Katharine Carl
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Katharine Augusta Carl (February 12, 1865 – December 7, 1938) (sometimes spelled ''Katherine Carl'') was an American portrait painter and author. She made paintings of notable and royal people in the United States, Europe and Asia. She spent nine months in China in 1903 painting a portrait of the
Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; mnc, Tsysi taiheo; formerly romanised as Empress Dowager T'zu-hsi; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908), of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan, was a Chinese noblewoman, concubine and later regent who effectively controlled ...
for the St. Louis Exposition. On her return to America, she published a book about her experience, titled ''With the Empress Dowager of China''.


Early life

Katharine Augusta Carl was born in
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
,
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
on February 12, 1865, the daughter of Francis Augustus Carl, Ph.D., LL.D. and Mary Breadon Carl.
Who's who in New York City and State
'. L.R. Hamersly Company; 1911. p. 146.
She had a brother named Francis A. Carl.


Education

Carl graduated with a
Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...
from the Tennessee State Female College in 1882. She studied art under
Gustave-Claude-Etienne Courtois Gustave-Claude-Étienne Courtois, also known as Gustave Courtois (; 18 May 1852 in Pusey, Haute-Saône – 1923 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a French painter, a representative of the academic style of art. Life Courtois was born 18 May 1852 i ...
and
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 ...
in Paris, and then exhibited her works in the Paris salons.


Career


Overview

Carl painted portraits, including those made in 1892 of Mahomet Ali and Prince El Hadj in Algiers. She made portraits of Paul S. Reinsch and Sir Richard Dame. Throughout her career, she traveled and painted in Europe and China many times. Carl 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 The Woman's 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 in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...
in Chicago, Illinois. In London, she was a member of the Lyceum Club and the International Society of Women Painters. She was a member of the
Société des Artistes Français The Société des Artistes Français (, meaning "Society of French Artists") is the association of French painters and sculptors established in 1881. Its annual exhibition is called the "Salon des artistes français" (not to be confused with the ...
of Paris, the International Jury of Fine Arts, and the International Jury of Applied Arts of the St. Louis Exposition.


China and Empress Dowager Cixi

Katharine Carl was contacted by
Sarah Pike Conger Sarah Pike Conger (July 24, 1843 – February 1932) was an American writer. She was married to American diplomat Edwin H. Conger and accompanied him on his postings as envoy and minister to Brazil (1890–93, 1897–98) and China (1898–1905 ...
, the wife of American Ambassador Edwin H. Conger with an offer to come to China in the summer of 1903 to paint a portrait of the
Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; mnc, Tsysi taiheo; formerly romanised as Empress Dowager T'zu-hsi; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908), of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan, was a Chinese noblewoman, concubine and later regent who effectively controlled ...
for the Chinese exhibit at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine
'. Century Company; 1905. p. 803.
She spent a total of nine months in China and painted four portraits of the Empress Dowager, later recording her memories as the only western foreigner to live within the precincts of the Chinese imperial court in its last days in a book that was published in 1906.David Shavit.
The United States in Asia: A Historical Dictionary
'. Greenwood Publishing Group; 1 January 1990. . p. 80–81.
She stayed there under the provision that she did not share information about Forbidden City. The Empress Dowager honored Carl with the
Order of the Double Dragon The Imperial Order of the Double Dragon () was an order awarded in the late Qing dynasty. The Order was founded by the Guangxu Emperor on 7 February 1882 as an award for outstanding services to the throne and the Qing court. Originally it was aw ...
and the Flaming Pearl. Katharine Carl wrote of her time in China provide a unique and intimate assessment of the
Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; mnc, Tsysi taiheo; formerly romanised as Empress Dowager T'zu-hsi; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908), of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan, was a Chinese noblewoman, concubine and later regent who effectively controlled ...
, in the book ''With the Empress Dowager of China''.Katherine A. Carl.
With The Empress Dowager Of China
'. Kessinger Publishing; 1 May 2004. .
Library of Congress pdf version
To her dismay, the press incorrectly reported that she made unflattering remarks about the Empress. Carl's brother, Francis, worked for
Sir Robert Hart Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet, (20 February 1835 – 20 September 1911) was a British diplomat and official in the Qing Chinese government, serving as the second Inspector-General of China's Imperial Maritime Custom Service (IMCS) from 1863 to ...
at the Imperial Chinese Maritime Customs Service. She apparently stayed at Hart's house at some point and was described by him as "very breezy - quite a tornado".letter no. 1320, ''The I.G. in Peking, II'', ed. by Fairbank et al., Cambridge, Mass., 1975 While in China, she painted portraits of H.E. Tseng, former Lord Chamberlain to the Chinese Emperor, and former president of the Republic of China, Li Yuanhung.


Personal life

She lived 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 ...
at 51 Washington Square and had a studio in the city. In her later years she lived on East Seventy Eight Street in New York City. Carl died December 7, 1938 of burns at
Lenox Hill Hospital Lenox Hill Hospital (LHH) is a nationally ranked 450-bed non-profit, tertiary, research and academic medical center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, servicing the tri-state area. LHH is one of the region's many unive ...
she received when taking a bath at her apartment.''Woman Painter Dies from Scalds.''
New York Times. December 9, 1938.


In popular culture

Katharine Carl was portrayed by Sylvia in the 2006 Chinese television series ''
Princess Der Ling Lizzie Yu Der Ling ( zh, t=裕德齡, w=Yü Tê-ling, p=Yù Délíng; 8 June 188122 November 1944), better known as "Princess" Der Ling, and also known as Elisabeth Antoinette White after her marriage to Thaddeus C. White, was a Hanjun bannerwom ...
''.


Gallery

File:The Portrait of the Qing Dynasty Cixi Imperial Dowager Empress of China by an Imperial Painter 4.PNG, ''
Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; mnc, Tsysi taiheo; formerly romanised as Empress Dowager T'zu-hsi; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908), of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan, was a Chinese noblewoman, concubine and later regent who effectively controlled ...
,'' 1904, was given to President
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
, who had it added to the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
collections File:Court in the Winter Palace.jpg, ''Court in the Winter Place,'' 1904 File:Prince Pu Lun, Francis A. Carl, and Wong Kai Koh at the Chinese Reception at the 1904 World's Fair.png, Prince Pu Lun, Francis A. Carl (Katharine Carl's brother), and Wong Kai Koh at the Chinese Reception at the 1904 World's Fair, where her painting was exhibited.''China's Exhibit at St. Louis.''
New York Times. April 27, 1903. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
File:KateAugustaCarl1905.tif, Kate Augusta Carl and a small dog, from a 1905 publication. File:Katharine Carl - An Oriental Beauty - made in 19th century.jpg, Katharine Carl, ''An Oriental Beauty,'' made in 19th century


Notes


References


Further reading

* Muriel Molland Jernigan, ''Forbidden City'', New York, Crown Publishers, 1954. * Lolan Wang Grady, Book Review of ''With the Empress Dowager Of China'' by Katharine Augusta Carl, Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, Ottawa.


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carl, Katharine 1865 births 1938 deaths American women painters 19th-century American painters 20th-century American painters American portrait painters 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers Artists from New Orleans Writers from New Orleans Painters from Louisiana Accidental deaths in New York (state) 20th-century American women artists 19th-century American women artists American women non-fiction writers