Eva Scott Fényes (formerly Muse; November 9, 1849 – February 3, 1930) was an American painter known for watercolor landscape of the

American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is census regions United States Census Bureau As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the mea ...

. She was also known for her philanthropic activities.

Biography

Eva Scott was born on November 9, 1849, in New York City as the only child of Leonard and Rebecca (Briggs) Scott. She attended Pelham Priory School, the first girls’ preparatory school in the New York area, where she received her first art training. Around 1868 or 1869 she traveled through Southern Europe and Northern Africa with her parents and spent six weeks in Egypt, where she received art training from Sanford R. Gifford. On November 19, 1878, she married Lieutenant William S. Muse, US Marine Corps, Fort Monroe, Virginia, with whom she had one child, Leonora Scott Muse Curtin (1879–1972). In 1889, Eva and her daughter came to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Eva filed for divorce from William Muse in the district court of Santa Fe County in June 1890. In 1895, she traveled to Egypt again, where she met her second husband, Hungarian nobleman Adalbert Fényes de Csokaly. They married in Budapest in 1896 and returned to the United States. Fényes and her husband settled in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

. She commissioned Robert D. Farquhar to design a house, known as the Fenyes Mansion, and now the home of the

Pasadena Museum of History Pasadena Museum of History is a private, nonprofit museum and research library located in Pasadena, California. It is the only institution dedicated to the history, art and culture of historic Pasadena and the west San Gabriel Valley. Headquarte ...

. Fényes was a member of the Landmarks Club of California, the Pasadena Music and Art Association, and the Southwest Society. She also served on the board of trustees of the

Southwest Museum The Southwest Museum of the American Indian was a museum, library, and archive located in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States, above the north-western bank of the Arroyo Seco canyon and stream. The museum ...

. Though never a professional artist, Fényes was an accomplished watercolorist. With the urging of

Charles Fletcher Lummis Charles Fletcher Lummis (March 1, 1859 – November 25, 1928) was an American journalist, civil rights activist, preservationist, poet and librarian who promoted Native American rights and historic preservation. He founded the Southwest Museum ...

she created over 300 landscapes which often included Southwest architecture features such as missions and adobe structures. In 1926, Fényes, her daughter, and granddaughter built a home in Santa Fe, Acequia Madre House. The house was established as a nonprofit organization with support by the Paloheimo Foundation. Museum director and historian J. Revell Carr was hired to develop a strategic plan, and in July 2012 the house and outbuildings on three acres were designated a museum by the Santa Fe Board of Adjustment. In 2013 the house also became home to the Women's International Study Center.

Death

Fényes died on February 3, 1930, aged 80, in Pasadena, California. Her watercolors and sketchbooks are in the collections of the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles, the

and the Acequia Madre House in Santa Fe.

Gallery

Eva Scott Fényes - The Mission of San Gabriel Arcangel, circa 1900.jpg, ''The Mission of San Gabriel Arcangel'', circa 1900 Eva Scott Fényes - The Belfry and Bells of Mission San Gabriel Arcangel, 1902.jpg, ''The Belfry and Bells of Mission San Gabriel Arcangel'', 1902

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fényes, Eva Scott 1849 births 1930 deaths 19th-century American women artists 20th-century American women artists Artists from New York City