Chronicle II The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club

Chronicle II The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club

Celebrating 125 Years Supporting Women Artists

Chronicle II The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club Founded in 1896 for Women Artists

Contents

2. Dedication & Acknowledgments 3. Introduction 4. Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Biography 13. History of the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club 32. CLWAC Presidents 58. Honored Members 59. Other Outstanding Members 67. Honorary Members 82. Medal of Honor Members 1987-1999 95. Medal of Honor Members 2000-2021 129. Afterward 130. Bibliographic Notes & Photograph Credits

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Dedication This edition of “A Chronicle” is dedicated to two elegant ladies who were past presidents and permanent advisors of CLWAC, Carey Boone Nelson and Jean Taylor Kroeber. Both women passed away in 2021. They were active participants in Club activities well into their 80’s. Their presence at board meetings added a certain gravitas and dignity to all proceedings. Their suggestions and comments were always welcome. All board members became aware of the Club’s rich history and high standards because of their thoughtful comments and perspective. Their warmth and the gift of their friendship have left footprints in the hearts of all who knew these two gentle ladies.

CLWAC will always be in their debt.

Acknowledgments This book owes its existence to the foresight and persistence of former President Joyce Zeller, who perceived the need for such a chronicle, and to the support and encouragement of former Presidents Carey Boone Nelson and Eleanor Meier.

Former President Jean Taylor Kroeber’s writing of the historical and biographical texts would not have been possible without the dedicated labors of our Historian, Francine (Franke) DeBevoise, who over many years accumulated not only countless CLWAC-related documents and files, but also many records from the archives of Grace Church, both of which were the primary and invaluable sources for this account.

For the design and layout of the book, as well as the extensive research to locate many of the images, Gaile Snow Gibbs demonstrated extraordinary skill and tenacity. Jeanette Koumjian contributed sharp readings of the texts and many helpful suggestions. Other Members, Arlene Lieberman and Andrea Placer, aided in the research of images, as did Reverend Donald P. Waring, Jennifer Metz, Margaret Lee, William Minifie, and Bonnie Recca of Grace Church; Claudia Seymour, Bob Mueller, and Chris Nunnelly of The Salmagundi Club; Lauren Nuzzi of The Art Students League; Mary Edwards of Salve Regina University. In addition, Art Resources, Inc., The Chicago Field Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Smithsonian Institution provided welcome assistance.

To those Artist Members who permitted us to use photographs of their work and who contributed personal statements, we are grateful.

The Board of Directors Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club 2

Introduction Over its more than a century of existence, the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club has achieved an enviable reputation for excellence and professionalism. Established in 1896, it continues to be a vital force committed to encouraging women artists by providing them opportunities to compete on a national level and to exhibit their work.

This book chronicles the historical and living record of CLWAC and the accomplishments of its many remarkable members as well as recognizing the extraordinary qualities of the woman for whom it is named. Catharine Lorillard Wolfe was not herself an artist, but she evidenced an unusual interest in art, combined with a profound desire to help others. Her deep involvement with Grace Church, one of the oldest and most influential Episcopal congregations in New York City and one that was known for its social concerns, enabled her to further both these commitments.

Although CLWAC has from its inception been a secular organization, it came into being through Catharine Lorillard Wolfe’s foresight and generosity to Grace Church. It has been the Club’s good fortune that the Church has continued for so many years to provide a home for its operations.

Grace Church, by Eleanor Gay Lee From the Collection of Lincoln Grebarier

Beginning as a supportive refuge for struggling young women art students living alone in New York City, the Club has evolved in many ways since its founding. It very quickly became a highly professional group, growing to national recognition. But it has always maintained its spirit and dedication through the cooperative efforts selflessly made by countless talented volunteers.

While the modern world has significantly altered the mechanisms by which CLWAC operates, the need for such a group remains strong.

Many women have achieved high levels of recognition. However, the evidence remains clear of the imperative need for women artists to be given opportunities to demonstrate that they are artists who happen to be women, not the other way around.

There is no way we can speak individually of all those who have in so many ways contributed to the success of the Club, but we hope that in presenting its history, and biographies of its Presidents, Honorary Members, and outstanding Artist Members, accompanied by illustrations of their work, we will encourage others to follow.

It has been heartening to see emerging, younger artists value the standards CLWAC sets and be motivated to strive for the highest professional achievements.

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“John David Wolfe,” 1871. Daniel Huntington (American, 1816-1906) Bequest to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1887 by Miss Wolfe

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Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Biography Catharine Lorillard Wolfe was known in her lifetime for her wealth, her elegance, her social charm, and her extraordinary contributions to a wide range of charities. She had inherited from her father a profound commitment to the educational, religious, and philanthropic endeavors he had for years generously fostered with his considerable fortune. While she devoted much of her energy toward continuing aid for his projects, her concerns covered a wider humanitarian spectrum, from the Children’s Aid Society, to a Negro church in lower Manhattan, a home for incurables on the site of a Lorillard estate in the Bronx, and many other private and unpublicized contributions to hospitals and pioneering social endeavors. She also possessed a strong and independent mind and evidenced an early interest in art in many of its forms. This was perhaps nurtured by the private education she received, the environment in which she lived, and the many trips she took abroad with her family. She began collecting art long before inheriting her combined Lorillard and Wolfe fortunes, her devotion to art culminating in her remarkable gifts to The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe

Courtesy of the Collection of The New York Historical Society

Her father, John David Wolfe, came from a merchant family that emigrated from Saxony to New York City in the 18th century.

His father served with George Washington’s army during the Revolution and later founded with his brother a hardware business that became the very successful Wolfe and Bishop Company. In 1822 John David Wolfe married Dorothea Ann Lorillard, a member of the wealthy family long-established in the tobacco business. The Lorillards also had roots in the American Revolution. The couple’s first daughter, Mary, born in 1823 apparently died young. Their only other child, Catharine, was born in 1828. Dorothea died in 1866, leaving Catharine, at the death of her father in 1872, the sole heir to both fortunes.

In addition to the portion of the hardware business he inherited, John David Wolfe greatly increased his fortune through well-timed real estate transactions. He took advantage of his substantial wealth to retire early from the business and to devote himself to supporting many charitable causes. He favored religious institutions, ranging from Colorado and Kansas to New York, and educational endeavors such as the New York Historical Society, the American Museum of Natural History, and Union College in Schenectady, New York.

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“A Roman Girl at a Fountain,” 1875. Leon Bonnat (French, 1833-1922) Bequest to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1887 by Miss Wolfe

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In 1846 the family bought a house very near to Grace Church, which at that time was just moving from its original location near Trinity Church on lower Broadway to its new, impressive Gothic structure at 10th Street and Broadway. This was the first building designed by the subsequently renowned architect James Renwick, Jr. Devoutly religious, the Wolfes were deeply supportive of the Church, contributing to it both financially and in other ways. John David Wolfe became a vestryman and eventually Senior Warden. The family moved again, in 1856, this time to a double brownstone at Madison Avenue and 24th Street, the house that was to be Catharine’s primary residence until her death. The location was at the heart of New York City’s fashionable scene, attracting not only fine hotels and restaurants, but also art galleries and dealers (Goupil, from whom Catharine bought many paintings, was just around the corner), and in 1863 the National Academy of Design moved nearby.

Catharine’s early interest in art is apparent from the fact that at eighteen she subscribed to the American Art Union, winning a painting at its annual art lottery in 1846. But she was soon encouraged by her cousin, John Wolfe, who had started collecting art in his youth and who left the family business after the Civil War to devote himself to collecting European paintings. When in 1863 he auctioned off his first collection, Catharine made her earliest documented purchase of paintings. In the 1870s, after her father’s death, she began seriously acquiring art. While she relied to a considerable extent on John, who was known as an important collector and who had many European connections, she had her own highly developed opinions and herself commissioned at least forty works, favoring contemporary painters of both religious and genre subjects, as well as still lifes and landscapes.

Her preferred artists included Bonheur, Bouguereau, Breton, Cot, Daubigny, von Kaulbach, Max, Schenck, and Vibert. A painting she commissioned from Leon Bonnat, “A Roman Girl at a Fountain,” became one of her most treasured works. She embraced a view, widespread at the time, that it was easier to authenticate contemporary painters; they were less expensive than old masters, and more easily available. They probably also reflected the tastes of the society in which she moved. But hers was a vibrant character, committed to the life around her, and she clearly drew deep satisfaction from supporting living artists. The numerous religious paintings she acquired reflected her devout church connections, shown in her support of Grace Church and other religious institutions. But it was essential to her that her collection be a living part of her home; the paintings filled the walls of her Madison Avenue house and shared the space with innumerable objects she collected on her many travels abroad.

Published: November 3, 1887 Copyright © The New York Times

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Vinland Newport, Rhode Island Built by Catharine Lorillard Wolfe; Designed by Peabody & Stearns Architects, 1882

Main house now McAuley Hall of Salve Regina University

Main house, east view, circa 1972

Gate house

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She also believed strongly in the value of education and the role that museums could play in presenting art to the public. When The Metropolitan Museum of Art was incorporated in 1870 by a group of businessmen, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe was the only woman listed among the 106 individuals who contributed to the initial fund-raising drive. The goal was $250,000, and she pledged $2,500. That her interests were wide-ranging is also revealed by the fact that she supported the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, and she underwrote the first archeological expedition to Iraq in 1884-85.

This latter work led to the University of Pennsylvania’s subsequent important excavations in the Middle East.

In the 1880s, her focus shifted to building a large Romanesque mansion in Newport, Rhode Island, next to a summer home belonging to her cousin, Pierre Lorillard, in an area local legend claimed to be the landing place of Leif Ericson in 1000 AD. She named the house Vinland and went to great lengths to oversee designs and decorative work that would reinforce the Norse connection. No efforts were spared; she hired the distinguished Boston architectural firm of Peabody & Stearns to build the house, Frederick Law Olmsted to oversee the landscaping, and William Morris of the English Aesthetic and Arts and Crafts movements in England to supervise the interior decor. Edward Burne-Jones provided stained glass windows; Walter Crane painted friezes and frescoes; and Catharine herself supervised many of the stone and wood carvings. The rooms were filled with tapestries, mosaics, and even woodwork based on the Runic art of the Vikings. It was the place where she fulfilled her most personal wishes and revealed her long-standing interest in arts and crafts across a wide range of artistic expression. And it was the place where she enjoyed entertaining guests from all walks of cultural life.

Miss Wolfe’s note accompanying her check for her subsciption to The Met.

Vinland interiors designed and supervised

by William Morris

All Vinland photos courtesy of Salve Regina University Archives, Newport, RI

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Her major collection of paintings, however, remained in her Madison Avenue home. At her death from Brights disease in 1887 she bequeathed all of it to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, along with an endowment of $200,000 to maintain it and to acquire new works in the genres she favored. The endowment revealed uncommon insight on her part. Other benefactors followed her example in contributing to the Museum’s growing collection, but her endowment remained exceptional. Her gift received enormous publicity, and the galleries dedicated to the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection drew large crowds and did much to form the solid base of European art at the Museum.

“The Storm,” 1880. Pierre-Auguste Cot (French, 1837-1883) Bequest to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1887 by Miss Wolfe

“Weaning the Calves,” 1879. Rosa Bonheur (French, 1822-1899) Bequest to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1887 by Miss Wolfe

“Breton Brother and Sister,” 1871 Adolphe-William Bouguereau (French, 1825-1905) Bequest to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1887

by Miss Wolfe

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Her will also provided significant bequests to the many other institutions and causes she had long supported.

She gave her collection of shells and library of conchology, along with $200,000, to the American Museum of Natural History, where her father had been the first President. To Grace Church she bequeathed $350,000. This was in addition to many other gifts she had previously made to the Church, including the first and largest stained glass window, the Chantry (a small gem of a chapel), and Grace House, now known as the Parish House.

Her long dedication to Grace Church was owing in part to her support of the Church’s history of commitment to social outreach.

It had in the 1850s built Grace Chapel, on East 14th Street, to provide services to the growing numbers of immigrants. The classes in language, carpentry, electricity, drawing, dressmaking, and other skills that Grace Chapel offered greatly appealed to Catharine’s desire to make useful charitable contributions.

Her support of the Chapel was constant. When in her will she stipulated that her bequest to the Church be used for some kind of women’s work, it was fitting that the funds be used to support and encourage young women art students, thus bringing together Catharine’s interest in art and her deep charitable concerns. The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, provided with space in Grace House, was the fortunate result.

The “Te Deum“ stained glass window is the oldest and largest stained glass window in Grace Church, designed by the renowned English firm, Clayton & Bell and donated by Miss Wolfe Entrance to Grace House donated by Miss Wolfe

From the

New York Daily Graphic February 13,1878 The Chantry and Sunday School also donated

by Miss Wolfe

All photos by William Minifie

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Ferdinand Richardt’s famous painting of Grace Church, 1858 Photo by William Minifie

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History of the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club Catharine Lorillard Wolfe was clearly a remarkable and independent woman, deeply concerned about a wide range of social issues, and with a profound interest in art. That the Club founded to honor her memory has survived for over 125 years is a tribute to the many women, also strong and independent and with widely diverse talents, who have been inspired by the standard she set and who have stepped up to the new challenges of constantly changing times. The fact remains that although opportunities for and recognition of women artists have increased, there is still a need for organizations fostering the position of women in the arts.

The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club has evolved in many stages, from a comfortable and welcoming home for young women in New York, struggling to gain recognition in all areas of arts and crafts, to a group of highly professional artists drawn from all regions of the country.

Although in the early days the Club was perceived as a social support for needy and lonely students, the members’ serious commitment to art was evident in the continually renewed exhibitions they mounted in their rooms at Grace Church. Underlying the sense of mutual support and camaraderie was always the desire to demonstrate genuine professional achievement.

As Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, the noted sculptor, stated in her letter of thanks for having been honored at CLWAC’s 75th Annual Exhibition in 1971: Our Club has always kept its standards high and never dipped its colors in the direction of eccentricity and caprice in art.... Don’t think for an instant that I mean to suggest that art should be static.

Art is life and ebbs and flows, is depressed and exultant–but if the artist is to help his fellow man– to lift his spirit...he must portray truth and beauty, and in doing so there is no substitute for style and mastery of technique.

This combination of genuine support for fellow artists and dedication to serious artistic values has been crucial to keeping CLWAC alive.

Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, 1880-1980

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The American Cathedral in Paris

Dr. William Reed Huntington, Rector of Grace Church, 1838-1909

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The 1880s and 1890s were a time when many social and artistic movements emerged. In the arts women had been struggling for decades to gain access to serious training and to establish the concept that being independent and strong-minded need not connote being disreputable. Many had gone abroad to France and Italy to study, and in the 1890s several women’s arts groups were organized in New York, the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club being one of the first.

As has been noted, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe was in her lifetime a very generous benefactor of Grace Church, and at her death in 1887 bequeathed a substantial endowment to the Church for “some form of women’s work.” It happened that the wife of the rector of the Episcopal church in Paris, Mrs. W. W. Newell, had formed a very successful club there to aid young American women art students. After the death of her husband, she returned to New York, and the rector of Grace Church, Dr. William Reed Huntington, invited her to create a similar club at the Church, using the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe bequest and honoring the person who herself had demonstrated an enduring commitment to art. The Parish House at Grace Church, Grace House, had already been built with funds provided by Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, and the Church made available to Mrs. Newell some rooms on the second floor to serve as space for the Club. Although the funds and the facilities came from the Church, both Dr. Huntington and Mrs. Newell made clear from the beginning that the Club was to be non-sectarian and open to all.

The purpose was to offer a warm and supportive meeting place for young women attempting to find their independent way, often without financial or social resources.

The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Students’ Club was initiated at a reception in November 1896, a general invitation having been sent to women art students in the city, at the Art Students League, Cooper Union, the National Academy, and other institutions. The response was large and enthusiastic. The definition of art was broad, including musicians, writers, potters, and other crafts students, as well as painters and sculptors. This was at the height of the Arts and Crafts movement, when there was a strong push to establish crafts as a serious part of the art world. Cooper Union had a well developed crafts program, and its proximity to Grace Church brought many students to CLWAC. Many other early members came from the Art Students League, and in a short time participants numbered more than 150.

“Life Class,” published in the New York Times, 1896

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Excerpt from the Grace Church Yearbook, 1897

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The rooms at Grace House were open every day, presided over by the women of the Church. The teas and monthly Sunday night suppers doubtless provided some much needed sustenance to many of the students. But the meeting place offered much more than that. The rooms were supplied with art books and magazines, in addition to the Grace Church Library to which the students were given free access.

Most importantly, proper lighting was installed so that the rooms could serve as galleries for the exhibition of the students’ work. A full range of art and crafts was regularly shown and rotated on a monthly basis.

And because a substantial number of musicians, writers, and drama students belonged to the group, frequent musical and dramatic performances were presented. One of the strong impressions gained from the many reports in the Grace Church Yearbook about the activities of CLWAC is a sense of high spirits and adventurous undertakings. It was a stimulating place for the exchange of ideas, as well as a comfortable and reassuring retreat.

While the gallery space at Grace House always had the students’ work on view, an annual exhibition and reception were primary features of the Club’s activities from the beginning. In the first few years they were held at Grace House, but in 1909 the New York School of Art offered its gallery for the yearly exhibit, beginning the expansion of the Club to wider recognition and toward more professional status. In 1917 the name of the Club was changed to the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, eliminating the reference to students, since many of the members were in fact teachers and professional artists. Clearly women artists were gaining acceptance.

The activities of CLWAC remained consistent for the next few years, with the members of the Church still presiding over the afternoon tea hours and the management of the Club. But in 1925, when the membership had grown to include many more professional artists, and when the funds left by Catharine Lorillard Wolfe had been exhausted, the Club reorganized. Members and their exhibition oportunities were restricted to women artists residing in the greater New York area, and the responsibilities of running the Club were taken over by its members.

However, the Church very generously continued to provide the same space and opportunities for monthly exhibitions and the concerts and musicales that had been so much a part of CLWAC. Annual Members’ exhibitions were held in the Academy room at The American Fine Arts Building, 215 West 57th Street, an arrangement that continued into the 1940s, when the Club began to have annual exhibitions in the Wanamaker store across the street from Grace Church. Some shows continued to be mounted at the Church but were discontinued as the membership grew in numbers and standing.

Originally The American Fine Arts Building, today home of the Art Students League A door knob from the days of the AFA still exists Photos courtesy of the Art Students League

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Lever House, site of Members’ Exhibitions until 1992

The National Arts Club, Gramercy Park South, New York City.

Site of the first Annual Open Exhibition, 1954

Program for a Members’ Exhibition at the LaGuardia Airport main terminal

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In 1954 the Club, under the leadership of Florence Fitch Whitehill, was reorganized once again by extending membership to all professional women artists, regardless of residence, although it was stipulated that they adhere to traditional values in art. The first Open Exhibition was held in March of that year at the National Arts Club, housed in the historic landmark Tilden mansion. Built in the 1840s, the mansion was acquired in the 1860s by Samuel Tilden who undertook extensive improvements, hiring Calvert Vaux for the facade, John LaFarge for stained glass ceilings, and Italian woodcarvers for parts of the interior. Its galleries provide a prestigious venue for the exhibition of many art organizations, but the fact that the National Arts Club admitted women to membership from its inception in 1898 made it particularly fitting for the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club to exhibit there. The first Open Exhibition was a tremendous success, with 281 works on view. The entries must have seriously strained the capacities of the NAC galleries, with 177 oils, 76 watercolors and pastels, and 28 sculptures. The number of sculptures exceeded expectations. While there had been sculptor members for years, the Open evidently attracted new attention. Anna Hyatt Huntington, Elisabeth Gordon Chandler, Katharine Thayer Hobson and Brenda Putnam, all National Academicians, were among the exhibitors. Non-member entries came from as far afield as Texas, Idaho, and Canada.

This first Open Exhibition was followed the next month by a Members’ Show at the Eighth Street Gallery, one of many there.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s the Club mounted numerous Members’ exhibitions at many varied locations: the Gramercy Theater, the Butler Gallery, Burr Galleries, Lever House, the Architectural League of New York, The Greater New York Savings Bank, the Seaman’s Bank for Savings, even LaGuardia Airport. Most of these venues offered space without fees; one of them, Churchill’s Gallery at 139 Broadway, stated that its concept was to “Present Gallery Space to Deserving Artists Without Any Expense to the Artist.” These locations enabled CLWAC to provide its members many opportunities to exhibit their work at minimal cost. All that was required was a great deal of energy, and this the Club indeed had. The publication of a monthly newsletter, Highlights, was also undertaken at this time by a most exuberant Verall Wright. While the Club no longer exhibited at the Church or presented programs there, some of the party spirit remained. At a New Year’s party in 1955 the daughter of one of the members gave a song recital, accompanied by Sara Boal on the piano, presumably the Steinway purchased for the Club early in the century.

Florence Fitch Whitehill, 1903-1984

Anna Hyatt Huntington, 1876-1973

Elizabeth Gordon Chandler, 1913-2006

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Awards Created for CLWAC Medal of Honor Medallion

created by Victor David Brenner (1871-1924) This is the Club’s highest award given at the Annual Open Exhibition since 1962.

It is awarded in four categories, provided there are at least 25 artworks in each: oil/acrylic, watermedia, pastel/graphic/mixed media and sculpture.

The allegorical figure of a classically attired standing woman holds a palette, a mahlstick, and a winged statuette, symbolizing painting, sculpture, and by extension all the visual arts.

The sculptor, Victor David Brenner, was born in 1871 in Shavli, Russia and came to the United States in 1890. Among his innumerable works is a long list of medals and plaques including: The Municipal Art Society Award Medal, The American Institute of Architects Seal Medal, The Boston Surgical Society, The Peace Plaque, and two bronze plaques of Lincoln and Washington situated in the lobby of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania City-County Building. Brenner was also the designer of the Lincoln cent issued in 1909.

Anna Hyatt Huntington Bronze Medal

created by Sally Swan Carr This award, given in the same categories as the Medal of Honor, was created in 1970 by then CLWAC Vice President Sally Swan Carr in recognition of Anna Hyatt Huntington’s outstanding career and her generosity and dedication to CLWAC. The award was established with funds donated by Huntington herself and continues to honor her each year.

Sally Swan Carr, who served as CLWAC’s President from 1971 to 1974, was herself a distinguished sculptor. Working in stone, wood, and bronze, she had many commissioned works in the United States and Europe. The Anna Hyatt Huntinton Medal is also in the Numismatic Society in New York.

Creative Hands Award

created by Lucille C. Hampton This small, gold-covered bronze sculpture is awarded each year to one of CLWAC’s Members or supporters who has selflessly contributed to making possible the work of the Club and its exhibitions. Lucille C. Hampton, a long-time Member of CLWAC, is a sculptor of distinction, represented in prestigious galleries and with many commissions. Her years of contact with both collectors and patrons of the arts led her to appreciate the contributions made by those who work behind the scene, above and beyond the call of duty. In 1984 she sculpted this award, inspired by Michelangelo’s “Creation,” to recognize those who help bring life to creative work. Lucille was our Honored Member in 1994.

Horse’s Head Award

created by Anna Hyatt Huntington (1876-1973) This award is given annually at the CLWAC Members’ Exhibition for the best sculpture and twodimensional works. Anna Hyatt Huntington created it in 1966 expressly to be awarded at the Members’ Exhibitions, and it is representative of the innumerable ways in which this most distinguished sculptor, one of America’s most outstanding, contributed to CLWAC in both creative and practical ways over many years. She was an Honorary Member, and in appreciation, CLWAC also named her an Honored Member in 1969, 1972, and 1973.

Artist Laureate Award

created by Board Member Emeritus Jeanette Koumjian To coincide with the Club’s 125th Anniversary and each year going forward, this enameled medallion will honor those who, over an extended period, have been dedicated to the eloquent expression of their creative vision, encouraged innovation, strengthened the broader art community through service, shared their experience with peers and, through their generosity of spirit, commitment, perseverance and grace, enhanced the future for all women artists.

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In 1965 President Margaret Fernald Dole enlisted her able lawyer husband John Dole to help the Club take the important step of incorporation. In 1966 President Sara Metzner Boal, again through the efforts of John Dole, obtained the crucial 501(c)3 taxexempt status that has made the survival of CLWAC possible. She also initiated the relationship with The Metropolitan Museum of Art that led to annual exhibitions’ opening receptions serving as benefits for the Museum. The funds raised have been used

by The Metropolitan to establish a small endowment assisting curators in the American Wing to travel to many venues germane to their work. The Museum has graciously enhanced this association by providing speakers from its staff each year at CLWAC’s Benefit Reception and Awards Dinner, giving insight into the ways modest contributions from the Club perpetuate the true legacy of Catharine Lorillard Wolfe by sponsoring unfettered interest in art.

One of the early speakers, at the Benefit Reception in 1969, was the future Director, Philippe de Montebello, at the time Associate Curator in the Department of European Paintings.

During the 1960s Sally Swan Carr, who later became President, was very active in persuading the prominent sculptors Anna Hyatt Huntington, Harriet Frishmuth, and Malvina Hoffman to become Honorary Members of CLWAC. Anna Hyatt Huntington became strongly supportive and made available to CLWAC casts for a number of her small sculptures that could be sold or auctioned as “Museum Pieces” at both Annual Open and Members’ Exhibitions.

The proceeds would then be dedicated to funds for awards. She also created the Horse’s Head Award specifically to be awarded at the Club’s annual Members’ Show. During this period several members of CLWAC visited Huntington at her home and studio in Connecticut. Sally Swan Carr, after seeing Huntington at work on the maquette for her “General Putnam” statue, was inspired to create the Anna Hyatt Huntington Bronze Medal to be awarded at Annual Open Exhibitions. Huntington was honored in 1966 at the 69th Annual, at the time of her 90th birthday, where a number of her works were shown, and the catalog was dedicated to her. Other Honorary Members were also given special recognition. Harriet Frishmuth was particularly honored at the Members’ Exhibition at Lever House in 1966, and the Members’ Show in November 1966 in the New York Bank for Savings was dedicated to the memory of Malvina Hoffman. The 76th Annual Open Exhibition, at the National Arts Club in 1972, recognized all the Honorary Members: Florence Julia Bach, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Harriet Frishmuth, Anna Hyatt Huntington, Brenda Putnam, Priscilla Roberts, and Katharine Weems.

Margaret Fernald Dole, 1896-1970

John Dole

1969 Benefit Reception for The Metropolitan Museum of Art Left, Philippe de Montebello Associate Curator of the Department of European Painting Right, Sally Swan Carr

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National Academy of Design Museum Photo by David Plakke Media, 2011

Charles W. Hawthorne Frank Vincent DuMond

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Starting in 1967 under Sara Metzner Boal, the annual exhibitions were held at the National Academy of Design, where they continued through 1971. It is interesting that the National Academy building was designed as his home by Anna Hyatt Huntington’s father-in-law and was occupied by Anna and Archer Huntington until 1940, when Archer deeded it to the National Academy. For a number of years the Academy provided space for several arts groups: Allied Artists of America, Audubon Artists, the American Watercolor Society, and the National Association of Women Artists, to hold their exhibitions. It later changed its policy, and CLWAC returned to the National Arts Club, where exhibited for more than 60 years.

Sara Metzner Boal, 1896-1979

CLWAC’s last exhibition at the National Academy of Design, its 75th Annual Open Exhibition in December 1971, was a large and gala event. While CLWAC continued to emphasize traditional values, so eloquently enunciated by Harriet Frishmuth in her letter to the Club upon receiving the Gold Medal of Honor at the 75th Annual, the work always met the highest standards of quality and creativity.

A review of the 75th by Lillian Wachtel in the Gramercy Herald of December 10, 1971, stated: I wish I could do justice to all the fine work in this vast and varied exhibition which shows how alive and human and contemporary the “representational style” can be.

A separate 75th Anniversary Catalog was produced in honor of this milestone, with biographies and photographs of work by many members. The Club was able to take advantage of the three floors of exhibition space at the National Academy to mount an extensive show and bring in such prominent jurors as Donald Greene, Everett Raymond Kinstler, Vincent Glinsky, and John Terken. CLWAC called on distinguished awards jurors from outside the Club well before many other groups did (as early as 1930 it had Charles W. Hawthorne, Frank Vincent DuMond, and Gustav Wiegland as jurors) and was not shy about having outstanding men as well as women judge their work. This fact probably contributed much to CLWAC’s reputation for presenting work of exceptional quality. The Club was also pleased to honor some of the men who had been particularly helpful to it.

In 1974 it dedicated the Annual Catalog to three Honorary Patrons, John Dole, A. Hyatt Mayor (Anna Hyatt Huntington’s nephew and a curator of prints at The Metropolitan Museum of Art), and Max Gelfound, a most helpful accountant.

A. Hyatt Mayor, nephew of Anna Hyatt Huntington and Honorary Patron of CLWAC

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1976 Members’ Exhibition at The Greater New York Savings Bank

Manufacturers Hanover Bank, 43rd Street and Fifth Avenue Members’ Exhibitions venue

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The years following the 75th anniversary were filled with activities. The Club held regular general meetings for which energetic program chairmen engaged outside speakers, many provided through the generous interest of Robert Friedman, Coordinator for The Metropolitan Museum’s Community Program, who also arranged for a special tour of the museum.

Other speakers, such as the well-known watercolorist Mario Cooper, Michael Lanz of the National Sculpture Society, and James Cox of Grand Central Galleries, were willing to contribute their time and expertise to give informative presentations. Cox even invited CLWAC to have as one of its meetings a tour of his new gallery space.

For a number of years it was possible to find free or inexpensive space for Members’ Shows at such places as Manufacturers Hanover Bank, the Union Carbide Building, Lever House, or the Customs House at the World Trade Center, and successful exhibitions were regularly mounted. In time, however, it became more difficult to locate feasible venues, and in the 1980s there were some years in which Members’ Shows could not be managed. As members’ lives became more challenging it was also more difficult to present frequent general meeting programs.

Notes in the Highlights newsletter of members’ activities reveal the remarkable extent to which CLWAC artists were successfully pursuing exhibition opportunities all over the country. Increasingly the membership became national in scope, and even those in the New York area were moving outside the city to live and work. This made it harder to organize and have sufficient attendance at events, although the supportive spirit of the Club remained high.

The Union Carbide Building, Park Avenue Members’ Exhibitions venue Photo from The Midtown

by Carter B. Horsley

Book

At the same time, the number of members increased, while the standards for becoming a member were raised. In 1978 under the leadership of President Carey Boone Nelson the Bylaws were amended to require that artists would become eligible to apply for membership only after they had been juried into three Open Exhibitions with the added stipulation that they submit images of a substantial body of work for evaluatiion. As the requirements for Artist Membership became stricter, a category of Associate was initiated in 1978, exempting those interested in participating in many activities of the Club (barring voting rights and eligibility for Members’ Shows) from the necessity of meeting the full Artist Member prerequisites.

Carey Boone Nelson

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By 1979 the number of entries had grown to the extent that it became necessary to require Members to be juried every other year for the Open Annual in order to make space to hang the increasingly high-quality work being submitted.

As CLWAC moved towards its 90th anniversary it had successful Members’ Shows at the Customs House, Lever House, and the Salmagundi Club. The Annual Open Exhibitions at the National Arts Club attracted an ever larger number of artists from across the country, and the Opening Receptions to benefit The Metropolitan Museum were supported by the President of the Museum, William Macomber. At the festive Preview for the 90th, the new President of The Metropolitan Museum, William Luers and his wife Wendy received an enthusiastic response after they both spoke. To help celebrate its 90th the Club published another Anniversary Catalog, similar to the 75th, devoted to biographies of many members and photographs of their work. The Club continued to draw on prestigious representatives of the art world for its jurors of awards: Harvey Dinnerstein, George Hollerbach, Paul Wood, Moses Worthman, Fritz Cleary, Edward Hoffman, Nat Kaz, and Albert Wein, to name a few, along with Everett Raymond Kinstler, who served many times.

But the 1980s were also a period that required serious adjustments to deal with changing times. President Nora Roth undertook the task of assuring that the Club continued on a sound financial basis, as the costs of everything went up and volunteers were more and more pressed for time. A major achievement under her leadership was the creation of a sizeable medals fund. Through a concerted effort, and with the help of Patron Albert Ehinger, she was able to raise a substantial sum that has carried the Club through all the following years. Her gentle insistence that things be done in a businesslike manner helped channel CLWAC in a productive direction. At the same time there was growing recognition that the Club needed to be receptive to a wider range of art. While continuing to stress that traditional values were of primary importance, there was a move to encourage entries in somewhat more contemporary styles and to accept Artist Members working in more abstract modes. The strict requirement of representational art was deleted from the prospectus.

Judging the1989 Annual Open Martin Kalish and Harvey Dinnerstein

Mr. and Mrs. William Luers, President of The Metropolitan Museum of Art with CLWAC President Nora Roth

As CLWAC approached its 100-year anniversary, the vivacious and enthusiastic President Karen Strong began exploring various plans to celebrate the event. Eventually the Board determined that one of the best ways to demonstrate the continued vitality of the Club would 27

Jean Kroeber and Amy Unfried Members’ Exhibition 1996

The Broome Street Gallery, New York City

The Salmagundi Club, located at 47 Fifth Avenue at 12th Street, New York City, is the oldest professional art club in the United States Left to right: Building entrance, Parlor and Upper Gallery

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be to mount a traveling exhibition, something CLWAC had never undertaken. Karen enlisted Dorothy Barberis, former Membership Chair and Painting Chair, to locate galleries and exhibition spaces and introduce curators to the Members’ work. Dorothy devoted many months to the task and set up rigorous standards for Member participation. Painters were to submit three works and sculptors two, all of which were to be juried by outside judges who determined which artists qualified and which single piece of their work would be in the show. The jurors, Paul Wood, Karl Molno, and Roger Cosgrove in the Fall of 1995 selected 62 works, and in January 1996 the exhibition opened at the Broome Street Gallery in SoHo. Karen Strong produced the fine catalog, with photographs of all the works, and new President, Jean Kroeber, undertook the further organization of the show, firming up venues and finding new ones when that proved to be necessary.

The exhibition traveled to ten more locations over the next two years, from the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum at Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA (the first time the Museum devoted an entire exhibition to women artists), to The Midwest Museum of American History in Elkhart, IN, to its final installation at Hartwick College, in Oneonta, NY, ending in January 1998. The venues were all enthusiastic about the exhibition and provided expert care in handling the artwork, each gallery taking responsibility for shipping the collection to its next location. Lindsay Hooper of the Shenandoah Valley Art Center in Waynesboro, VA, (the third stop on the tour) commented: “This is an amazing show, a beautiful show. It rivals any collection I’ve seen.” Michelle L. Smith, Director of the Wassenberg Art Center in Van Wert, OH, commented: “This is a GREAT show!

The work is highly professional.” At the end of the tour the works were all safely returned to the participating artists, with only one pastel suffering slight damage, a remarkable tribute to the respect and care with which all the venues treated the artists’ work.

The opening installation of the Centennial Traveling Exhibition at the Broome Street Gallery, headquarters of New York Artists Equity, was the beginning of a long association with that organization. New York Artists Equity is a strong advocacy group for artists, and its gallery provided an excellent venue for CLWAC’s Members’ Shows for a number of years in an environment quite different from the National Arts Club. These shows extend to CLWAC Members opportunities to exhibit work, not limited by size, nor juried for acceptance, that may be more adventurous or experimental than that submitted to the Annual Open Exhibitions. The Club will continue to seek larger spaces, such as the Salmagundi Club, to foster this creative spirit.

Dorothy Barberis

Centennial Exhibition Venues

Philip and Muriel Berman Museum

Midwest Museum of American History

Hartwick College

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The Water Mill Museum, Water Mill, New York. Site of the first CLWAC Members’ and Associates’ Exhibition

The Geary Gallery, Darien, Connecticut Site of the second CLWAC Members’ and Associates’ Exhibition

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The 100th Annual Open Exhibition at the National Arts Club in the Fall of 1996 was a great success, with record turnouts and sales of $13,000. Elyse Topalian, Deputy Chief of Communications at The Metropolitan Museum, spoke at the Benefit Reception, and Kevin Avery, Associate Curator of American Painting and Sculpture, did the honors at the Dinner. Edith Lorillard Cowley, a distant cousin of Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, was in 1994 invited to be an Honorary Chairwoman for the Preview Benefit (a title she still holds) and provided several interesting articles on her distinguished relative from the perspective of Newport, Rhode Island, where she had a home for many years. This warm connection added a wonderful dimension to CLWAC’s Centennial events.

Recent years have seen the continuation of the strong traditions and associations established by CLWAC. Under presidents Amy Unfried and Eleanor Meier the Club became more adapted to the electronic age, with a website and information on line. The revolution in computerized printing enabled the catalog for the Annual Open Exhibition to be improved in the capable hands of Gaile Snow Gibbs and Carlina Valenti. Additional shows that included Associates were introduced by President Lucille Berrill Paulsen, and President Joyce Zeller enthusiastically explored possibilities for other exhibitions in museums and galleries outside the New York area. In the Fall of 2007 the prestigious National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., invited CLWAC Artist Members to contribute works for their fund-raising exhibition. This museum, opened in 1987, is a major force dedicated to recognizing the significance of women artists, past and present. Recently the CLWAC Board voted to establish an annual scholarship at the Art Students League, reconfirming a relationship that has been significant from the earliest days.

Carey Boone Nelson, Karin Strong and Edith Lorillard Cowley at the 100th Annual Open Exhibition in 1996

The aim of CLWAC is to use the best of what is now available through modern technology to extend the reach of the Club to as many professional women artists as possible, while adhering to the exceptionally high standards that have distinguished CLWAC’s impressive history.

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CLWAC Presidents 1925-1950 Sara Sweeny Alta West Salisbury Mrs. Edward Davidson Mary Allison Donll Nell Witters Eva Rappleye Elizabeth Case Anna G. Morse Louise Norbury CLWAC has been fortunate to have many dedicated artists who have contributed their time and efforts to the growth and development of the Club. Some were able to give more than others, but all did their best. Of the first Presidents we have very little information, so this account starts with Eleanor Gay Lee.

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Eleanor Gay Lee: 1950-1953 Honored Member 1992 Eleanor came from Atlanta, Georgia, where she began studying art at the age of 14. At 21 she came to New York to study at the National Academy and then, finding it difficult to make a living from commissions for portraits, turned to study commercial art at Cooper Union.

This turned out to be an uncongenial field, but her marriage to Walter Wright Lee, who was successful in the hotel business, freed her to pursue her artistic interests.

It was not until after World War II that she began to exhibit in large juried exhibitions and commenced a very successful career that led to her membership in six art societies, four of which she served as President. She is well represented in five art museums and many private collections in America, Australia, and Europe. During her term as president CLWAC instituted a scholarship fund for the Grace Church School, and the creation of the newsletter Highlights was proposed by Verall Wright. Eleanor’s organizational skills and expertise were much valued while she held office.

Over many years she continued to serve as an advisor and supportive Member of the Club until her death in 1997. In 1992, at the age of 90, she was chosen Honored Member.

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Florence Fitch Whitehill: 1953-1956 Honored Member 1982 Under Florence’s presidency the Bylaws of CLWAC were amended to extend artist membership to professional women artists regardless of residency, and the first Annual Open Exhibition was held at the National Arts Club, marking a turning point in CLWAC’s history. The newsletter Highlights became an established feature of the Club.

Florence was a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art and later studied watercolor at the Grand Central School of Art in New York City. She was a life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in England and belonged to numerous art organizations in addition to CLWAC: the American Artists Professional League, the Academic Artists Association, Knickerbocker Artists, and the National League of American Pen Women among others. She had a special feel for New York scenes as well as landscape, marine, and floral painting.

Her work was widely exhibited in many venues, including the National Academy, Bruce Museum, Hammond Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Guild Hall, and Kennedy Galleries. She served CLWAC in many capacities: President, Vice President, Corresponding Secretary and, at the time she was Honored Member in 1982, on the Finance Committee.

“Brooklyn Bridge”

Peter A. Juley & Son Collection - Smithsonian American Art Museum

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Florence Fitch Whitehill

“Peonies on White”

Peter A. Juley & Son Collection - Smithsonian American Art Museum

Helen Slottman: 1956-1961 Honored Member 1980 An oil painter of florals and land- and seascapes, Helen studied with William Fisher, John Costigan, Leonard Richmond, and others. As President she saw continued growth in CLWAC’s membership and influence. She also served as Chairman of the Annual Open Exhibition and of the Awards Committee, and handled advertising and publicity for the Club. Her administration was responsible for redesigning the catalog for the Annual Exhibitions and developing the format that has largely been followed since. She belonged to several other art groups: American Artists Professional League, National Arts Club, Pen and Brush, and exhibited widely, at the Smithsonian Institution, International Gallery in Florida, and the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts in Massachusetts.

Helen Slottman

“Salmon Trail”

Peter A. Juley & Son Collection - Smithsonian American Art Museum

“Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club Award Medal” Peter A. Juley & Son Collection Smithsonian American Art Museum

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Charlotte Dunwiddie: 1961-1962 Honored Member 1988 A distinguished sculptor and CLWAC’s Honored Member in 1988, Charlotte served one year as President. Born in Strasbourg, France, she studied with professor Wilhelm Otto at the Academy of Art in Berlin, Mariano Benlliure y Gil in Madrid, and Alberto Lago in Buenos Aires. Her commissioned works are in many outstanding collections. She was elected Academician of the National Academy of Design, in 1978 became the first woman President of the National Sculpture Society, and in 1992 was given title of Honorary President of the Society. Three of her sculptures are in Brookgreen Gardens, where she served as a Trustee. She was a witty, acute, and forceful person who was generous with her time and never compromised her high standards. She commented on her year as President: “I myself benefitted greatly by holding this office. It gave me new insights and added awareness in human relations and organizational functioning, as well as in plain practical matters.” Many CLWAC presidents have expressed similar feelings. At her death she left the Club a generous bequest that continues to fund awards in her name.

Charlotte Dunwiddie

“Pope John XXIII”

Peter A. Juley & Son Collection Smithsonian American Art Museum

“Trooping the Color”

Peter A. Juley & Son Collection - Smithsonian American Art Museum

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Margaret Fernald Dole: 1962-1965 A well-known portrait painter, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, England, and a member of numerous local and national arts groups, Margaret was a Member of CLWAC for many years.

Under her presidency the Club took the significant step of becoming incorporated, with the generous help of her lawyer husband John Dole, who continued to assist the Club for several years. The 1970 catalog was dedicated to her memory, and a portrait award is given in her name at CLWAC’s annual Members’ Show.

Margaret Fernald Dole

Sara Metzner Boal: 1965-1968 Honored Member 1978 Sara Boal’s tenure as CLWAC President saw many significant changes. She initiated the association with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, introducing the Preview Benefit in 1966. With the assistance of John Dole she achieved the Club’s tax exempt 501(c)3 status, and she obtained the use of the galleries at the National Academy of Design for several years. Sara was a woman of many talents. After graduating from Wellesley College she expected to pursue a career as a concert pianist. When family commitments made this difficult, she turned to composition, and some of her pieces were performed at Town Hall and Columbia University.

Her interest in musical therapy led her to introduce such a program at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York.

In the 1930s she turned to painting and was encouraged

by Eleanor Gay Lee. She studied oils with Carle Brenner, M. A. Rasho, and Dimitri Romanovsky, and watercolors with Jack Marriott.

She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, England, a life Fellow of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, a member of the American Artists Professional League, the National League of American Pen Women, the National Arts Club, the Salmagundi Club, and the Composers, Authors and Artists of America. She helped form the organization Fifty American Artists. Her work is in many private collections in England, France, Japan, and Hong Kong as well as the permanent collections of several museums, among them: the Hammond Museum; the Museum at the Hispanic Society of the Americas, and the collection of Wellesley College.

At Wellesley one of her classmates was Mai-Ling Soong (Madame Chiang Kai-shek), and Sara later encouraged her to become an Honorary Member of CLWAC.

Sara Metzner Boal

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Winnie Borne Sherman: 1968-1971 During Winnie’s presidency the Bylaws were amended to limit the terms of office for Board Members and Alternates, and permanent rules for exhibition were established. She presided over CLWAC meetings with grace and charm, and lived a full life until the age of 102 in 2004, always maintaining a warm interest in CLWAC. She studied at the National Academy, Cooper Union, Columbia University, and the Art Students League. She had many solo shows and her work was regularly exhibited with Fifty American Artists, American Watercolor Society, and at Grand Central Galleries. In addition to her work with art organizations she demonstrated art supplies for Grumbacher and gave watercolor demonstrations for New York City school children.

Carey Boone Nelson shared her studio at 30 East 20th Street, a building that also housed Sally Swan Carr and Suzanne Hurt. After Winnie moved to Rossmor, New Jersey, Carey and Suzanne continued to visit her regularly, bringing her news of CLWAC.

“Young Girl Holding Doll”

Peter A. Juley & Son Collection Smithsonian American Art Museum

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Winnie Borne Sherman

Sally Swan Carr: 1971-1974 Honored Member 1979 Honorary Member 1979 Sally Swan Carr served as CLWAC President from 1971 to 1974 and had been active in the Club for many years before that. In the 1960s she had encouraged Anna Hyatt Huntington, Harriet Frishmuth, and Malvina Hoffman, all illustrious sculptors, to become Honorary Members. In addition, she created the Anna Hyatt Huntington Bronze Medal (also in the American Numismatic Society of New York), first awarded in the 1970 Annual Open Exhibition, and she persuaded Anna Hyatt Huntington to create the Horse’s Head Award to be presented at annual Members’ Shows. For her outstanding achievements, Sally was named a CLWAC Honorary Member in 1979.

Her life began in Minneapolis, where her family encouraged her to study ballet. At an early age she was dancing at social functions and on the stage. At sixteen she came East with a show, and it was not until after she married in 1941 that she turned to sculpture, starting at the Clay Club (now the SculptureCenter).

She also studied privately with John Hovannes, Frederick Allen Williams, and Paul Manship, and advanced sculpture at New York University. She worked in all media, her first commission being a life-size mahogany carving, the “Indian Queen,” for the Sheraton Hotel in Philadelphia. Her bronze relief of the “Lion of St. Mark” is at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City; five Carrara marble reliefs of the “Cardinal Virtues” are in Riverside Park, St. Joseph, Michigan, and her sculptures are in many other venues in this country and in Europe.

She was a member of the Architectural League of New York, the Burr Artists, and the International Platform Association. But beyond her other professional commitments, she is remembered for her devotion to CLWAC, and her long service to the Club as a Permanent Advisor, where her sharp memory, generosity, and infectious spirit were highly valued. She herself said that one of her best memories of CLWAC was of when she was Chairman of the 1963 Exhibition and there was snow “as high as the fence,” and a newspaper strike was in effect. She called all the radio stations, and the Exhibition was publicized on the Fitzgerald program on WOR, resulting in a large turnout –- the best attendance ever –- with Ed and Pegeen Fitzgerald themselves being present.

Sally Swan Carr

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Mae Berlind Bach: 1974-1976 Mae was an active member of CLWAC for many years, serving as Exhibition Chairman and Vice President before becoming President. She graduated from Pratt Institute and studied at the Art Students League, the National Academy, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Art. Mae traveled and painted in France and Italy and had solo shows at Pietrantonio Galleries in New York and LaSalle College, Philadelphia. She also participated in Knickerbocker Artists; Art League of Long Island; Woodmere, Long Island, Public Library, and Five Towns Music and Art Foundation.

Mae Berlind Bach

“Untitled,” Charcoal

Helen DeCozen: 1976-1977 Helen took over the presidency when Mae Bach was forced to resign for personal reasons. A long-time member of CLWAC, she was known for her floral paintings and gracious manner. She was committed to improving the organization of the Club.

Helen DeCozen

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Carey Boone Nelson: 1977-1980 Honored Member 1985 Honorary Member 1988 Before being named as one of the Club’s youngest Presidents, Carey had served as Exhibition Chair, Program Chair, Sculpture Chair, and Vice President. In 1988 she was made an Honorary Member, and she continued as a Permanent Advisor. She was a source of invaluable information, good sense, and historical perspective, with her warm and intimate recollections of earlier members and events. During her presidency the Bylaws were amended in significant ways to introduce more stringent requirements for Artist Membership and to initiate the category of Associate for those wishing to participate in some activities without the necessity of being juried as professional artists.

Born and raised in Lexington, Missouri, Carey graduated pre-med from Wellesley College and later received her MS in Education from Wagner College on Staten Island. She studied sculpture at the National Academy, and at the Art Students League with John Hovannes, Arturo Lorenzani, and John Terken. Although she has worked in stone, wood, metal, and plastic, her favorite medium is oil-based clay (plastelina), casting her sculptures in bronze using the lost wax process. Her work is represented in museums and collections on all five continents, and in the U. S. her sculptures are in the Pentagon, the Missouri State Capitol, the U. S. Air Force Hall of Fame, Colgate University, and Wagner College, among many other venues. One of her numerous commissions is the “Douglas A. Munro Monument” at the U. S. Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey, unveiled during the high winds of Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Other commissions include “The Zinc Miner” monument” at the Franklin Museum, New Jersey, and

Carey Boone Nelson

“Dr. William M. Boone,” 1860-1936 Physician and Educator Highland Community College Highland, Kansas “The Zinc Miner,” Bronze Franklin Mineral Museum Franklin, New Jersey

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portraits of James Madison, Montpelier, Virginia; George Balanchine; General Jimmy Doolittle; Reverend Martin Luther King, and many other diverse figures. Some of her other sculptures reveal a more humorous side, with her five “Subway Riders” being included in the permanent collection of the International Museum of Cartoon Art in Boca Raton, Florida. Carey has had many one-person exhibitions, including her being the first sculptor to be given a solo exhibition at the Salmagundi Club.

She was active in several art organizations and was a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, England; a Life Member of the Art Students League; member of the Salmagundi Club, and Fellow in the American Artists Professional League.

With all her professional accomplishments and extraordinary commitment to CLWAC, Carey also achieved a remarkably balanced life with her husband Ken, six children, and many grandchildren.

The CLWAC Artist Laureate Award was presented posthumously to Carey in August 2021.

It honors her dedication and commitment to her art, and to the broader art community through her service, perseverance and grace.

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Carey Boone Nelson with her bronze of “Le Marquis de Lafayette,” created for the Lafayette County Court House Lexington, Missouri

Cecelia Cardman: 1980-1981 Honored Member 1987 Cecelia was born in Soveria, Italy, but grew up in Grand Junction, Colorado. She earned her BFA degree from the University of Colorado and then returned to Italy to study with Guiseppe Aprea at the Instituto di Belli Arte in Naples. During her stay there she was honored with two solo shows warmly received. After returning to Colorado she had many solo shows, including exhibiting at the Denver Art Museum. A few years of teaching followed at Mesa College, the University of Southern California, and Greeley State College of Education. She painted in both oils and watercolors and received warm guidance from Leon Kroll, Edgar Whitney, Milford Zornes, and Diana Kan. In addition to CLWAC, she served on the boards of Salmagundi Club, Allied Artists of America, American Artists Professional League, Pen and Brush, and the National League of American Pen Women.

Cecelia Cardman, 1906-1988

“Seascape,” Oil

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Sybil D’Orsi: 1981-1982 Honored Member 1993 After studying basic design at Pratt Institute and working in the commercial art field for several years, Sybil became the Art Director for the Music Division of Warner Brothers. But when she decided to devote all of her time to painting, she studied at the National Academy with Robert Phillip and Harvey Dinnerstein.

Sybil exhibited with many arts groups and at the National Academy and The Butler Institute of American Art in Ohio. In addition she had solo exhibitions at the Butler Gallery in New York, the Montclair Museum, New Jersey, and the Blue Heron Gallery on Cape Cod. She was much sought after as a teacher and was featured in American Artist Magazine. The illness and death of her husband forced her to resign as President of CLWAC after one year. In later years she was president of Allied Artists of America.

Sybil D’Orsi, 1923-2011

“Wildflowers,” Oil

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Andrea Robbins-Rimberg: 1982-1986 Andrea had been active in CLWAC for several years as Program Chair and then Vice President before she took over for Sybil D’Orsi as President. She was a lively presence and did much to encourage younger artists to become interested and participate in CLWAC and was energetic in promoting the Club as its 90th Anniversary approached.

She studied sculpture at the New School with Chaim Gross and Moishe Marans and later at the National Academy of Design with Bruno Lucchesi, Joseph Hirsch, and Michael Lantz. Her sculptures were vigorous life-size bronzes. After her term as CLWAC President she moved on to create her own gallery, Gallerie Andrea Rimberg and Art Collectors Source International.

Andrea Robbins-Rimberg with U. S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge at the unveiling of her bust of the Secretary at the Tom Ridge Pavillion, Mountain Laurel Center for the Performing Arts, 2003

“Girl on a Beach,” Bronze

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Nora Roth: 1986-1989 A native of Tipperary, Ireland, where she was educated, Nora immigrated to the U. S. in 1955. Her introduction to art was through Diana Kan, with whom she studied for 15 years.

Nora’s warmth and charm were disarming, guiding the Club through its 90th anniversary year with elegance and grace.

She gave everyone she met the feeling that they were themselves special and capable of accomplishing things they had not imagined, a quality that persuaded many to undertake difficult tasks for CLWAC. But her extraordinary dedication to the Club was based on a strong sense of purpose and a capacity to deal in a practical and pragmatic way with changing times. This enabled her to establish the substantial Medals Fund and to ensure that the Club maintained a secure operating base. Her welcoming manner and generosity were apparent to those who met her, those who knew her only through her remarkable personal notes, and those Board members who were privileged to participate in the lavish luncheons she hosted at her home. Her spirit and unheralded support continued to nurture CLWAC for many years, eliciting the qualities that have made the Club unique.

Nora Roth

Dorothy Dallas: 1989-1992 Honored Member 1999 A native New Yorker, Dorothy majored in interior design at Pratt Institute and worked in that field while raising her family. Later she studied at the Art Students League and privately with Arthur Barbour, Joseph Rossi, and Edgar Whitney, followed by a return to Pratt, where she earned an MFA in painting and printmaking. She was drawn to abstract art, and her watercolors are exceptional for their design and color. During her tenure as President she did much to encourage CLWAC’s acceptance of modern forms, and her wonderful sense of humor kept the Club vital.

She exhibited widely, with the American Watercolor Society, the watercolor societies of Baltimore, New Jersey, and New England, among others. Her work was seen in Greece, Thailand, and India, and she has had numerous exhibitions. She organized a watercolor group for the Art Center of Northern New Jersey, and is a member of the National Association of Women Artists, the New Jersey Watercolor Society, and the Katonah (New York) Museum Artists Association.

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Dorothy Dallas

Karin Strong: 1992-1995 When Karin took office she was one of CLWAC’s youngest Presidents. After graduating in psychology from Boston University and in illustration from Pratt Institute, she studied painting for a year in France and subsequently took courses in New York at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League.

At the time Karin became President CLWAC was approaching its centennial and beginning to consider ways to celebrate the milestone. Karin energetically explored means to achieve more public awareness of CLWAC in particular and the work of women artists in general. Eventually she and the Board initiated plans for the Centennial Traveling Exhibition. She also organized two successful Members’ Shows in Southampton, New York, and one at the Salmagundi Club. In addition she undertook revisions of the Bylaws.

A highly accomplished oil painter, Karin has won many awards and has enjoyed teaching science and art to young children in museums and local schools, serving for a time as the administrator of an after school program. She was a founding member and has served on the Board of the Southampton Artists and the East End Classic Boat Society, and was a Member of the Guild of Natural History Illustrators and the East End Arts Alliance.

Karin Strong

“Meeting of the Board,” Oil “Reds,” Oil

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Jean T. Kroeber: 1995-1998 Honored Member 2003 Jean served as Vice President for Sculpture for five years before being elected President. Plans for CLWAC’s Centennial Traveling Exhibition were already launched, but she oversaw its opening installation at the Broome Street Gallery in January of 1996 and undertook the complex arrangements for travel to ten additional venues over the course of the next two years. Thanks to the enthusiastic support given to the Club by all the participants, the show was a great success and was achieved without any serious mishap.

A native of New York City, Jean graduated from HarvardRadcliffe with an AB in History. Although sculpture was a life-long interest, she seriously pursued it only after working as an editor and raising a family. Largely self-taught, with reinforcing study in Jose DeCreeft’s class at the Art Students League, her work is primarily direct carving in stone and wood, much influenced by Classical and Romanesque carvings and the strong forms of Maillol and Zorach.

She continued as a Permanent Advisor for CLWAC and was also a member of Allied Artists of America, Pen and Brush, and The Salmagundi Club, as well as the Southern Vermont Artists and the Chaffee Art Center, in Rutland, Vermont.

Jean T. Kroeber with her sculpture “Sorelle,” Georgia pink marble

“Cloud,” Marble

The CLWAC Artist Laureate Award was presented posthumously to Jean in June 2021.

It honors her dedication and commitment to her art, and to the broader art community through her service, perseverance and grace.

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“Salome,” Manzanita wood

Amy Bright Unfried: 1998-2000 Honored Member 2009 Before becoming CLWAC’s President, Amy served for three years as Vice President for Sculpture. She brought to both jobs great organizational skills and the serious purpose of bringing the Club into the 21st century. Exploring the possibilities of internet connections, she was the first to achieve CLWAC representation on a website and in many ways helped the Club into the technological age. As a Permanent Advisor after her presidency she has maintained a close interest in CLWAC and was instrumental in reorganizing complicated financial affairs into simplified accounts.

Born in Boston, Amy graduated from Wellesley College and received an MA in Economics from Yale. After several years of working in finance and economics, she felt a need for a different life and eventually found in sculpture a satisfying career. She studied at SUNY-Purchase and then undertook three years at the National Academy. Her figurative sculptures in bronze, using the lost-wax method, are inspired by Classical and Renaissance works. Since moving to Wyoming in 2001, she has added delicate bronzes of trees, branches, and birds to her work. As a member of several art groups, among them Allied Artists of America, American Artists Professional League, and the National Association of Women Artists, Amy has exhibited widely, receiving many awards. Her work is in over 150 public and private collections around the country, to name a few, the permanent collections of the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey; the Center for the Arts in Jackson, Wyoming; Lawrence Hospital Center, Bronxville, New York, and the Wyoming State Capitol Art Collection, Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Amy Bright Unfried

“Four Ravens,” Bronze

“End of a Long Day,” Bronze

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Eleanor Tyndall Meier: 2000-2003 Honored Member 2004

After retiring from a career as an art teacher and art department chairman, Eleanor was able to devote concentrated time to her own painting and to become active in local and regional art organizations. CLWAC was fortunate to welcome her as a Member.

She served as Awards Chair and Vice President for Painting before stepping into the job of President, where her grace and tact were enormously appreciated. She saw CLWAC through the aftermath of September 11, helping to prove the value of art in difficult times.

Her clear-headed insight contributed greatly to the revisions of the Bylaws, and she took forward the Club’s commitment to the world wide web.

After receiving a BS in Art Education from Nazareth College of Rochester, New York, and a MALS from the State University of Eleanor Tyndall Meier New York at Stony Brook, she studied at workshops, and her interest in watercolors developed in courses with Barse Miller. Her still life paintings, featuring transparent and reflective objects, have been exhibited in many venues, from Washington, D. C., to Athens, Greece. Her work is included in collections at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum of Rutgers University, the Saratoga Springs Hospital, and the personal collection of Ambassador Susan Jacobs.

She is a member of the National Association of Women Artists, the Baltimore Watercolor Society, the Smithtown Township Arts Council, and the Art League of Long Island. She continues as a valued Permanent Advisor for CLWAC.

“Tulips, Quilt, Onions,” Watercolor “Kimono & Apples,” Watercolor

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Lucille Berrill Paulsen: 2003-2006 Honored Member 2007 Lucille served CLWAC in many capacities before being elected President. She led the Club into the computer world, bravely mastering systems to get the membership lists off 3 x 5 cards and onto a data base, then continued as Membership Chair for years thereafter. She redesigned the web page and got it functioning, and she designed the current logo. Always taking on jobs with enthusiasm, her talent for hanging exhibitions is extraordinary and frequently called upon. And her willingness to explore new possibilities kept the Board on its feet. She initiated an exhibition of small works for Associates as well as Members, arranging for the first of those at the Water Mill Museum on Long Island in the Summer of 2006. CLWAC hopes to provide more such opportunities when suitable venues are available. She remains a committed Permanent Advisor for CLWAC. Lucille is primarily an accomplished portrait artist in oils and pastels, though she also often does still lifes and landscapes. While her work is in the classical tradition, it frequently conveys wit and Lucille Berrill Paulsen Photo by Richard Muller humor. After receiving a degree in Advertising & Design from SUNY, she was employed by McCann-Ericson as a commercial artist in Madrid, Spain, and then did further study at Parsons School of Design as well as with Richard Owen, Daniel Greene, and Albert Handell. Over the years she has won many top awards and medals. Lucille has been a visiting artist for the Art Frame Program and taught portraiture for the Southampton School System and has instructed at the Victor D’Amico Art Barge Institute of Art in Amagansett, New York. She is an Elected Member and serves on the board of Allied Artists of America and is also a Director of the Water Mill Museum where she heads the Art Show committee. She is a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America and a Fellow Artist of the American Artist Professional League. Her work is in private collections across the country and in Europe and is widely displayed on the East End of Long Island and in New York City.

“First Born,” Oil

“St. Rachel,” Oil

“St. Kips,” Oil

“St. Ryfi,” Oil

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Joyce Zeller: 2006-2009 Honored Member 2017 Joyce came to the presidency with a desire to explore ways of achieving more public awareness of CLWAC. Her vision was to chronicle the formation and history of CLWAC, initiating the process which led to the publication of this book. She developed contact with Art Connoisseur Magazine, resulting in its publishing an article on Catharine Lorillard Wolfe and the Club; she arranged for CLWAC Members to send work to the National Museum of Women in the Arts Annual Gala in 2007, and she promoted the use of e-mail for communications, as well as improving the website. Under her tenure, a CLWAC scholarship for women artists was established at the Art Students League.

An early interest in faces and the people behind them led her to portrait painting. She studied art at the Fashion Institute of Technology and then taught there for two years. But by a strange Joyce Zeller twist of fate, she found herself owning a men’s and women’s clothing boutique for 17 years. There she used her artistic talents for window displays and advertising. After selling the business, shereturned to art studies at the Art Students League, the National Academy of Design, and with many artists whom she admired.

She now paints mostly commissioned portraits in oil and pastel, as well as plein-air landscapes and genre paintings, and creates hand-built sculptures. She has exhibited in juried and solo shows in the metropolitan area, winning many awards. Her portraits of doctors, lawyers, school headmasters, and judges hang prominently in homes, offices, and public spaces around the country. Her portrait of the U. S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey hangs in the Justice Department in Washington, D. C. Joyce is on the Board of the Artists’ Fellowship, is a Member of the Portrait Society of America, and the Connecticut Society of Portrait Artists; an Associate Member of the Pastel Society and Allied Artists of America; and a Permanent Advisor to CLWAC.

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Attorney General Eric Holder, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, and Joyce at the unveiling of her painting for the Department of Justice, Washington, D. C.

Susan Twardus Faith: 2009-2012 Before being elected President of CLWAC, Susan served as Awards Chair, Treasurer, and Vice President for Sculpture. In addition to her artistic gifts, Susan brought an unusually diverse background of experience, in the business world with computers, and in the art world with running her own gallery. This gave her unique strengths in working toward her goals of streamlining and modernizing the Club’s operations and of elevating its profile. In both these endeavors she brought CLWAC a long way. And with the enhanced use of computers she was able to reach out to a wider base of Members for jurying and other Club undertakings.

Growing up in New Jersey near the college towns of Princeton and New Brunswick, Susan early excelled in art and science, earning an art scholarship. However, she chose for a time to pursue a career in business and computers. After having moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, as a single mother, she returned to college to fulfill a long-time calling to study art, while also working for a time at Merrill Lynch. It was while surrounded by piles of discarded Wall Street Journals at her job that she first conceived of the idea for the papier-mâché sculptures that have become such a distinguishing part of her artistic expression. Her work in that medium, raising it to a level of fine art that expresses serious life statements as well as a sense of humor, has gained her wide recognition and earned her many awards.

In 1997 Susan took a position with a gallery in nearby Lambertville, New Jersey, where her work brought her in contact with many experts skilled in restoration, framing, and gilding. She also gained knowledge of work by some of the finest Impressionist painters of the New Hope school.

In 1999 she opened her own fine arts gallery. Building on these influences, Susan began exhibiting widely her own paintings, charcoal drawings, and papier-mâché sculptures in prominent venues, such as: the James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, PA; the Trenton City Museum, NJ; Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ; the National Arts Club, NYC; and the Salmagundi Club, NYC. Her work is in many private collections and in the permanent collections of the State of New Jersey Cultural and Heritage Commission, Merrill Lynch, and Harrison Corporate Properties.

Susan Twardus Faith

“The Winds of Wall Street” Newspaper 15”h x 15”w x 22”d

In addition to CLWAC, Susan has been elected to membership in Pen and Brush, Inc., and Philadelphia Sculptors. Her many prestigious awards include the CLWAC Medal of Honor and the Anna Hyatt Huntington Bronze Medal for Sculpture. She has been listed in multiple editions of Who’s Who as an artist of note.

“The Manipulator” Newspaper 30”h x 16”w x 22”d

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Gaile Snow Gibbs: 2012-2015 Honored Member 2008 Gaile assumed the presidency of CLWAC after long service on the Board, particularly overseeing the Annual Open Exhibition Catalogs for sixteen years. With her background of thirty-five years experience in advertising as an award-winning Art Director and a Creative Supervisor, she brought highly perfected skills to that endeavor, raising the quality of the Catalog and bringing it into the digital world and in full color.

Those same design skills have been amply drawn upon in the realization of the first book about the Club: A Chronicle - The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club. Gaile also served as Chair for a Members’ Exhibition and worked to establish the Club’s first website.

At the age of fifteen Gaile began studying at the Art Students League of New York under Jean Liberté and was published for the first time in the League catalog. Ten years later she was commissioned to paint two oil portraits of Dustin Hoffman for the Off Broadway Gaile Snow Gibbs production of Journey of the Fifth Horse. In pursuit of a degree in Fine Arts, Gaile studied at DePauw University, Hunter College, and the School of Visual Arts.

She continued her studies at the League under pastelists Richard Pionk and Americo DeFranza, watercolorist Irwin Greenberg, and classical painter Frank Mason. A painter of portraits (people and wildlife) and still lifes, Gaile states her “goal is basically the same: to always celebrate a subject’s unique qualities...in all their beauty.”

A recipient of many awards, Gaile’s work is in private collections in California, Florida, New York, and Paris. She is a Life Member of the Art Students League, where she has served two terms on the Board of Control. In addition, she is a Fellow of the American Artists Professional League, an Elected Artist Member of the Salmagundi Club and Allied Artists of America. Apart from her commitment to her art, Gaile assists her husband and best friend Clark Warren acting as manager of his New York cabaret career.

“Bird Dog,” Oil

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“Maria,” Oil

Jeanette Dick: 2015-2018 Jeanette Dick ascended to the presidency of the CLWAC in 2015 after serving as Awards Chair for six years. As president she initiated a complete analysis of the Club’s finances and investments, streamlining all the processes. She founded the Gordon Coe Dick Memorial Award given each year at the Annual Open Exhibition to a deserving pastel artist. Also, she planned and chaired a special exhibit for Members and Associates at the historical Deepwells Mansion in Smithtown, Long Island.

Jeanette grew up on Long Island, studied Art Education at Queens College and earned her master’s degree in liberal studies at Stony Brook University. She taught art in several public schools in Nassau and Suffolk County spending her last ten years teaching at Scraggy Hill School in Port Jefferson, coordinating an Artist in Residence program that was well received. After her retirement she was able to make a deeper commitment to her own art expression taking workshops with Christian White and Diana DeSantis.

Jeanette Dick She has focused on the figure and the landscape. Using pastels and oils as her primary media she has developed a style uniquely her own, composition, color, and design are her primary focus. Her work with the figure has a mystical poetic quality, her landscapes of the Long Island shoreline with a rich buttery texture are depicted from unusual angles.

She was also an active participant in the Setauket Artists, a group of forty local artists who show their work at the Setauket Neighborhood House and other venues several times a year. She was selected as their Honored Artist in 2012. She was elected to membership in the Connecticut Pastel Society and as an Associate in the American Pastel Society. She exhibited in many juried shows, galleries and museums in New York City, Connecticut, and on Long Island, winning many awards.

We lost Jan in January, 2022. She was the personification of elegance and grace. Her dedication to CLWAC was unflagging.

She is sorely missed.

“Untitled,” Pastel

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JoAnn Bishop: 2018-2020 For many years JoAnn Bishop, long time Member of CLWAC was the go-to person for the Club’s board to reach the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She worked at the Museum and was an able intermediary when the Club needed attendance buttons, gift certificates, and other services. She lived up-town in New York City and volunteered to assist at all the Club events. She always made herself available. As president of the Club, she was a no nonsense, take charge executive. The board meetings were brief and to the point. She has been able to computerize many of the Club’s functions even running inter-active board meetings during the pandemic. When the Members’ Exhibition had to be cancelled, she immediately planned the exhibit on-line keeping with the Club’s mission of publicizing women artists.

JoAnn inherited her art talent from her dad, choosing to attend the High School of Art and Design in New York City near her home where she studied painting and illustration. Later at Hunter College, she entered a work study program majoring in business and minoring JoAnn Bishop in art...her first love. After receiving her degree, she entered the Art Students League where she studied under Richard Pionk, Oldrich Teply and Greg Kreutz. At the League, in lieu of tuition, she served as a monitor where she would set up a still life, pose a model and assist the instructor. After mastering the basics, she realized it was time to work independently and to find her own means of expression.

In addition to CLWAC exhibits she has shown her work at the Covello Senior Center and the University Settlement House. Several of her paintings shown in the CLWAC’s Annual Open Exhibitions depicted scenes from small spaces at the Met where the people shown in these small acrylic paintings and the subdued lighting create an intimate mood. More recent work in mixed media collage show a female figure with a patterned background in themes that lend the work meaning, whimsy and mystery. JoAnn has won many awards in her different styles, yet she still remains the student experimenting with different forms of expression including digital photo images.

“Bar Talk” “Queen of Soul”

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Karene Infranco: 2020 Karene took over CLWAC presidency in June of 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unable to meet or exhibit in person, she took advantage of online opportunities. The Board continued its operations via Zoom, and she introduced the first Associates and Non-Member online show in 2020. To keep our Membership engaged, she also implemented online educational programs with Metropolitan Museum of Art curators.

CLWAC infrastructure needed updating, and Karene endeavored to update the bylaws, the website, our accounting system and introduced a new member management platform to streamline operations. Membership grew almost 20% in the two years she has been president.

Karene is an artist working in pastel, oil, and printmaking. She earned a BS in Biology and Chemistry from the State University Karene Infranco of NY at Albany in 1985. After owning a healthcare communications compay for over a decade, Karene returned to her passion — art. Her art education includes coursework at the prestigious Brooklyn Museum Art School, the New School at Parsons, the School of the Museum of Fine Art Boston, the Yard School of Art in Montclair NJ, Visual Art Center in Summit NJ, the Pastel Society of America, and the School of Visual Art in New York.

Karene is a juried artist member of the Salmagundi Club, a Signature Member and a member of Board of Governors of the Pastel Society of America, an Elected Artist Member of Audubon Artists and the American Artists Professional League, and Signature Member of the Pastel Society of the West Coast. She has been a docent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art since 2015, working with children grades 4-12.

Her work is in private collections in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey and has been exhibited at the National Arts Club, the Salmagundi Art Club in New York, and the Haggin Museum in California.

“Along New Road,” Pastel

“Glimmer of Hope,” Pastel

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Honored Members For many years the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club has chosen to recognize one of its Artist Members as an Honored Member, featuring several of her works in the Annual Open Exhibition and devoting space to her in the Catalog. All have made outstanding contributions to the Club, through their years of dedicated work for CLWAC, through their professional achievements, or both. It is a list of exceptionally talented women.

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Virginia Abbott - 2000 Carole Doerr Allen - 2021 Catherine Turk Ballantyne - 1989 Dorothy Barberis - 1996 Beverly Bender - 1997 Naomi Campbell - 2016 Cecilia Cardman - 1987 (President) Leona Carpenter - 1986 Dorothy Dallas - 1999 (President) Francine DeBevoise - 2001 Gabriela Dellosso - 2011 Sybil D’Orsi - 1993 (President) Charlotte Dunwiddie - 1998 (President) Mary Lou Ferbert - 1998 Gaile Snow Gibbs - 2008 (President) Lucille C. Hampton - 1994 Priscilla Heep-Coll - 2015 Inge Jannen Heus - 2002 Jeanette H. Koumjian - 2014 Nora Kramer - 1984 Jean T. Kroeber - 2003 (President) Elaine Lavalle - 2006 Jinx Lindenauer - 2019 Eleanor Gay Lee - 1992 (President) Mary Maran - 2010 Jane McGraw-Teubner - 2020 Eleanor Tyndall Meier - 2004 (President) Carey Boone Nelson - 1985 (President, Honorary Member) Marilyn Newmark - 1991 Lucille Berrill Paulsen - 2007 (President) Adrienne Potter - 1990 Ruth Rieber - 2005 Claudia Seymour - 2013 Gloria Spevacek - 2012 Lucille T. Stillman - 1995 Amy Bright Unfried - 2009 (President) Joyce Zeller - 2018 (President)

Other Outstanding Members It is not possible here to give all of them the space they deserve. Some have been presented earlier in this book in the sections on Presidents and Honorary Members. But attention must be given to a few others.

Dorothy Barberis: Honored Member 1996 Dorothy helped the Club in countless ways for over 25 years as a Member. She not only served as Historian, Dues Chair, and Painting Chair (twice), but was always willing to take on extra jobs and assist where help was needed. One of her strongest influences was her lively and constant urging that CLWAC move beyond largely traditional forms and be more accepting of newer concepts. Studying with Milford Zornes, Carl Molno, and Edgar Whitney, she was an original watercolorist, with her pictures often revealing her great sense of humor.

In the last years of her life she gamely undertook the initial planning for the Centennial Traveling Exhibition, an effort that demonstrated Dorothy’s energetic and enthusiastic support of CLWAC. “Toast to Botero,” Watercolor

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Naomi Campbell: Honored Member 2016 Naomi is an international interdisciplinary artist with outstanding work in a wide spectrum of studio and new-media art. In her two years as CLWAC’s Vice President for Painting, she was able to draw on her remarkable range of contacts in the art world.

Known primarily for her work that questions the identity of the individual in today’s ever increasing global culture, she communicates universal ideas about loss, meaning, and memory.

Naomi Campbell

Naomi (born in Montreal, Canada) is a graduate of CEGEP de Champlain, Quebec, studied at the University of Guelph, Ontario, and at the School of Visual Arts and the New School in New York City.

Naomi completed her studies in painting and printmaking at the Art Students League, New York. She now lives in New York City.

Photo by Nino Celano

Permanent public collections featuring Naomi’s work include: the City of New York MTA Arts for Transit; the New York Public Library; the Art Students League; The New York State Museum, Albany; the Trenton City Museum, New Jersey; the City of Irving, Texas, and the Geochang Sculpture Park, South Korea. Her many commissions include work for the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, New York City and Florida; Maimonides Hospital, New York City; Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications Pan-Americas, New York City Head Office, and London International Advertising, New York and London. In addition, Naomi’s work has been included in many national and international exhibitions in museums and galleries, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art in Japan.

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She is a Signature Member of the National Watercolor Society, the Transparent Watercolor Society of America, the Pastel Society of America, and the American Society of Portrait Artists. She has garnered four medals of honor in national juried exhibitions and is an Elected Member of Audubon Artists of America, Allied Artists of America, Salmagundi Club, as well as CLWAC. Naomi has been invited to judge exhibitions in New York and across the United States, has lectured at many prominent art organizations and colleges, and since 2007 has been an Instructor of Fine Arts at the Art Students League. She has contributed articles to art journals and has been interviewed on television. Her work has appeared in many publications, such as the New York Times, the Daily News, Newsday, the Washington Post, Yomuri Shimbun, fine arts magazines, and over a dozen book publications. These include: Along the Way MTA Arts for Transit, Pure Color the Best of Pastel, Stroke of Genius II, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Art, Who’s Who of American Women, Stroke of Genius, 100 Ways To Paint Your Favorite Subjects, Artistic Touch 4, and 100 Mid-Atlantic Artists.

Francine DeBevoise: Honored Member 2001 Since 1992, “Franke” proved an invaluable resource as CLWAC’s Historian, not only collecting quantities of material for the archives, but demonstrating a remarkable ability to delve into all those files and provide timely and helpful answers to frequent requests for information on the Club’s origins and history. Not only members, but many interested researchers outside CLWAC have benefitted from her help and knowledge.

Franke DeBevoise

Franke was an acclaimed portrait artist whose paintings draw attention to the personality and interests of the sitter, with backgrounds appropriate to the works. In addition to many commissioned portraits of distinguished judges and the President of Hartwick College, her alma mater, she became inspired to paint \and record the culture of Native Americans encountered at numerous powwows she attended with her late husband, Ken. Her solo exhibits included one in 2000 at Georgian Court College in Lakewood, New Jersey, featuring twenty-nine Native American paintings as well as ten other portraits.

At the Art Students League, Franke studied with E. Raymond Kinstler and William Draper. She was a member of the American Artists Professional League, Hunterdon Museum of Art, and a Life Member of the Art Students League. A winner of many awards, her work can be found in the permanent collections of the Robert Wood Johnson Museum of Frontier Medicine, San Angelo, Texas; numerous government buildings; colleges, and many private collections.

“Reesa,” Oil, 28” x 36”

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Gabriela Dellosso: Honored Member 2011 CLWAC was fortunate to have Gabriela as its Vice President for Painting from 2003 to 2005. Recognized as a most notable and compelling younger realist artist, she brought a high level of professional commitment to the exhibitions she oversaw, as well as demonstrating warm support for the Club.

Gabriela Dellosso

Gabriela is a native New Yorker, growing up in Astoria, Queens.

Her family tree includes both painters and poets. She was exposed to art at an early age with weekly trips to The Metropolitan Museum under the tutelage of her father. In middle school she received an award from Pepsi Cola for being an outstanding art student. She earned her BFA from the School of Visual Arts, after studying psychology at New York University.

Further study at the Art Students League included instruction from Richard Pionk, Gregg Kreutz, and Harvey Dinnerstein. She also studied at the National Academy School of Fine Art, where she currently teaches.

Work as an illustrator for several years enabled her to hone her skills.

Gabriela’s painting often focuses on strong and vital women in many guises, sometimes using herself or her mother as models, sometimes evoking historical references, paying homage to earlier artists who have paved the way. In other works she draws on well-known genre paintings, giving them a whimsical turn.

In the last decade Gabriela has garnered twenty-five major awards, including the Medal of Honor from CLWAC. Her first one-woman exhibition took place in 2006 at The Butler Institute of American Art, in Youngstown, Ohio. Her paintings have been shown widely in other prestigious museums and juried shows: the Allentown Art Museum, PA; Trenton City Museum, NJ; Katonah Museum of Art, NY; Pastel Society; Allied Artists of America; Art Students League of New York, and many others. Gabriela is represented by the Eleanor Ettinger Gallery in New York City, where she had a solo exhibition in 2008. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Butler Institute of American Art, OH; the New Britain Museum of American Art, CT; the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, NJ; the Salmagundi Club, NYC; and the Springfield Art Museum, MO. Art publications continue to feature her work individually or with other notable artists. Fine Art Connoisseur, Artists Magazine, Pastel Journal, and Spectrum all recognize her stature.

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Mary Lou Ferbert: Honored Member 1998 Mary Lou has been a loyal supporter of CLWAC and is a watercolorist of great distinction. Coming from a scientific background with a BA in Chemistry and two years of medical school at Drake University, and after working with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s Environmental Information Service for twenty years, she brings an acute eye to her painting. The juxtaposition of the natural and the manmade fascinates her. She has frequently painted wildflowers flourishing in industrial landscapes, representing an indomitable spirit of life.

She studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art, where she became an instructor in 1989. Her work is widely appreciated and, as the Curator of The Butler Institute of American Art stated: “Mary Lou Ferbert’s great gift...is the ability to enunciate a language of her own creation, expertly accomplished, that is not only of the highest aesthetic order, but is also understandable to her viewers.”

“Sunflower and Hooper Cars”

Molly Guion (1912-1982) Molly was a noted portrait painter. In a forward to the catalog for her 1971 exhibition at the Grand Central Art Galleries, Ernest Watson, the founder and Editor of American Artist Magazine, said: “There are some excellent portrait painters in America, but I suppose the really distinguished of these can be counted upon the fingers of one hand. I count Miss Guion among this group.”

Born in New Rochelle, New York, Molly studied at the Grand Central Art School under Arthur Woelfle, life drawing at the Art Students League under George Bridgeman, and portraiture under Dimitry Romanovsky and Gregory Gluckman. While living in England she completed a series of twenty-five portraits of the Queen’s Guards, Earls, Knights of the Garter, and other notables, for which the Queen Mother requested a private viewing at Buckingham Palace. Guion’s portrait of Queen Elizabeth II is in the Mess Hall of the British Navy in Portsmouth, England.

Molly was represented by Grand Central Galleries and the Kennedy Galleries, and her work is in many collections in this country and abroad. She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Art (London), as well as a Member ofthe American Artists Professional League, Allied Artists of America, and many other professional art groups.

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Lucille Charlotte Hampton: Honored Member 1994

“Sidewinder,” Bronze

Lucille stands out especially as the sculptor who conceived the Creative Hands Award and provided the Club with the exquisite sculpture that is given each year to a Member or supporter of the Club who has contributed quietly, behind the scenes in invaluable ways. Lucille herself served the Club as Treasurer for many years.

CLWAC was the first art organization to accept her work. It gave her encouragement to pursue her art, leading to wide recognition and a successful career. She early gained representation in the Kennedy Galleries and Grand Central Galleries, followed by many others. She received numerous commissions, continuing into her eighties, and her work is in the Nelson Rockefeller Collection. Although her sculpture is for the most part in the Western style, influenced by Remington, she was also commissioned to sculpt a Human Rights Medal for Pope John Paul.

Inge Jannen Heus: Honored Member 2002 Inge’s dedication to CLWAC spans so many years and involves so many aspects that it is almost impossible to convey all she has contributed, with her warm engagement and willingness to take on any task. She served five years as Catalog Chair and an unprecedented number of years as Treasurer. But her deep concern for the Club has been reflected in everything she has done, and in her storehouse of knowledge about the organization and its history.

Her belief in the purpose and goals of CLWAC has led to her gracious but unflinching insistence that it adhere to its standards and carefully think through its objectives, thwarting many a potentially disastrous move.

“Great Hall, Grand Central Station,” Watercolor

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Inge studied watercolor with Mario Cooper at the Art Students League and took workshops with many great teachers, such as Edgar Whitney, Carl Molno, Daniel Greene, and Richard Pionk. Her watercolor still lifes and landscapes, many of New York City, particularly Central Park and Grand Central Station, have won numerous awards.

Greta Kempton (1903-1991) A native of Vienna, Greta received her early art instruction there and then traveled extensively and painted in Italy, France, and England.

Upon coming to the United States, she studied with Stanley Dickinson at the National Academy of Art, and with George Bridgeman, at the Art Students League. Primarily a portraitist, she also painted landscape and genre subjects. Her work was shown at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, in Washington, D. C., and she was elected to the Royal Society of Arts, London, England.

In 1948 Kempton was asked to paint the official portrait of President Harry S. Truman, to hang in the White House, and she subsequently (in 1970) completed a second version, now in the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. Greta Kempton’s portrait of Harry S.Truman

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Elaine Lavalle: Honored Member 2006 Elaine was elected an Artist Member of CLWAC in 1981 and to the Board in 1996. She served for three years as Vice Prsident for Sculpture, for five years as First Vice President, and for several years maintained the membership records. She remains an invaluable resource for the Club.

Elaine Lavalle

Growing up the daughter of a highly respected portraitist and watercolorist, John Lavalle, she received an early introduction to painting, not only on Saturdays at her father’s studio, but also at the Art Students League, studying anatomy with Robert Beverly Hale.

Many years later, while helping her fifth-grade son with a clay project for school and borrowing a piece of clay, she created a perfect small portrait of her daughter. That discovery led her back to the Art Students League to study sculpture with John Hovannes and to the SculptureCenter to work with Frank Eliscu.

Having learned stone and slate carving, how to work in wax, to make molds of her pieces, and then to cast them in bronze in the small foundry she helped restore at the SculptureCenter, Elaine was asked to teach these techniques when Eliscu moved to Florida. She also assisted in the SculptureCenter Gallery and served on the Board of Trustees for fifteen years.

Feeling the need for a college degree, Elaine graduated magna cum laude from Fordham University, Lincoln Center, in 1986 with a degree in Art History. She followed that with graduate studies at New York University’s Fine Arts Institute.

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Elaine has had several solo exhibitions and participated in juried and invitational shows in New York City, on Long Island, and in Rhode Island, at such venues as the National Academy of Design, Parrish Art Museum, and the SculptureCenter Gallery, receiving awards from Allied Artists of America and the Parrish. From CLWAC she received the Anna Hyatt Huntington Horse’s Head Award for Best Sculpture and was proud to be named an Honored Member. She is represented in over 50 corporate and private collections, including those of Gloria Vanderbilt; Deborah Hearst, New York; Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, New York; Nelia Cates, Cultural Attache of the Dominican Republic; Southampton Hospital; and James M. Nederlander, New York.

Elaine Lavalle’s “Garden God” Bonded Bronze, 11 1/2” x 16” Relief Planter

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CLWAC Honorary Members These are outstanding professional artists who were invited to be Honorary Members of the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club.

Most of them had already exhibited with the Club, some had worked for CLWAC for many years, and all continued to participate in the exhibitions as Honorary Members.

Sally Swan Carr and Carey Boone Nelson These two women were each President of CLWAC before being named Honorary Members. Their biographies are in the section on Presidents, page 39 and page 41.

Florence Julia Bach, 1887-1978 Florence Julia Bach was a native of Buffalo, New York, where she began her studies at the Albright Art Gallery. She later studied with William Merritt Chase and Frank Vincent DuMond at the Art Students League in New York City. After traveling to France and working with sculptor Louis Lejeune, she returned to Buffalo, where she was active for many years. She was twice the President of the Buffalo Society of Artists and was associated with the Albright Art Gallery and the Buffalo School of Fine Arts.

Bach was both a painter and a sculptor. Her widely exhibited work received many awards. In New York she was an active member of the Grand Central Galleries, having a solo exhibition there. In addition, she was a Member of the National Association of Women Artists, as well as CLWAC. Florence Julia Bach

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Elizabeth Gordon Chandler, 1913-2006 Elizabeth Gordon Chandler was an internationally known sculptor in bronze. She founded the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts, in Connecticut, where together with her sculptor husband, Laci de Gerenday, and a professional staff she continued to teach into her eighties. Born in St. Louis, she was educated in New York, studying sculpture with Edmondo Quattrocchi and anatomy with Robert Beverly Hale at the Art Students League.

Her work included sculptures of many well-known Americans: Chief Justices Charles Evans Hughes and Harlan Fisk Stone, at the Columbia University Law School; Adlai Stevenson, at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton; the first Chief Justice, John Jay, at the Pace University School of Law, among many others. A life-size bronze relief of “St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Patroness of Immigrants,” is in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York City. Chandler was a National Academician, as well as a Fellow of the National Sculpture Society, and a member of many other art organizations. She was the recipient of numerous awards.

From her early years as a sculptor Elizabeth greatly admired Anna Hyatt Huntington and kept in close touch with her. They probably shared the standard for the creation of art based on nature that Elizabeth expressed in a 1995 letter of support to CLWAC: “This will be an art form that communicate[s] the inner thoughts and feelings of the artist to the viewer –- not one that relies on the viewer’s imagination for understanding.”

In addition to her sculptural accomplishments, Elizabeth was a concert harpist. For her many years of commitment to her community, the Town of Old Lyme, named her Citizen of the Year in 1985.

Elizabeth Gordon Chandler

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Madame Chiang Kai-shek, 1897-2003 Madame Chiang Kai-shek was known around the world as the wife of China’s Nationalist leader, Chiang Kai-shek. But she was an extraordinary woman in her own right and a well-known and accomplished watercolorist. Born in Shanghai into the established Soong banking family, Mai-Ling Soong was educated at Wellesley College. There she was in the class with Sara Metzner Boal, a future President of CLWAC. They became good friends, and Sara renewed their connection after 1949, meeting with Madame Chiang on Taiwan. It was through this personal association that CLWAC recognized her artistic achievements and invited her to become an Honorary Member. Later, Sara arranged for Carey Boone Nelson to meet with Madame Chiang when the Nelsons were traveling in the Far East in 1969. Madame Chiang was eager to learn from Carey more about CLWAC, and that meeting in Taipei led to a 35-year friendship.

Over the 30 years that Madame Chiang exhibited a new painting in each Annual Open Exhibition, Carey arranged for the painting’s delivery, and each year Madame Chiang made a special effort to come to the National Arts Club to view the Exhibition at a time when there were not crowds and she could spend time to view all the works, stop, and appraise many of them, including the sculptures in the lower galleries.

Madame Chiang Kai-shek

She was honored in the catalog for the 76th Annual Open Exhibition, in 1972, where it was noted: “The beautiful landscape on display was painted for this exhibit; the delicacy and charm of her watercolor handling are the unique qualities which make her an outstanding master of this medium.”

Mr. Chen Che, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Carey Boone Nelson and Aldon James at the 1996 CLWAC Centennial Exhibition

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Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, 1880-1980 Born in Philadelphia, Harriet Whitney Frishmuth received her early education there, but by the age of nineteen she was in Paris studying with Rodin, as well as Gauquier and Injalbert. She first exhibited in Paris at the 1903 Salon. And from 1902 to 1904 she was an assistant to Professor Cuno von Euchtritz in Berlin. After returning to America, she studied with Gutzon Borglum at the Art Students League, where she won the St. Gaudens Prize.

Harriet very early became known for her lyrical figures, the form she maintained throughout her long career. In tapes she made for Syracuse University in 1964 she remarked: “Eccentricity and caprice are no substitute for style and mastery in modeling. Beauty is everywhere in this world.” Her early recognition led to many medals and honors too numerous to list here, but her work is represented in museums throughout the country. Her sculpture, “The Vine,” exhibited at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York, is now at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, along with the “Slavic Dancer.”

Other museums featuring her work include: the Museum of Fine Arts, Dayton; the John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis, and the Museum of Art, Dallas. In addition, she is represented in Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina. In 1984 Syracuse University asked for all of her plaster casts, drawings, and memorabilia for its archives on American art.

She was a National Academician, a Fellow of the National Sculpture Society, a Life Member of the National Arts Club, and a member of the Architectural League.

The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, for whose values and standards Harriet expressed proud support, honored her on several occasions.

The Club’s exhibition at Lever House in 1966 displayed seven of her sculptures, with the catalog dedicated to her. In 1975, at the time of her 95th birthday, CLWAC again honored her, at the 79th Annual Open Exhibition, where several of her works were shown and she was featured in the catalog. She continues to be remembered every year with the presentation of two sculpture awards carrying her name.

Harriet Whitney Frishmuth

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Katherine Thayer Hobson, 1889-1982 Born in Denver, Colorado, Katherine began studying painting at age nine but soon turned to sculpture, producing her first piece when she was sixteen. However, she did not initially embark on a career in art, instead traveling to Germany to study law at universities in Leipzig, Konigsberg, and Goettingen. Despite these formal studies, she found herself drawn to sculpture and abandoned law in its favor. Married to a university professor, she lived in the intellectual community in Goettingen until events in Germany in the 1930s made it advisable for her to return to America. Divorced, she remarried briefly but soon recognized that her creative spirit thrived when she was free, and she devoted the rest of her life to sculpture and to poetry.

Katherine’s work was exhibited in shows ranging from Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg, and Paris to New York. Major sculptures were installed in Goettingen, Dresden, and Paris; an eight-foot war memorial is at St. James Episcopal Church in New York. She received numerous awards and participated in many art organizations, including the National Arts Club, American Artists Professional League, Pen and Brush, American Artists Society, and Allied Artists of America, serving on the boards of many of these groups. Some of her poetry was published, and she was a member of the Poetry Society and the American Catholic Poetry Society.

Katherine Thayer Hobson

CLWAC honored her in 1981 at the 85th Annual Open Exhibition, when at the age of 92 she had four pieces of sculpture on view and was pleased to be able to attend both the Reception and the Dinner.

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Malvina Hoffman, 1885-1966

A native of New York City, Malvina Hoffman began her art studies with painting, but soon discovered that sculpture was her true inspiration and turned to George Gray Barnard and Gutzon Borglum for instruction. By 1910 she was in Paris, working in Rodin’s studio. In her autobiography, Head and Tales, she describes how she persuaded Rodin to accept her and how the Yugoslavian sculptor Ivan Mestrovic urged her to become a better technician than men. Following his advice she learned how to rebuild tools, bend iron, saw wood, and work with plumbing pipes. On many visits to foundries she observed how to chase and finish bronzes.

Malvina Hoffman

The commission that contributed most to her reputation was a five-year project for the Field Museum in Chicago for which she was asked to sculpt more than 100 pieces for the Races of Man Exhibition. This necessitated traveling around the globe, studying as many native people as she could manage. The project was completed in time to be a significant feature at the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago.

Hoffman won numerous medals, including the National Sculpture Society’s Gold Medal. She was a National Academician and Chevalier of the Legion of Honor (France). Her work is in many museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, the Imperial War Museum (London), and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Paris). In addition to her autobiography, Hoffman wrote two other books: Sculpture Inside Out, and Yesterday Is Tomorrow.

Malvina Hoffman participated in CLWAC exhibitions for many years and in 1966 was specially honored at the Club’s Members’ Show at the New York Bank for Savings.

“God’s Gift to Women,” Bronze

Courtesy the Chicago Field Museum

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Anna Hyatt Huntington, 1876-1973 Anna Hyatt Huntington was perhaps the most well-known woman artist in America for many years before she became actively involved with the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club. Her fame spread to many countries, including France, Spain, and Italy, with her work represented in more than 200 museums. Her sculpture “Winter,” of two work horses, created in 1903, is included in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. She received too many honors to list them all. But she was the first woman sculptor to be admitted to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, from which she received the Gold Medal. The Pennsylvania Academy also awarded her the Gold Medal. From the National Sculpture Society she received both the President’s Medal and the Medal of Honor. France honored her with the Palmes Academics and Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she spent much of her childhood on the family’s farm in Annisquam, where she developed an early love for and understanding of animals. Her first sculpture, of a Great Dane done at the age of thirteen, was exhibited in the CLWAC Annual Exhibition in 1966. The catalog that year was dedicated to her in honor of her 90th birthday. While still a teenager she created many animal sculptures which she exhibited and sold in various Boston locations, having her first one-person show in 1902 at the Boston Art Club. Moving to New York, she studied at the Art Students League and privately with Gutzon Borglum and H. A. McNeil. A few years later, her reputation already growing and finding herself financially independent, she moved to Paris where, surrounded by the artistic stimulus of that city, she created single-handedly her first heroic sculpture, “Joan of Arc,” mounted on her horse. The life-size plaster cast she entered in the Salon in 1910 won Honorable Mention, a remarkable achievement for a woman and a foreigner. By the time she returned to America her reputation was well established. A bronze casting of the “Joan of Arc” was installed in 1915 at Riverside Drive and 93rd Street, where it stands today.

It was through her art that she met Archer Huntington, a wealthy philanthropist and patron of the arts with a particular interest in Spanish culture, who commissioned her to create a medal for the Hispanic Society of the Americas, an institution he had founded, at Audubon Terrace in New York City. When in 1923 he first asked her to marry him, she was reluctant to give up the independent career she had enjoyed for nearly 25 years. But he proved supportive of her work, and she of his many endeavors in encouraging the arts and women in the arts. She sculpted several monumental works for the Hispanic Society to which Archer had contributed so much, and together they created Brookgreen Gardens for American Sculpture in South Carolina.

Anna Hyatt Huntington

Mrs. Huntington on the occasion of her 90th birthday

Mrs. Huntington holding CLWAC Horse’s Head Award with Sally Swan Carr

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Anna suffered some episodes of tuberculosis and, in searching for good treatments and a suitable climate, the Huntingtons settled for a while in South Carolina. Archer thought of creating a garden to exhibit Anna’s sculpture on the large plantation site he had purchased. But together they turned the property into a marvelous landscape in which to install work by many other contemporary American sculptors, the nation’s first sculpture garden, now comprising more than 500 pieces.

“Joan of Arc,” installed in 1915 on Riverside Drive at 93rd Street, in New York City

In the 1940s they moved to Bethel, Connecticut, where they remained for the rest of their lives, Archer dying in 1955 and Anna in 1973. There she had a large studio, creating innumerable sculptures, 72 of them after Archer died. Many were large equestrian monuments, the last of these, “General Israel Putnam,” showing the Revolutionary War General riding his horse down a flight of steps.

She completed it when she was 91. One of the exceptional facets of Anna’s work is the extent to which she insisted on keeping a hands-on connection with all her pieces, from the initial clay maquettes to the armatures she constructed herself on through many subsequent stages of enlargements, making adjustments in clay on every new model. This intimate involvement with the entire process no doubt underlies the living quality of her sculpture.

The earliest record of Anna Hyatt Huntington exhibiting with CLWAC is the Annual Open in 1954, the first at the National Arts Club. But from the time she was invited to become an Honorary Member in the early 1960s she gave generously and warmly to the Club, creating the Horse’s Head Award to be presented at the annual Members’ Shows, and made available a number of small works to be cast and sold at CLWAC exhibitions, the proceeds to be used to fund awards. These awards are still given in her name, along with the Medal created by Sally Swan Carr in her honor. The 1973 CLWAC catalog was dedicated to her. Those who were fortunate to know her remembered her, in Sally Swan Carr’s words, as having a “...beautiful spirit and a wonderful sense of humor....Her spirit will live in our hearts and in her work to inspire future generations.”

“Don Quixote,” situated on the plaza of the Hispanic Society in New York City

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Diana Kan, 1926-2010 Diana Kan had a distinguished career for many years.

Her book, The How and Why of Chinese Painting, has become a standard fixture in college art courses, and she conducted workshops in various parts of the country. In 2005 she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Medal of Honor by the National Arts Club.

Born in Hong Kong, she studied calligraphy with her father, Kan Kam Shek, and painting with Chang Dai-Chien. She later worked with Robert Ward Johnson and Robert Beverly Hale at the Art Students League in New York, and with Paul Lavelle at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Her work won acclaim throughout the world, earning her many awards and solo exhibitions. Her paintings are in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, the Elliott Museum in Stuart, Florida, and the National Historical Museum in Taiwan.

Diana was an Associate Member of the National Academy of Design and an active member of many art organizations, including the American Watercolor Society, Allied Artists of America, Audubon Artists, and the National Arts Club, and was a Life Member of the Art Students League.

Diana Kan

“September Song,” Watercolor, 1998 Courtesy of The Salmagundi Club

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Ethel Paxon, 1885-1982 Ethel Paxon was one of America’s earliest recognized Impressionist landscape painters. Over a long creative life which continued until two years before her death at age 97, she completed 2,000 works.

Her early studies were at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts with William Merritt Chase, Cecilia Beaux, and Henry Rankin Poor. A four-year visit to Brazil with her husband, beginning in 1916, led to the creation of a remarkable series of landscapes, some considered to be the first impressionistic views of Rio de Janeiro.

These works were featured in a traveling exhibition that started in New York and ended in Brasilia.

Ethel Paxon

After returning to the United States, Ethel resumed an active life teaching as well as painting. For many years she taught in Vermont, Connecticut, Long Island, and in New York City’s Central Park under Mayor LaGuardia’s “Vacation at Home” program. She was also a frequent and popular lecturer at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Frick Collection, and the Museum of Modern Art. Her work is represented in The Metropolitan and many other museums.

Ethel was active with CLWAC, serving on the Board, and was made an Honorary Member in 1974.

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Brenda Putnam, 1890-1975 Brenda Putnam came from Minnesota, began her art studies at the age of fifteen at the Boston Museum Art School, then moved to New York two years later to study at the Art Students League. After her father was named Librarian at the Library of Congress, she undertook study at the Corcoran Art School. From the time she first exhibited her work in 1910 she had a successful career, establishing a studio in Greenwich Village. She became a close friend of Anna Hyatt Huntington and was one of the few guests at Anna’s wedding. Her early work was largely in the Renaissance tradition, creating fountains and sundials. Despite winning a number of prizes she became dissatisfied with this style. After spending some time in Florence, Italy, she returned to America, where she encountered the work of Archipenko and found it impressive. Though not moved to adopt Cubism, she was stimulated to develop more simplified forms while continuing to work in the classical mold.

Brenda Putnam

This transition proved successful. In 1936 she was elected to full membership in the National Academy of Design, where she won the Watrous Gold Medal. She also became a Member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the National Sculpture Society, the National Association of Women Artists, and the National Arts Club.

After many years of teaching and dedication to encouraging young women sculptors, in 1939 she published her book, The Sculptor’s Way, on the techniques of sculpture.

Brenda was awarded many medals and prizes and her work is in a number of museums, among them: the Museum at the Hispanic Society of the Americas, New York; The Folger Library, Washington, D. C.; the Dallas Museum; Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina, and the American Hall of Fame, New York. Her sculpture, “A Memorial to the Women of Virginia,” is in Lynchburg. The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club honored her at its 76th Annual Open Exhibition in 1972, and the catalog was dedicated to her memory in 1976.

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Priscilla Roberts, 1916 -2001 Priscilla Roberts grew up in New York City, where she had moved with her family at an early age from New Jersey. Her mother was a talented amateur painter whose only form of instruction was to allow her daughter to “play with her brushes.” Priscilla developed an early love of art that she carried through life. She wrote in a 1995 letter to CLWAC that though she worked hard for many, many years at her painting, she never regarded it as work –- she always loved it so. But she did not begin serious art studies until 1937, when she worked at the Art Students League with Charles Courtenay Curran, Sidney Dickinson, and Frank Vincent DuMond. Later she transferred to the National Academy, where she studied until 1943. She was elected a National Academician in 1957.

Priscilla Roberts

Painting in oil, she was a master of carefully worked still lifes, strongly influenced by Vermeer, as she acknowledged in a publication of the Grand Central Galleries at the time of a 1981 retrospective there entitled “Magic Realist.” When she saw Vermeer’s “Maid Servant Pouring Milk” at the 1940 World’s Fair in New York, she found his use of light a stunning revelation. It is a quality that appears constantly in her exquisitely wrought paintings.

Original self-portrait in the Smithsonian Institution

Although she lived a very secluded life, totally devoted to painting, she received wide recognition and many awards. Three of her paintings are in the permanent collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other works are in the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, The Butler Institute of American Art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and many private collections.

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Margery Ryerson, 1886-1989 Margery Ryerson was born in Morristown, New Jersey. Her father was a prominent lawyer and her mother a sculptor who had studied with Augustus St. Gaudens and who was one of the founders of the Art Students League. Margery graduated from Vassar in 1909 with a degree in mathematics. After continuing her studies at Columbia, she began a brief career teaching math, which enabled her to help support her mother after her father’s death. She and her mother spent many summers on Cape Cod, where Margery studied painting with Charles Hawthorne. He encouaged her to pursue studies at the Art Students League under Robert Henri.

This proved to be a major step in her life. Henri’s emphasis on painting spontaneously from life and his opposition to the narrowly academic inspired her, as it did many of his students. She became seriously engaged with his view of art and mode of teaching. After several years in his class, she helped him collect his papers and lecture notes and assisted him in editing these materials to form his book, The Spirit of Art, published in 1923. The book had a lasting influence.

Adopting Henri’s philosophy, she frequently painted strong portraits of working class men, women, and children. Over many years she found numerous subjects in the music classes of Lenox Hill Settlement, where she sometimes had the satisfaction of painting the children and grandchildren of the prior generation. In later years she also assisted Charles Hawthorne’s widow in organizing his papers for the book, Hawthorne on Painting, published in 1938.

Robert Henri class at The Art Students League, 1915 Margery Ryerson far right in second row

Versatile in many media, Margery worked in oil and watercolor and was elected a National Academician through her etchings. Later in life she was distinguished as a watercolorist and lithographer, winning innumerable awards and medals. Her work is in many museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, the Uffizi Gallery (Florence), and the Biblioteque Nationale (Paris). She was for a long time associated with the Grand Central Gallery in New York, which mounted a Centennial Exhibition of her work in 1986, and was a member of the National Arts Club, where she lived and had her studio for many years.

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Eleanor C. Segur, 1923-1998 Eleanor Segur, born in Toledo, Ohio, came to New York to study at Pratt Institute where she obtained a degree. For several years she had a successful career as an illustrator, draftsman, and designer. However, her interest in watercolor led her to join classes and tours with Edgar Whitney, Carl Molno, and Daniel Greene.

“Untitled,” Watercolor by Eleanor Segur

Painting was absorbing and satisfying, but Eleanor found added stimulus in teaching students with similar interests. Her classes were warmly received and quickly grew from an initial group of four to two hundred students when she taught at the New York Botanical Gardens, the Craft Students League (YWCA), and the National Art League. In addition, her frequent demonstrations and lectures at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Academy of Design were popular. In 1974 she published The Watercolor Workbook, a manual dedicated to her students “In grateful recognition of their loyalty and enthusiasm.”

It was twice reprinted.

Eleanor won over forty watercolor awards and was elected to membership in the National Arts Club, the National Art League, Hudson Valley Art Association, Island Art Guild, and other organizations. She was active in CLWAC, which made her an Honorary Member in 1989.

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Katharine Lane Weems, 1899-1989 Katharine Lane Weems was a renowned sculptor of animals.

A native of Boston, she began her art studies there at the Museum of Fine Arts and with Charles Grafly. In New York Anna Hyatt Huntington invited her to work in the studio she shared with Brenda Putnam, giving Weems the encouragement and support of two highly recognized professional women sculptors. She soon gained her own professional status, winning in 1926 the Bronze Medal at the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial and the Widner Gold Medal at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

In 1930 Katharine made a film, From Clay to Bronze, with Harvard University and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and in 1933 she created a series of carvings for the entrance to Harvard’s Institute of Biology. These relief panels, depicting 33 animals and showing the distribution of animals around the world, were carved directly into the brick with a pneumatic drill. She also sculpted two twelve-foot-long rhinoceroses to flank the doors. The Weems Gallery in the Museum of Science in Boston contains 40 of her small animal sculptures and a room of her brilliant graphics complementing her sculptures. In 1987 the Boston Museum established the Katharine Lane Weems Gallery in Decorative Arts.

In 1939 Katharine was elected to the National Academy and in 1966 was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Merit de France. Her memberships included the National Sculpture Society, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the Architectural League, and the American Artists Professional League.

Katharine Lane Weems

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Medal of Honor Members

1987-1999

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“Together,” Watercolor, 20” x 30” Medal of Honor 1987 for Watercolor

Barbara Scullin

“The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club has offered me the opportunity to present my works along with other professional artists in a national juried exhibition. Here, I met many other talented artists whom I have kept in touch with throughout the years, exchanging ideas and growing creatively. CLWAC is an organization that can offer women artists an opportunity to expand their knowledge of the art world by meeting other professional artists.”

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“View of the Rose Garden,” Oil, 24” x 36” , Medal of Honor 1990 for Oil/Acrylic

Katherine Bleser

“I am honored to be a Member of such an historical and nationally recognized group.

I am thrilled each time one of my paintings is shown at the beautiful National Arts Club in one of the CLWAC exhibits.”

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“Monument to Somebody’s Baby,” Oil, 20” x 24” Medal of Honor 1992 for Oil/Acrylic

May Rolstad Trien

“When I walked into the gallery at the National Arts Club in 1991, the first time I exhibited in the CLWAC Annual Open Exhibition, I was met by a group of highly supportive, friendly and dedicated women. After three years, I became a member, and my first impression of the club has never changed. I am very happy to be part of this organization, and it has been an important center in my life.”

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“Ironing Woman,” Oil, 14” x 11” Medal of Honor 1996 for Oil/Acrylic

Dolores D’Achille

“My membership in the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club has been an inspiration.

Seeing the work of such talented women spurs me on to paint as much as I can.

I’m grateful to these amazing artists and their dedication to their art.”

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“Hatti,” Bronze, 20 1/2”h x 7”w x 8 1/2”d Medal of Honor 1996 for Sculpture

Gwen Marcus

“Belonging to Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, with its long, prestigious history, has been an honor. The talent and quality of the exhibitions, plus the way the organization has been run, have been a true testament of the art club.”

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“Corner of the Garden,” Oil, 30” x 36” 1996 - Centennial Award for Painting

Theckla White Williams

“For my art career, the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club has given me a competitive forum, an education, exposure to a wide range of other artists and their work, and exposure to a much larger audience. For my personal art journey, CLWAC has given me a stronger foundation and belief in myself and my work. I shall always be thankful for CLWAC and the role it has played in my life.”

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“Blackwell Icehouse,” Gouache, 30” x 17” Medal of Honor 1997 for Pastel/Graphic/Mixed Media

Mary Maran

“A college professsor of mine said it was a great honor to be a member of the CLWAC, and indeed it is! I find it a privilege to be in the company of so many wonderful and talented women and grow from all they have to offer.”

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“Redhead in the Sun,” Oil, 24” x 18” Medal of Honor 1997 for Oil/Acrylic

Jada Rowland

“I don’t remember now how I first came upon the CLWAC, most probably someone told me there was a wonderful show on at the National Arts Club. I’m sure they would have been right as the CLWAC always mounts a superb exhibition. When I found out it was an organization created just for women, I was even more delighted. In the early years, after I had begun to paint professionally, I became aware that there was a subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) prejudice against female artists. Even today, as I have an odd name, on occasion when I appear carrying my already-accepted artwork into a gallery, I might be greeted with the dismayed comment, ‘Oh, you’re a woman!’

Fortunately, at the CLWAC, I am always greeted with the happy comment, ‘Oh, you’re a woman!’ ” 90

“French Lesson 4,” Bronze, 23 1/2”w x 4”h x 4”d Medal of Honor 1998 for Sculpture

Darlis Lamb

Also a Medal of Honor winner in 2005

“It has been an honor and a privilege to have been associated with the CLWAC for so many years. The club is illustrious for its altruism and support of women in the arts for 116 years, qualities we must continue to maintain. I have been repeatedly honored with the receipt of awards, all of which hang proudly in my studio.”

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“On the Promenade,” Oil, 21” x 22” Medal of Honor 1998 for Oil/Acrylic

Nina Maguire

“It is an honor to be a member of Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club.

For me it represents artistic excellence and diversity presented in a prestigious venue.

To be a part of its long commitment to the arts is exciting.”

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“Manhattan Bistro,” Watercolor, 29” x 21” Medal of Honor 1999 for Watercolor

Carolyn Latanision

“The very first national show I entered was the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club Annual Open Exhibition. Although I had painted all my life, I had not exhibited beyond greater Boston.

This acceptance was the springboard for all of my other national affiliations and awards.

My gratitude and loyalty to this organization have been foremost throughtout my professional painting career. The work of the women participating in the exhibits is always outstanding.

My husband looks forward to seeing the exhibit each year, finding it ‘better than any other exhibit.’ I think Catharine Lorillard Wolfe’s original blueprint for this organization is still achieving the result she hoped for after all the years gone by since that time.”

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“View of the Rose Garden,” Oil, 24” x 36” , Medal of Honor 1990 for Oil/Acrylic

Katherine Bleser

“I am honored to be a Member of such an historical and nationally recognized group.

I am thrilled each time one of my paintings is shown at the beautiful National Arts Club in one of the CLWAC exhibits.”

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Medal of Honor Members

2000-2021

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“Abstracted,” Hand-tinted hydrocal, Life-size Medal of Honor 2000 for Sculpture

Lee Hutt

“CLWAC accepted my work early on in my sculpting life and besides providing an elegant, intelligent forum in which to show my art...it helped give me the courage to stick with it. CLWAC made it possible to network with other artists...before email and before Facebook. I am grateful.”

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“Conversation XLIII,” Acrylic on paper, 24” x 24” Medal of Honor 2001 for Oil/Acrylic

Pat Cook

“On the occasion of CLWAC’s 100th anniversary, our local art center presented the traveling exhibition. I was installation chair and was impressed by the beauty of the fine works that were shown.

This and the historical significance of the club inspired me to pursue membership.

I was fortunate to receive the Medal of Honor and have cherished it dearly.”

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“Homage to Paul Klee,” Bronze, 14”h x 7”w x 5”d Medal of Honor 2001 for Sculpture

Janet Indick

“My experience with CLWAC has been a wonderful one.

While serving on the board of directors and as chair of Sculpture I met many talented members. I enjoyed working with them and socializng with them at luncheons and Christmas parties. It was through CLWAC I was privileged to meet in person the former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Philippe de Montebello.”

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“By the Water,” Monotype, 5 1/2” x 11 3/4” Medal of Honor 2002 for Pastel/Graphic/Mixed Media

Diane Tomash

“I am proud to be part of the legacy of the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club.

It is humbling to be among the company of such accomplished artists.

I enjoy the company of the wonderful friends I have made here over the years.”

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“The Swimmer,” Oil, 26” x 11” Medal of Honor 2003 for Oil/Acrylic Gabriela Dellosso

“The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club has been a part of my life for many years. It has been an honor to have served on its board, been awarded honors and exhibited with them annually.

This Club is a wonderful, important organization for American art.”

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“Eight Measures Away,” Bronze, 24 1/2”h x 15 1/2”w x 6 1/4”d Medal of Honor 2003 for Sculpture

Carol Harless

“To people outside the NYC area, working alone without an arts community, the CLWAC is a beacon of opportunity to show your work and strive for excellence.

The icing on the cake is the cachet of Miss Wolfe’s legacy and the charm of historic venues for exhibitions.”

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“Bateau - Before the Race,” Watercolor, 37” x 29 1/2” Medal of Honor 2003 for Watercolor

Anne Adams Robertson Massie

“I have always been so proud of being in an organization honoring the accomplishments of women and named for that most remarkable, pace-setting visionary, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe.”

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Now in the permanent collection of The Butler Institute of American Art

“The Matriarchs,” Pastel, 40” x 28” Medal of Honor 2003 for Pastel/Graphic/Mixed Media

Rhoda Yanow

“I have been a member of CLWAC for what seems like forever. There have been eleven presidents of the club since I joined. I can honestly say about CLWAC ‘You’ve come a long way, baby.’

Since earlier days of the club there has been an explosion of wonderful work shown in the Members’ and Annual Open exhibitions. I am so honored to continue my membership in this club for a long time to come.”

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“Winning Colors,” Pastel, 18” x 41” Medal of Honor 2004 for Pastel/Graphic/Mixed Media

Naomi Campbell

“The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club has always fostered a creative environment for women, nurturing its history and the role of women in art in North America. This vision began with its founder Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, the only woman among the founding members of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Acceptance of women in the field of art has only had a brief history.

This organization has seen these changes and grown with them. It is a powerful historic element in the history of a country of many changes, and its members are a wonderful and exceptional group as a result of all this.”

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“Poolside Patterns,” Watercolor 30” x 22” Medal of Honor 2004 for Watercolor

Linda Taffe

“I was so excited and delighted to win this prestigious award from this wonderful organization for women artists. I had attended the Annual dinner and seen the show at the National Arts Club before and was extremely impressed by the quality of work, the beautiful building and the opportunity to meet so many talented artists.

I couldn’t believe I had not only been awarded this honor but had also been elected to full membership. I couldn’t possibly miss the opportunity to come to New York and attend the dinner, see the show, visit with old friends and receive the award in person. It was a memorable evening.

If I still lived in the New York area I am sure I would volunteer and participate more in this wonderful organization which has provided opportunities to so many women artists. I regret I am not able to do so.”

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“Between the Trees,” Monotype, 17” x 23” Medal of Honor 2005 for Pastel/Graphic/Mixed Media

Cary Thorp Brown

“Belonging to CLWAC has been a wonderful experience for me. The support of women artists honoring a tradition of art-making together through lectures, exhibitions and camaraderie has always been a great inspiration for my work.”

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“It Must Be Monday,” Watercolor, 30” x 22” Medal of Honor 2006 for Watercolor

E. Jane Stoddard

“I feel it is a privilege to be a member of a prestigious art club dedicated to ‘women in the arts.’ I have been fortunate to be included in the exhibitions and even more fortunate to win awards. I belong to over 20 national watercolor societies and feel CLWAC remains at the ‘top of the list’.”

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“Cathedral in Milan,” Watercolor Medal of Honor 2007 for Watercolor

Marge Chavooshian

“The many years of exhibiting with Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club have given me an opportunity to meet and associate with a truly devoted group of dedicated artists for which I am eternally grateful.”

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“James,” Oil, 18” x 24” Medal of Honor 2007 for Oil/Acrylic

Betsy Kellum

“The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club has provided me, along with many other women artists, the opportunity to reach beyond our local areas and exhibit our work in the prestigious venue, the National Arts Club. It is an honor to be a member of this unique organization, whose long-standing mission has been to keep women’s art in the forefront through a variety of promotional activities.”

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“Dunes 5,” Pastel, 23” x 19” Medal of Honor 2007 for Pastel/Graphic/Mixed Media

Jane McGraw-Teubner

“It is a privilege and honor to be a member of an organization that has recognized and supported women in the arts for 116 years. The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club has enriched my artistic life in so many ways, through friendships and opportunities, and I am forever grateful.”

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“Ahmnoun,” Bronze, 15”h x 30”w x 9”d Medal of Honor 2007 for Sculpture

Madeleine Segall-Marx

Also a Medal of Honor winner for Sculpture in 1991

“I began raising my children and my career at about the same time. By my late 30s I realized I could not just reap the joys of creating something in my studio and feeling satisfied with that. The work needed to leave the studio and breathe another type of air. I found associations of artists were a wonderful way to begin the journey outward. CLWAC received me and my work with warmth and respect, traits I felt equally toward the very fine artists from this club who became my friends over the years.

When we have each other’s company, speaking of the artists and the artworks, we know what respect we merit and we have a great bonus in gaining the friendship of bright, talented and vibrant artists who form this sisterhood. Brava! - to those who took the lead of a great patron and formed this club.”

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“Guardians of the Marsh,” Oil, 9” x 6” Medal of Honor 2008 for Oil/Acrylic

Johanna McKenzie

“CLWAC provides its members an ongoing challenge to commit time, effort and enthusiasm to the process of creating art. The dedication with which CLWAC provides support for both The Metropolitan Museum of Art and aspiring artists is laudatory as well as unique among the all-volunteer organizations that I know!

The Annual Open Juried Exhibitions are always carefully and impartially juried for entry as well as for awards. It is a real honor to receive recognition from this organization”

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“Onions and Garlic,” Oil, 28” x 18” Medal of Honor 2009 for Oil/Acrylic

Holly Hope Banks

“The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club has set the standard and venue for showcasing the talents of women artists today. It has been my pleasure to be associated with such a noble group and cause for the arts.”

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“Out of Africa,” Colored Pencil, 24” x 12” Medal of Honor 2009 for Pastel/Graphic/Mixed Media

Arlene Steinberg

“I’ve enjoyed being a member of the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club and meeting and being inspired by wonderful women artists.”

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“Plunge,” Watercolor, 30” x 36” Medal of Honor 2010 for Watercolor

Fran Foy

“Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club’s longest-running Associate reporting to say, ‘Three’s the Charm.’ It took my third submission of watercolor work to meet the high standards required to achieve membership. Back in the sixties, I gallery sat, helped on receiving day and strove to meet these rules. CLWAC Members represent the best of women artists throughout our nation and I am proud to exhibit with them.”

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“Lily,” Limestone, 37”h x 11”w x 7”d Medal of Honor 2010 for Sculpture

Freya Gervasi

“I am honored to be a member of CLWAC because of the exceptional quality of the artists affiliated with the organization. Acceptance of my work by such a talented group of women has encouraged me to stretch my imagination and abilities to see what I can accomplish as a stone sculptor.”

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“Ellenville,” Watercolor, 14” x 10” Medal of Honor 2011 for Watercolor

Arlene Cornell

“I have been a proud member of The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club for more than 30 years.

The quality and professionalism of the members and their artwork are exceptional.

I have been inspired over the years by the camaraderie of my fellow artists.

It was one of the high points of my career to have been accepted to be a member.”

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“Motivating a Complacent Wind,” Newspaper, 30”h x 16”w x 22”d Medal of Honor 2011 for Sculpture

Susan Twardus Faith

“When I became a part of the CLWAC my world as a woman artist grew along with my opportunities and friendships.”

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“Harbor,” Oil, 14” x 11” Medal of Honor 2011 for Oil/Acrylic

Carolyn Hesse-Low

“CLWAC is a highly active organization which provides professional artists the chance to interact and exhibit in the best venues in one of the most active art communities in the country. It offers a lifetime of opportunity for all members who wish to participate.”

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“Cynthia,” Pastel, 22” x 30” Medal of Honor 2012 for Pastel

Diana DeSantis

“My membership and affiliation with the accomplished artists in the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Aret Club has been both inspiring and rewarding. I am honored to be part of this challenging art association and complimented to be with an affable group of wonderful artists who share the same love of painting that I do.”

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“This Moment,” Pastel, 18” x 12” Medal of Honor 2013 for Pastel

Andrea Pejeau

“I am honored to be accepted as a Member of the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club with such a talented group of professional artists. The Annual Open Exhibitions with their rich hisstory of showcasing outstanding art continually inspires me to strive for excellence as I create art far from the city.

Receiving the Medal of Honor is a highlight of my career.”

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“Blowing Smoke (Portrait of Aaron Shikler),” Oil, 36” x 24” Medal of Honor 2014 for Oil/Acrylic

Nicole Moné

“My appreciation and admiration go out to the generations of Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club Members for their tireless efforts to secure recognition for women aertists, as well as their admirable support for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The support and camaraderie of the friends made through the exhibitions has encouraged me to strive for improvement in my work.

I’m grateful to be a part of this impressive community of artists and honored to have received recognition from such an esteemed Club.”

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“Red Ruin,” Pastel, 22” x 14” Medal of Honor 2015 for Pastel

Joyce M. Hanson

“Imagine being honored with membership and awarded the Medal of Honor from such a prestigious organization, whose Members are some of the most talented artists in America! The reality of my art being accepted on such a level happened through CLWAC. I walked on air for weeks. It was humbling and exhilarating to be in the community of professional women artists and will affect me positively for the rest of my life.”

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“The Far Side of Winter,” Oil, 37” x 30”” Medal of Honor 2016 for Oil/Acrylic Carol Doerr Allen

“Regardless of the style of painting, women have been under-represented in museums and galleries since they began creating original artwork.

Just 11% of museum acquisitions in the past ten years have works by women.

But as women, we all know that this has never been about male artists versus femal artists - it’s just about getting works by women SEEN and RECOGNIZED. Since 1896, the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club has been doing just that; working to fill that void, to promote professional women artists, to showcase their work and provide them with exhibition opportunities. Since becoming a Member nearly two decades ago, I am very proud of the Club’s efforts in this endeavor and their generosity in supporting the Metropolitan Museum of Art. CLWAC is a “must join” organization for any female artist wishing to support and promote professional work by women.”

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“Loggi dei Lanzi, Florence,” 21” x 11” Medal of Honor 2017 for Watercolor

Mary Ann Neilson

“I am honored to be a Member and past board member of the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, which is now in its 125th year.

Among art organizations it has few peers in having an ongoing legacy of support, comaraderie, and excellence of which Ms. Wolfe would be proud.”

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“‘Ariadne’s Thread,” Hydrocal, Bronze Patina, 15”h x 15”w x 21”l Medal of Honor 2019 for Sculpture

Ella L. Sherman

“As a graduate of a women’s college, I found that the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club gives the same extraordinary support to women artists: it is a wonderful experience. I am awed by the talent, and honored for the recognition of my work. The Medal of Honor was the welcome encouragement I needed to propel me forward forever: a cherished prize.”

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“‘SofistiCat,” Bronze, 15”h x 10”w x 14”l Medal of Honor 2020 for Sculpture

Kim Shaklee

“It was hard to summarize my experiences ovor the yearss with this group.

When I received the Ann Hyatt Huntington Bronze Medal in 1994, it was an unbelievably important accolade to me, as Anna Hyatt Huntington is one of my true heroes as a sculptor. I came to New York with another sculptor friend, Mary Driscoll, who was from the Denver area as well. We made a pact that if either of us won an award, we were going to travel to NYC to attend the awards ceremony. It was truly magical as Mary also won an Honorable Mention, which made it doubly fun.”

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“Grand Third Floor Library,” Oil, 31” x 38” Medal of Honor 2021 for Oil/Acrylic

Gail Eleanor Wegodsky

“At a group painting session during the chit-chat between m0del stints, I proudly told the others I had won an award at that year’s CLWAC exhibition. A couple of men wanted contact information for next year and I had to disappoint them with the reality that they weren’t invited. I live in a southern state (I’m just saying) and thse good old guys became irate yelling about the hypocrisy of “politically correctness.” I informed them that for hundreds and hundreds of years women weren’t welcome to show their paintings at all in exhibitions and that Catharine Lorillard Wolfe had the power to do something about that disempowering fact and the gumption to act. Thank you Catharine for your intestinal fortitude which opened at least one door widely for female artists to step through when all others were shut.”

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Afterword Space has not permitted writing about many of the wonderfully gifted and dedicated artists who have contributed their talents and time over the years, as well as of those who are still in vital ways making CLWAC the significant force it is. Our profound appreciation goes to all of them.

While this book covers the unique history of the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club and the unusual circumstances of its founding, we believe it also strongly illustrates how vibrant CLWAC is today. As it continues to move forward, we intend to chronicle its ongoing commitment to supporting the work of women artists.

The Board of Directors Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club

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Bibliographic Notes Useful sources were the following articles: “Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, The first woman benefactor of The Metropolitan Museum of Art,” by Rebecca A. Rabinow, Argosy Magazine, March 1998, pp. 48-55.

“WOLFE, Catharine Lorillard,” article by Daniel L. Fox, pp. 641-2 in Notable American Women. Edited by Edward James.

Published by Belknap Press (January 1, 1971).

Grace Church, New York, Guide to Windows and Other Memorials.

A pamphlet by Edyth McKittrick, former historian of Grace Church.

Printed by the Church.

Articles by Edith Lorillard Cowley in CLWAC catalogs from 1994, 1995.

The Remarkable Huntingtons; Chronicle of a Marriage, by Mary Mitchell & Albert Goodrich, Budd Drive Press, 2004, is very informative on Huntington’s methods of work as well as on their lives.

Photograph Credits We have made extensive efforts to obtain permission to reproduce copyrighted images. If there should be an image in this publication for which the owner feels proper credit is not given, please contact The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, 802 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

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Copyright © 2022 The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, Inc., New York, NY www.clwac.org All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced without the written permission of The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club.

Front cover: Portrait of Catharine Lorillard Wolfe painted in 1876, by Alexandre Cabanel Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club