Margaret Day Blake (February 20, 1876 – September 29, 1971) was the first woman Trustee of the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

. She collected drawings, which she donated to the Art Institute. She was also involved with the Woman's Land Army, chairing the group for the Illinois division.

Life

Day was born in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...

, on February 20, 1876. She married Tiffany Blake, the chief editorial writer for the ''Chicago Tribune'', in 1905. She attended the

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture is an artists residency located in Madison, Maine, just outside of Skowhegan. Every year, the program accepts online applications from emerging artists from November through January, and selects 65 t ...

Skowhegan, Maine Skowhegan () is the county seat of Somerset County, Maine. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 8,620. Every August, Skowhegan hosts the annual Skowhegan State Fair, the oldest continuously-held state fair in the United States. Skowh ...

. Blake became involved with the Woman's Land Army around 1918. She used her organizing skills to execute her idea of producing food for the

WWI 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 ...

war effort, improving the lives of farm-wives, and bringing a knowledge of farming to educated urban women. After the death of her husband in 1943, Blake turned her attentions to the Art Institute of Chicago. She began assembling a collection of drawings spanning the early 15th century (a drawing by Antonio Pisano), through the 20th century (''Carnival in Naples'' by

Max Beckmann Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the movement. In the 1920 ...

). These prints were donated to the Art Institute, becoming the "Margaret Day Blake Collection". The Institute held an exhibit of the collection in 1970. Blake was also the first president of the Institute's Woman's Board, and the first woman Trustee of the Art Institute. Blake died on September 29, 1971.

References

External links

Drawings given to the Art Institute of Chicago 1944-1970 by Margaret Day Blake
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Margaret Day 1876 births 1971 deaths Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture alumni American art collectors American women in World War I People from Chicago People from Springfield, Massachusetts