Margaret White Lesley Bush-Brown (May 19, 1857 – November 16, 1944) was an American painter and etcher.

Biography

Bush-Brown was a native of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, the daughter of geologist

Peter Lesley Joseph Peter Lesley (September 17, 1819 – June 1, 1903) was an American geologist. Biography Peter Lesley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 17, 1819. It is recorded by Sir Archibald Geikie that he was christened Peter after ...

and social reformer Susan Inches Lyman Lesley; her first job was creating geological models for her father. Her first professor was

Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artists. For the length ...

, with whom she studied at the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. in the intervening years she also took lessons at the

Philadelphia School of Design for Women Philadelphia School of Design for Women (1848–1932) was an art school for women in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Housed in the former Edwin Forrest House at 1346 North Broad Street, under the directorship of Emily Sartain (1886–1920), ...

. In Paris she enrolled in 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 ...

and took lessons with

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 ...

Gustave Boulanger Gustave Clarence Rodolphe Boulanger (25 April 1824 – 22 September 1888) was a French figurative painter and academic artist and teacher known for his Classical and Orientalist subjects. Education and career The Néo-Grecs and the Prix de Rom ...

, and

Jules-Joseph Lefebvre Jules Joseph Lefebvre (; 14 March 183624 February 1911) was a French figure painter, educator and theorist. Early life Lefebvre was born in Tournan-en-Brie, Seine-et-Marne, on 14 March 1836. He entered the École nationale supérieure des Bea ...

, before returning to the United States in October 1883. She then learned to etch under the tutelage of Gabrielle de Veaux Clements, and in 1884 exhibited ''Study of a Girl's Head'', likely her first print, at the New York Etching Club. At some point she also had lessons with

Christian Schussele Christian Schussele (born 16 April 1824 in Guebwiller, Alsace – 20 August 1879 in Merchantville, New Jersey) was an American artist and teacher, and is credited with designing the American Medal of Honor. He studied under Adolphe Yvon and Paul ...

. Bush-Brown soon began moving in a circle with numerous other women artists, including

Elizabeth Boott Elizabeth "Lizzie" Otis Lyman Boott (April 13, 1846 – March 22, 1888) was an American painter of still lifes, landscapes, and portraits. She was the daughter of the classical music composer Francis Boott and Elizabeth (''née'' Lyman) ...

Cecilia Beaux Eliza Cecilia Beaux (May 1, 1855 – September 17, 1942) was an American society portraitist, whose subjects included First Lady Edith Roosevelt, Admiral Sir David Beatty and Georges Clemenceau. Trained in Philadelphia, she went on to study in ...

, and Mary Franklin, often summering with them along the East Coast. In 1881 she toured France and Belgium with

Ellen Day Hale Ellen Day Hale (February 11, 1855February 11, 1940) was an American Impressionism, Impressionist painter and printmaker from Boston. She studied art in Paris and during her adult life lived in Paris, London and Boston. She exhibited at the Paris S ...

, a distant cousin, and with Helen Mary Knowlton. In April 1886 she married the sculptor Henry Kirke Bush-Brown and moved to his home in Newburgh,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. The couple later relocated to

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, ...

, where Margaret worked as a portraitist and miniaturist. Her husband died in 1935, but she remained in Washington until 1941. In that year she moved to Pennsylvania, where she died three years later at the home of her son James in Ambler. The Bush-Browns had three surviving children, two sons, Harold and James, who became architects and a daughter,

Lydia Lydia (Lydian language, Lydian: ‎𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, ''Śfarda''; Aramaic: ''Lydia''; el, Λυδία, ''Lȳdíā''; tr, Lidya) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the mod ...

, who achieved some renown as an artist herself. In addition to exhibiting on her own, Bush-Brown would sometimes show work jointly with her husband and, later, with their daughter. In 1883 she exhibited at the

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

. Bush-Brown exhibited her work at the

Palace of Fine Arts The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, originally constructed for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. Completely rebuilt from 1964 to ...

and painted an mural ''Spring'' for the Pennsylvania State Building at the 1893

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 (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordi ...

in Chicago, Illinois. She won a number of prizes for her work during her career, and she was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...

in 1911. Today Bush-Brown's portrait of Ellen Day Hale is owned by the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

. A pair of portraits, of physician John Murray and Mary Boyles, are owned by the

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) is a large National Health Service academic teaching hospital in the Norwich Research Park on the western outskirts of Norwich, England. The university hospital replaced the former, Norfolk and ...

. A self-portrait, dated 1914 and currently in the collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, was included in the inaugural exhibition of the

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 ...

, ''American Women Artists 1830-1930'', in 1987. Bush-Brown's papers, together with those of other members of her family, are today held at

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

References

External links

*
Margaret Lesley Bush-Brown Papers, 1857-1944Sophia Smith Collection
Smith College. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bush-Brown, Margaret 1857 births 1944 deaths American portrait painters American women painters American women printmakers American etchers 19th-century American painters 19th-century American printmakers 20th-century American painters 20th-century American printmakers 20th-century American women artists Artists from Philadelphia Painters from Pennsylvania Painters from Washington, D.C. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni Académie Julian alumni 19th-century American women artists Students of Thomas Eakins Philadelphia School of Design for Women alumni Women etchers