, 1870-1930,'' pp. 71-72 Chapel Hill, NC: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 2001] She was the recipient of prizes at the World's Columbian Exposition (1893), the Atlanta Exposition (1895), the Pan-American Exhibition (1901), the St. Louis Exhibition (1904) and the Carnegie International Exhibition (1912). Emmet was also awarded the Thomas R. Proctor Prize (1907) and the Maynard Prize (1918) from the National Academy of Design; the Newport popular prize (1921, 1923); and the Philadelphia Bok prize (1925).[''The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography,'' p. 344. New York: J.T. White, 1942][American Federation of the Arts. ''American Art Directory,'' p. 196 New York: R.R. Bowker, 191]
/ref> Emmet was made an associate of the National Academy of Design in 1909 and in 1911 was promoted to Academician at the academy.
Legacy
In late April 2007, Arden Galleries in Manhattan, New York, Manhattan held an exhibition of paintings by five generations of women in the Emmet family. It consisted of 130 exhibits by 14 artists, beginning with nine portraits by Lydia Field Emmet's great-aunt Elizabeth Emmet, and ending with sculptures by her great-great-grandnieces Julia Townsend and Beulah Emmet.[Emmet, Thomas Addis. ''Memoir of Thomas Addis and Robert Emmet, Vol 2,'' p. 523. New York: Emmet Press, 1915 https://books.google.com/books?id=r6kDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1&dq="elizabeth+emmet"+portraits#v=onepage&q=%22elizabeth%20emmet%22%20&f=false]
Memberships
*American Federation of Arts
The American Federation of Arts (AFA) is a nonprofit organization that creates art exhibitions for presentation in museums around the world, publishes exhibition catalogues, and develops education programs. The organization’s founding in 1909 w ...
* American Society of Miniature Painters (ASMP)
*Art Students League of New York
*Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts
*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 ...
[FineOldArt.com](_blank)
/ref>
*National Association of Portrait Painters
*National Association of Women Artist
*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 ...
*Stockbridge Art Association
Institutions in possession of works by Lydia Field Emmet
*Berkshire Museum
__NOTOC__
The Berkshire Museum is a museum of art, natural history, and ancient civilization that is located in Pittsfield in Berkshire County, Massachusetts ( United States).
History
The Berkshire Museum, founded by local paper magnate Zenas C ...
, Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield†...
* Brooklyn Museum, New York City
*Castle Hill on the Crane Estate, Ipswich, Massachusetts
*Delaware Art Museum
The Delaware Art Museum is an art museum located on the Kentmere Parkway in Wilmington, Delaware, which holds a collection of more than 12,000 objects. The museum was founded in 1912 as the Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts in honor of the artis ...
, Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington (Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...
* Groton School, Groton, Massachusetts
Groton is a town in northwestern Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, within the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The population was 11,315 at the 2020 census. It is home to two prep schools: Lawrence Academy at Groton, founded in 1 ...
*Lyme Academy of Fine Arts, Lyme Academy Gallery, Old Lyme, Connecticut
Old Lyme is a coastal town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The main street of the town, Lyme Street, is a historic district with several homes once owned by sea captains. Lyme Academy of Fine Arts is located in Old Lyme and the ...
*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 ...
, New York City
*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 thes ...
*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 ...
, New York City, New York
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 ...
* National Gallery of Art, 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, ...
*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 ...
, Washington, D.C.
*National Society of Colonial Dames of America, State of Vermont
* New York Historical Society
*Old Westbury Gardens, Old Westbury, NY
*Parrish Art Museum
The Parrish Art Museum is an art museum designed by Herzog & de Meuron Architects and located in Water Mill, New York, whereto it moved in 2012 from Southampton Village. The museum focuses extensively on work by artists from the artist colony o ...
, Southampton, New York
Southampton, officially the Town of Southampton, is a town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the town had a population of 69,036. Southampton is included in the stret ...
* United States Military Academy Museum, West Point, New York
West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York, West Point was identified by General George Washington as the most important strategic position in America during the Ame ...
*White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
, Washington, D.C.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Emmet, Lydia Field
1866 births
1952 deaths
Emmet family
19th-century American painters
20th-century American painters
American women painters
Artists from New Rochelle, New York
National Academy of Design members
National Association of Women Artists members
Académie Julian alumni
Painters from New York (state)
American portrait painters
20th-century American women artists
19th-century American women artists
Students of William Merritt Chase