Lydia Purdy Hess (April 8, 1866 – November 30, 1936) was an American artist best known for her ''Portrait of Miss E. H.'', which was exhibited at the Paris Salon de la Societé Nationale des Beaux-Arts, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

Early life and education

Lydia Purdy Hess was born on April 8, 1866, in

Newaygo, Michigan Newaygo ( ) is a rural city in Newaygo County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,471 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. in ...

. She attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, graduating in 1886. According to School of the Art Institute records, she studied with Désiré Laugée at Académie Delécluse, and taught at the School from 1891 to 1895. Hess also served as assistant to the sculptor Lorado Taft. In 1894, Hess was in residence at St. Charles, Illinois.

Career

Hess's ''Portrait of Miss E. H.'' was exhibited at the Paris Salon de la Societé Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1892; at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia early in 1893; and at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago later in 1893. The oil painting is on exhibit at Orchard Lawn, the home of the Mineral Point Historical Society. The subject of the portrait, Miss Ena Hutchison, attended school at the Art Institute of Chicago with Hess. They traveled to Paris together in 1891 to study at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

, one of the first art schools to admit women. Hess married Charles Doak Lowry on June 28, 1895, in Chicago, Illinois. On their two-month honeymoon, the couple floated down the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Ripley, Ohio in a boat called ''The Double Ell''; Hess sketched and painted. Lydia and Charles Lowry went on to have five children, the youngest of whom was noted biochemist Oliver Howe Lowry. In 1891, Hess began her studies at the Académie Delécluse in France, and later she attended classes with James Abbott McNeill Whistler.

Death

Hess died on November 30, 1936, in Evanston, Illinois.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hess, Lydia Purdy 1866 births 1936 deaths 19th-century American painters American women painters Artists from Michigan People from Newaygo, Michigan School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni Académie Delécluse alumni 19th-century American women