Macena Alberta Barton (August 7, 1901 – 1986) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

painter. Barton was a native of Union City, Michigan. She studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1921 to 1925 while supporting herself as a bank clerk and proofreader. Among her instructors there was

Leon Kroll Leon Kroll (December 6, 1884 – October 25, 1974) was an American painter and lithographer. A figurative artist described by ''Life'' magazine as "the dean of U.S. nude painters", he was also a landscape painter and also produced an exceptional ...

, who encouraged her to study the work of the Post-Impressionists; other teachers included John W. Norton, Wellington Reynolds, and Allen Philbrick. She quickly won notice for her strong, striking surrealist paintings, and would go on to participate in exhibitions around Chicago throughout her career. In 1927 she received the August Peabody Award from the University of Chicago, and she won first prizes from the Chicago Galleries Association from 1945 to 1956. Barton was a Fellow of the

International Institute of Arts and Letters International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

, and belonged to both the Arts Club of Chicago and the

Chicago Society of Artists The Chicago Society of Artists is a non-profit organization. The "CSA is the oldest continuing association of artists in the United States. Since its inception and incorporation in 1889, the Chicago Society of Artists has had two primary objectives ...

during her career. Barton was a committed feminist who once challenged art critic

Clarence Joseph Bulliet Clarence Joseph Bulliet (March 16, 1883 – October 20, 1952) was an American art critic and author. Bulliet grew up in Corydon, Indiana and graduated in 1904 from Indiana University Bloomington. For nine years he pursued a journalism caree ...

's assertion, in print, that no woman had ever painted a nude of the highest caliber, and she has been claimed as the first American woman artist to paint a nude self-portrait. She later became a lover of the married Bulliet, with whom she frequently appeared in public. Her 1938 oil-on-canvas ''Loaves'' is owned by the Illinois State Museum. ''Woman Sewing'', an oil dating between 1935 and 1942, was commissioned by the Works Progress Administration and is currently in the collection of the art gallery at Western Illinois University. A collection of her papers is in the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution.

Exhibitions

*1926: Art Institute of Chicago *1927: Art Institute of Chicago *1928: Art Institute of Chicago *1929: Art Institute of Chicago *1930: Art Institute of Chicago *1931: Art Institute of Chicago *1931: M. Knoedler & Company, Inc. Chicago *1932: Art Institute of Chicago *1933: Art Institute of Chicago *1934: Art Institute of Chicago *1936: Art Institute of Chicago *1938: Art Institute of Chicago *1939: Art Institute of Chicago *1940: Art Institute of Chicago *1941: Art Institute of Chicago *1942: Art Institute of Chicago *1943: Art Institute of Chicago *1944: Art Institute of Chicago *1949: Art Institute of Chicago

References

1901 births 1986 deaths 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women painters People from Union City, Michigan Painters from Michigan Painters from Chicago School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni {{US-painter-1900s-stub