MARIE SPAETH Amongst the Birches
MARIE SPAETH Amongst the Birches
An exhibition at Fruitlands Museum co-curated by The Boston Art Club
i
Š 2012 by Fruitlands Museum. All rights reserved Photography by Clive Russ
Printed by Image Software Services, Shirley, MA
Cover: White Birch, Marie Spaeth, 1923, oil on canvas. 40 x 30 in.
Back: Mother and Child, Marie Spaeth, 1905, oil on artist board. 22.5 x 17.5 in. Title page: Marie Spaeth with portrait sitter c. 1893, in Paris studio
Marie Tinnette Haughton Spaeth 1870-1937
Marie Spaeth c. 1900
The Art And Life Of Marie Haughton Spaeth John Curuby
he nineteenth century brought prosperity to an ever-larger group
of Americans. More left the farms, went to the cities, and made a good
life for themselves and their families. Art Schools began to fill with sons
and daughters of these now well to do.
In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, just a handful of these daugh-
ters became famous women in painting or sculpting. Of those that did, nearly all came from great wealth; Mary Cassatt, Anna Hyatt Huntington, Gertrude Whitney, Lillian Genth, etc. Their superb talents evolved, and were promoted by their own efforts; not discovered, launched and perpetuated by support from the art
market. Marie Tinette Haughton Spaeth arrived in a difficult era for artistic talent to be appreciated and nurtured in a woman.
Born, Marie Haughton, in 1870 in Hanover, NH, her ancestors were Hugue-
nots who had left France for England, and then on to the New World in one of the early migrations west for religious freedom. The Haughtons had been in New England since before 1650.
For more than 150 years, the Haughtons lived north of New London, CT by
the Thames River. In 1658, Uncas, Sachem of the Mohicans, sold land to Richard Haughton for his help years earlier in saving members of the Mohican tribe in a major skirmish with the Narragansett tribe.
Marie’s grandfather left the family farmland in the early 1800s and became a
merchant in Boston. This move off the family turf gave the following generations global reach.
6
guage skills would help her remain comfortable for years living abroad.
In 1866, James Haughton was or-
dained and was sent to Exeter, NH, where he was in charge of building
the Christ Church Episcopal Church. In 1868 Reverend Haughton was sent to Hanover, NH where he was put in
charge of the construction of the Saint Thomas Episcopal Church. Two years
later, in 1870, Marie Haughton was born.
Marie’s early life was spent mov-
ing from parish to parish. In 1876 Ma-
Marie Spaeth c. 1900
7
rie and the family moved to All Saints’ Cathedral in Albany, NY, in 1879 to Marie’s father, James Haughton,
St John’s Church in Yonkers, NY, and
the first (but not last) in the line of
ing her schooling and was ready to
life to religion. He received two de-
Haughton family made its final moved
by 1863. He then went to Europe to
became the rector of the Episcopal
in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he
Marie was the third of seven chil-
was born in Boston in 1838 and was
in 1887, just when Marie was finish-
American Haughtons to dedicate his
determine the path of her future, the
grees in religion from Harvard College
to Bryn Mawr, PA where Rev. James
study in Leipzig, Germany and then
Church of The Redeemer.
met Marie’s mother Augustine Mellet
dren. Her youth was spent in a house
rope, Switzerland would be a focus of
ally became best known for her paint-
mous paintings.
mated how her home full of squealing
in German and French, and Marie’s
love of youth and became the emo-
ents exposed Marie to multiple lan-
life and her art.
went to Europe to study art, these lan-
given a pencil with which to draw. Ma-
in 1865. On Marie’s later trips to Eu-
filled with young children. She eventu-
her travel and of some of her more fa-
ings of children. It cannot be overesti-
Reverend Haughton was fluent
and crawling siblings evolved into a
mother was Swiss. As a child, her par-
tional bedrock that nurtured Marie’s
guages. When Marie was older and
Children were occupied by being
Left: Marie Spaeth c. 1893 Paris Studio Right: Marie Spaeth c.1893 Paris
rie showed many talents growing up.
woman in art school must have seemed
but she showed an exceptional talent
The Haughtons settled into their
She enjoyed literature and languages,
untenable.
for drawing. Art became her prime fo-
new life in Bryn Mawr in 1887, and
before she moved to PA, and it turns
had decided to become an artist. The
cus by the time she was a sixteen, a year out that 1886 was a very important year in the Pennsylvania art world.
In that year at the Pennsylvania
Academy, Thomas Eakins was coming under criticism for allowing women art-students access to draw men in
Marie announced in 1888 that she Haughton family was comfortable with Marie’s decision. They were not
part of the Philadelphia society that
was fearful of the scandalous nature of Art Schools.
250 years’ growth of the Haughton
loincloths. One day a cloth went miss-
family tree offered more branches from
teaching at the Academy. Eakins was a
parents that she wanted to pursue a
ing and Eakins was dismissed from
radical force in Philadelphia, until that point. In that environment, local fami-
lies of proper girls thought the whole process of art school questionable. Af-
ter this scandal, a young Philadelphia
which to swing. When Marie told her
career in art, her father contacted his cousin, Daniel Huntington.
In 1888, Daniel Huntington was
(for the second time) the President of the National Academy and one of the
8
From the Alhambra 1893 Oil on canvas 32 x 40 in.
most respected, elder artists in New
where he would consider the correct
his cousin. He included one of Marie’s
phia. Although the Haughtons were
York. Rev. Haughton sent a letter to drawings for Huntington’s criticism.
In a letter dated October 1888,
Huntington said, “The drawing by
not against Marie studying art, they did not want her far from home.
Haughton got an answer swiftly.
Cousin Marie shows decided talent”,
In a letter five days later, Huntington
rection Marie may take – whether oil
as Hovenden, who, “has wide experi-
and he suggested that, “whatever dior water color – landscape or figures –
drawing is the basis of all excellence. She has a good eye & can catch the
likeness; the sketch shows that clearly. All she wants is dogged perseverance –
a persistence which will overcome all
gave two suggestions. One was Thomence and is a very accomplished art-
ist.”, and Emily Sartain, with whom, “I am not personally acquainted, but
she has marked talent and is much esteemed as a teacher.”
Hovenden had taken over Eakins’
discouragements.”
position at the Pennsylvania Acade-
ton truly felt that Marie had merit and
delphia School of Design for Women
Rev. Haughton asked if Hunting-
9
school for her to study in Philadel-
my. Sartain was working at the Phila-
(now the Moore College of Art and
is where she had a small studio for a
to be a choice between one or the oth-
still close friends with Mary Cas-
Design). It seemed there would have er teacher, but it was a great turn in
Marie’s career that, in the end, she got both.
In 1889, Marie spent a year study-
ing at the Philadelphia School of Design with Emily Sartain. This relationship would prove instrumental in
Marie’s art career because one of Sartain’s closest friends was Mary Cas-
satt. Sartain and Cassatt had studied painting together in Parma, Italy. Af-
ter Cassatt spent a year in Spain, she reunited with Sartain in Paris and
year. Her former teacher Sartain was satt and gave Marie an introduction. Marie was recommended to do two
things: first, to buy antique picture
frames which Cassatt thought looked fabulous on new paintings; and sec-
ond, to go to Granada, Spain to study with Joaquin Sorolla. Marie did both
of these things. An example of this advice is the painting, From the Alham-
bra, 1893, which is fitted in an Spanish eighteenth century black and gold frame.
Marie also visited Switzerland,
they continued their friendship un-
from where her mother’s family came.
begin her career as a teacher.
this trip, like, La Jung Fraw, Wengen,
til Sartain returned to Philadelphia to After one year with Sartain, it was
determined that Marie should have more intensive academic studies. She
transferred to the Pennsylvania Academy for the 1890 school year and be-
gan two years of dedicated training. There are only a few drawings that
Her series of Alpine drawings from
1893, shows incredible technical and compositional strength for a 23 year
old. Marie finished her European studies in Italy, the home of the great Renaissance masters.
La Jung Fraw, Wengen 1893 Drawing 4.5 x 7.5 in.
survive from these first years of studying. They show the talent for drafts-
manship that Daniel Huntington first recognized. Unfortunately there are
no surviving early paintings to show how her style began in oils.
In 1892, she began a three year trip
to Europe to expand her studies. Ma-
rie first spent time traveling around Great Britain. She then went to Par-
10
Top Granada 1893 Graphite on paper 10 x 15 in. Bottom Meina 1893 Graphite on paper 4.5 x 7.5 in.
11
Left Italian Woman 1893 Graphite on paper 7.5 x 4.5 in. Right La Maria, Meina 1893 Graphite on paper 7.5 x 4.5 in.
In reading Marie’s diary from her
it is difficult to understand why she
turn the page describing her train
formal training. It is evident from her
first trip to Europe, it is amazing to
ride from London to Paris and suddenly find everything written in flu-
ent French. Then, more amazing still, is to turn the page describing her train ride from Switzerland into Italy and
find her language shift to fluent Ital-
ian. This level of intelligence and skill, added to the talented draftsmanship
felt the need to continue with more fluency in languages that Marie pos-
sessed an ability to perfect her skills. Obviously she must not have been satisfied with something in her painting. In 1897 she returned to the PAFA
to spend the next four years in graduate studies perfecting her talent.
In the middle of 1898 she took a
of her sketches from this trip, shows
long school vacation and returned to
Marie returned to Bryn Mawr in
that she took on her 1892 trip to Eu-
that Marie was a truly rare breed.
1895 and continued to paint independently. Reviewing the proficiency of
the drawings and paintings that Ma-
rie produced up to that date, especially
those produced on her trip to Europe,
Europe, repeating much of the path rope. Marie spent most of her effort
focusing on the Masters, especially
in Italy. In 1899 she returned to her home in Bryn Mawr to begin the
school year, and to celebrate the turn 12
Wengen 1893 Graphite on paper 4.5 x 7.5 in.
Lake Maggiore 1893 Graphite on paper 4.5 x 7.5 in.
13
Top left Meina 1893 Graphite on paper 7.5 x 4.5 in. Top right Portrait 1893 Graphite on paper 7.5 x 4.5 in.
Bottom left Paris 1893 Graphite on paper 7 x 4.5 in. Bottom right Paris 1893 Graphite on paper 7 x 4.5 in.
14
Windy Brow Nelson, New Hampshire
of the century with her family.
During this school year at the
known as “The Barracks,” because of
Merritt Chase. She went to Shin-
Marie had a studio built in this house,
PAFA, she studied with William
necock that summer for Chase’s summer program. Her brushwork from
that point on shows the expression of
its use during the Revolutionary war. and many of her works were painted there.
As a wedding gift in 1902, Rev.
Chase’s influence.
Haughton purchased a summer prop-
John Duncan Spaeth, a young profes-
rie named the farm ‘Windy Brow’,
In 1902 Marie met and married
sor of literature. They were married by Marie’s father at the Church of The
Redeemer in Bryn Mawr. In 1905, John Spaeth was made a Professor at
Princeton University. As a girl, Marie
had spent time at her cousin’s house in Princeton, so when her husband was
erty in Nelson, New Hampshire. Ma-
and she converted the house and barn into a center for her art and her new
social life in New Hampshire. Spaeth
painted several portraits of the house. Evening, painted in 1912 is a fine example of its romantic views.
Reverend Haughton chose this
called to Princeton, Mrs. Spaeth had
property because there was an exist-
known to her.
Pennsylvania Settlement. They had
a group of friends and relatives well
15
The Spaeths moved into a house
ing community in Nelson called the
been there since the late nineteenth
Health Professor Seneca Egbert, Spa-
Settling in Nelson in 1891, the
to stay at her farm so that they could
century.
Quaker botanist and author Olivia Rodham had begun to attract intellectuals from the greater Philadelphia area. The great painter and stained
glass artist Margaret Redmond (Trinity Church, Boston) was also there.
eth would bring Philadelphia children get a healthy spell away from the ur-
ban squalor. Marie’s time in Nelson provided a confluence of social bene-
fit, intellectual stimulation and artistic creativity.
The first decade of the 20th Cen-
Close by in Cornish, NH, the artist
tury saw the beginnings of changes in
artist Henry Oliver Walker) and Au-
Richmond became the first woman to
Laura Marquand Walker (wife of the gusta St Gaudens (wife of the sculptor
Augustus St Gaudens) were the core of a woman’s Arts and Crafts movement that since 1895 gathered the artist wives of the Cornish Colony. They would travel to Nelson, and vice versa.
Influenced by another member of
the Settlement, the well-known Public
the male dominated art world. Agnes teach at the Art Students League. The Plastic Club in Philadelphia allowed
women artists to exhibit as an organized group. Had Marie chosen to do
so, she could have struggled to join the vanguard of this movement… but she chose not to. Marie was a Princeton
Windy Brow Barn
professor’s wife and a devoted mother. Nelson, New Hampshire
16
A Young Mother 1899 Oil on canvas 18 x 24 in.
She chose to do these things as well
series of paintings. There was a stand
Spaeth had four children: Doro-
that prominently figured in one series.
as paint.
thea (1904), Paul (1907), Janet (1909), and John Jr. (1912). During the decade
that Marie was dedicated to her chil-
dren she produced some of her most amazing paintings, although she did
not exhibit her works. She used her children as part of her imagery while
But her best known series shows her
breast feeding her own children. The
painting, Nursing #1, 1907, has been
noted by mothers as the perfect form and state of connection between a baby and a breast.
It is ironic that Cassatt is known for
they were babies and as they were
paintings of other women breast feed-
trait with her first child is Mother and
for paintings of herself breast feeding.
growing. Her earliest known self-porChild, 1905.
Spaeth is known for completing
17
of birch trees near the house in NH
ing and that Spaeth would be known
This twist was not lost on the contem-
porary art critics. In the French art
Mother and Child 1905 Oil on artist board 22.5 x 17.5 in.
18
Top Young Baby 1906 Oil on board 8 x 7.25 in. Middle Nursing Baby 1904 Oil on wood panel 12 x 10.33 in.
Bottom Child Asleep 1910 Oil on canvas 17 x 15 in. Right Paul on the Birches 1909 Oil on canvas 49.5 x 16 in.
19
Nursing (1) 1907 Charcoal and chalk on paper 10 x 12.5 in. Nursing #1 1907 Oil on board 9.5 x 14.5 in.
20
Laughing Baby 1910 Oil on canvas 12 x 28 in.
Study of Child 1910 Oil on canvas 26 x 23 in.
21
Evening 1912 Oil on canvas 18 x 24 in.
magazine, Revue du Vrai et du Beau, the critic Comte Chabrier diplomatically in-
ferred the superiority of Spaeth’s series by stating that Marie’s paintings portrayed, “Mother in the highest particular use of the word.”
In 1912, Marie took her children to Europe for a brief trip to Italy and Swit-
zerland, and in testimony to Marie’s success with her painting skill, in 1914 the PAFA purchased the painting, Apennine Village, 1913, which she painted on this trip.
Upon her return, Marie made a more concerted effort to show her works in
major exhibitions.
By this point in her career, Marie had developed a fluid style. She built glazes
and scumble in an architecture of thick brushwork that, on the backbone of pro-
ficient drawing, allowed her to move through American Impressionism to where Post-Impressionism met Modernism.
Spaeth spoke to the Philadelphia Woman’s Club and described her philosophy
of art. “According to impressionist and post-impressionist ways of thinking, the
creation of beauty is not the prime object of art, but an adequate expression of life. This puts vitality and effectiveness first, and regards beauty as a byproduct.” “Post-
impressionism is a response to a general decision to have what is old revitalized, to look at things and people with the child’s open mind - spiritualized.”
Spaeth’s style up to 1915, put amongst her peers, can certainly be called pro22
Mumford, is a stellar example. It’s a
beautiful young child sitting with her favorite calico cat on her lap. Upon
close inspection, the paint style has the bravura brushwork of her contempo-
rary academic masters, but compared to the new Modern styles leaking back to the US before and after WWI, this
painting certainly lacks edginess. Her compositions were noble choices done
in a passionate yet controlled style. Perhaps today is the time to appreciate Marie’s artistic synthesis.
Marie’s style of Post Impression-
ist Modernism may have been found too tame for the contemporary galleries and their critics, but the quality of Marie’s work was widely recognized by mainstream Academicians In the Birches 1913 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 in.
gressive. But because, up to this date, Marie put her family life ahead of promoting her artwork, she could not convince the art market that her current style could compete with her progressive peers. Abstract and Expres-
sionist compositions were the leading edge of the art world by 1915.
Marie’s paintings were easily acces-
sible (women, children, and flowers)
show her works in major exhibitions
and she was met with positive reviews. She showed often at The National
Academy, the Pennsylvania Academy
of Fine Arts, The Corcoran Gallery, the Panama Pacific Exposition, Cath-
erine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, and
other exhibitions around the country, and locally in Princeton.
One painting alone, White Birch
and as such would never become the
1923, was exhibited at the Nation-
can taste would roar.
ton, DC, Utah, North Dakota, Mon-
titillating stuff for which wild AmeriSpaeth’s 1915 Panama Pacific Ex-
position painting, Penny Mumford, 1914, daughter of the artist Alice 23
and their critics. She was welcomed to
al Academy, and then in Washingtana, California, Oregon, Washington, and five museums in Texas. It won the
Western Association of Art Museum
Penny Mumford 1914 Oil on canvas 26.5 x 21.5 in.
Directors Choice Award in 1929.
Marie pushed the limits of her expression within the boundaries of recogniz-
able form. Her paintings will usually have a particular focus, which is developed,
and peripheral elements of the composition will have sparse paint application. She speaks more with less, but never loses easy comprehension of her subject. Her composition is not a brutal devolution of the Object, which is why some consider her peers like Arthur Dove and Marsden Hartley superior.
In a lecture to the Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy, Marie’s husband,
Professor John Duncan Spaeth, described their shared perspective of Marie’s
contemporaries in this way, “My indictment of modern realism is not so much 24
inadequacy of treat-
“Redwood Grove’, in
of choice.”
CA. It is a national
ment – as ignobility As
a
Princeton
Eel River Canyon,
renowned
monument dedicated
professor,
and supported by the
John Duncan Spa-
Garden Club of New
eth would be called to Last Self Portrait 1936 Oil on cnavas 10 x 8 in.
spend summers travelling. During
a favored place that at
the
the end of Marie’s life
late teens and twenties the family would
she and her husband diverted their last trip
often go out west. Marie executed
west so that they could visit one final
ming, California, Washington and
In 1936, Professor Spaeth was given
many paintings in Colorado, Wyo-
time.
Alaska. She painted bold landscapes,
the post of President of the University
of Mount Rainier. She painted genre
several exhibitions in the last year of
mountain scenes, like her portraits
scenes and cowboys. Her painting en-
titled, ‘Yucca’, 1927, is an especially direct and bold composition, which
combines landscape and her knowledge of flora.
Marie was also devoted to gar-
of Kansas City. Marie moved and had
her life. Their daughter Janet met her
husband there, the famous artist John Stockton deMartelly, who was teaching painting along with Thomas Hart Benton who was teaching drawing.
Marie had been fighting cancer.
dening. Time in the garden gave her
One of her last paintings, Last Self
that is evident in her paintings. Begin-
which obliterates her facial features
an intimate understanding of flowers
ning in 1905, flowers become an integral part of Spaeth’s paintings. She did several still lifes, and many close-ups
of flowers in Nature. You find them
Portrait, 1936, is a minimalist sketch, and bares her failing breasts and body. In 1937 on a trip to Sarasota, Florida to convalesce, she passed away.
A person’s life must be measured by
abounding in her landscapes, and they
the sincerity of their efforts and qual-
and figural works.
eth succeeded in her family life, in her
are most often found in her portraits
The Spaeths loved the outdoors
and spent several visits camping at the
25
Jersey. This was such
ity of their achievements. Marie Spasocial consciousness, and obviously in
the passionate expression of her existence through art.
The Pennsylvania Settlement
Theresa M. Upton
arie Haughton
Spaeth
was
one
of the colonists of the
and came to stay in Nelson for part of each year.
It is important to note that at least
Settle-
one member of each of the colonists’
was located not in Pennsylvania but in
the Philadelphia area during the time
Pennsylvania
ment. This small colony
southwestern New Hampshire, specifically the tiny hamlet of Nelson, in the foothills of Mt. Monadnock. The seven scholars and artists who settled
there were bound together by their Pennsylvania roots, especially friendships derived either from their Quak-
er faith or academic association at Swarthmore College and the University of Pennsylvania. The formation of
this colony was part of the shift taking
families was teaching or studying in
of botanist and lexicographer Oliv-
ia Rodham’s period of employment as Assistant Librarian at Swarthmore College, 1881-1888.
She was
a charismatic scholar at the center of this group, and without her there
would probably have been no colony. Her legacy remains as a focal point in
the Nelson community today, as the town’s library is named after her.
How did Olivia Rodham come to
place worldwide at this time, as artists
settle in Nelson? We have a few clues:
rural areas.
Settlement colonists, served as Sub-
and scholars moved from the cities to Between 1891 and 1904
each of the colonists bought property
Henry Rolfe, one of the Pennsylvania
Master for the Union School District
26
in nearby Keene between 1879 and
to Olivia Rodham in Nelson, wrote a
that puts any of the colonists in this
bins Milbank, who was married to
1880. This is the earliest record found immediate vicinity. Copies of local
real estate brochures listing abandoned
farmhouses have survived, so we know
that inexpensive properties were readily available. In the 1960s, Mrs. Alexander Law, who had been a neighbor 27
letter to Mayflower descendent RobMary Lightfoot, daughter of Penn-
sylvania Settlement colonist Thomas M. Lightfoot. The letter relates that during one of Miss Rodhams’ visits to
nearby Dublin, NH to stay with Mr. and Mrs. Fred Rolfe, brother and sis-
ter-in-saw of Henry Rolfe, Miss Rod-
lin and Cornish, and less than twelve
for $200.00, an affordable sum for
The colonists who followed Miss
ham saw a property listed in Nelson
miles from Keene.
her. Delighted by its vista and large
Rodham, often with their families,
the next decade or so, beginning with
complished artists. Those who came
barn, she bought it on sight. Within
Miss Rodham in 1891, the colony began to form in Nelson, which is conveniently situated between both Dub-
included published scholars and acto Nelson both to be in the country
and to be near Olivia Rodham were:
Dr. Thomas Montgomery Lightfoot, 28
a teacher and natu-
ralist who is said to have
held
doctor-
ates in six fields, and
Mrs. Lightfoot; Dr. Charles Dolley, a physician and marine bi-
ologist and his wife; Dr.Seneca Egbert, a
physician and Mrs. Egbert; Evening (study) 1912 Oil on canvas 10 x 10 in.
Henry Rolfe,
Professor
Winchester
a
profes-
sor and Shakespear-
ean scholar; Dr. John
Duncan Spaeth, Princeton profes-
Homer St. Gaudens, son of Augus-
his wife the artist, Marie Spaeth; and
Faulkner. There is also strong indica-
sor and Shakespearean scholar, with
Miss Margaret Redmond, painter and stained glass artist. Two of Miss Red-
mond’s stained glass windows made for the original Olivia Rodham Memorial Library were incorporated into
Nelson’s new Olivia Rodham Memo-
tion that the women of the Pennsylvania Settlement joined with the women of other colonies in their strong support for issues such as women’s suffrage.
Although the Pennsylvania Settle-
rial Library, others can be seen locally,
ment colonists were primarily academ-
the Nelson Congregational Church.
tion both an accomplished artist and
and two of her paintings are held by
Nelson colonist Henry Rolfe was
a member of the Dublin Art Colony
and members of both the Cornish and
the Dublin art colonies were frequent visitors to Miss Rodham’s barn; which she had named Headlong Hall and
converted to living quarters. Frequent
visitors included poet and playwright
Witter Bynner; writer and art critic, 29
tus St. Gaudens; and muralist Barry
ics, Marie Spaeth was without quesa remarkable woman. Margaret Red-
mond, another of the colonists, was best known as an extremely accomplished painter and stained glass artist though she was proficient in sever-
al other media. Carlotta Dolley, a well known miniature painter and water
colorist, daughter of colonist Charles
Dolley married Homer St. Gaudens.
The young couple were also mem-
a member of the New Hope group of
Duncan and Marie Spaeth’s daughter
his works are in the collection of New
bers of the Cornish Art Colony. John
Janet married the well-known regional artist John S. de Martelly and re-
tained the Spaeth summer residence,
American impressionists. Several of York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The accomplishments of each of
Windy Brow. John de Martelly creat-
the colonists who formed the Penn-
from this home in Nelson.
enduring, and descendents of two col-
ed many of his most important works
Also there are several examples of
the colonists’ close association with the art world and other noteworthy
artists. J. Duncan Spaeth’s half sister Carolla Spaeth Hauschka was a portrait and landscape artist.
The wife
of Dr. Seneca Egbert, Rebecca Eg-
bert, was sister to Rae Sloan Bredin,
sylvania Settlement are significant and onists’ families live in Nelson still. The
work of all of the Pennsylvania colonists and their pursuit of excellence is important. However, the artists Marie
Haughton Spaeth and Margaret Redmond with their mentor, Olivia Rodham have remained prominent in the
life of Nelson’s community into the 21st century.
Windy Brow Contemporary
30
Janet in the Birches 1916 Oil on canvas 46.5 x 37.5 in.
31
Tribute To Marie Haughton Spaeth Joey de Martelly
To Mrs. Spaeth, c/o Catherine Lorillard Art Club, April 1930
ear Miss Spaeth,
Perhaps, I ought to have written Mrs. Spaeth, but it is the Miss
who is handling her brush, the inborn individuality. You are not, to say
the truth, my discovery, for you have already met with due appreciation from your fel-
low artists. Nevertheless, you will perhaps be pleased to hear a word of praise from a
foreigner. I have never been in NH, in fact, the years that I am in NY, I have never had a chance of visiting the country, except during a brief trip to the Indian Point on the Hudson. Never the less, I have seen and felt your New Hampshire Hut in Russia! This
is the magic of true art! You have imbued – perhaps unconsciously – your picture with a true spirit, that is: with life and nature, because nature is never dead. You have given it a wholeness that produces an impression on ones mind by concentrating one’s spiritu-
al strengths – and This is art, in the true sense of the word. You speak to people through your art, and remind them of impressions that they have had one time, and then forgotten. And I seem to detect even passion in your wild growth in your foreground of the
picture . . . Ill say nothing about the “White Birch”, – it is the same manner: a picture not to be forgotten by its blending of spirit and matter. You are a philosopher and a poet, in addition to being an artist painter. . . In writing this letter I am simply paying my debt to you for setting my mind thinking and my spirit working.
. . .My tribute expresses more vividly the general impression produced by your work. Very Truly yours, Vladimir Holstrem
32
P.S. To look at your
pictures is as eating ice cream on a hot day. Is this American art, I
wonder?
And in another
letter, V. Holstrem says: You must have been happy when you
painted the little house, New England Cider 1917 Oil on Canvas 31.5 X 17 in.
at the time.
your soul was singing
The letter from V. Holstrem was one
of a number of documents belonging to Marie Haughton Spaeth which
Papers,” in
Dorothea’s
hand – in ink, small, humble and well organized. Thank you to her daughters
Janet and Dorothea who took the
time to preserve and protect. Thank
you to the powerful spirits who chose to guard and have a place to put those
ideas: The “Marie Haughton Spaeth, Windy Brow Hilltop”– Marie, the person who succeeded in making all
those beautiful paintings which we
knew well, but also the Marie whose life enriched and transformed so many others.
The documented story of women’s
were found during the last decade of
art is hauntingly sober and relatively
in her Nelson, NH studio. What an
celebrates and describes an encounter
the twentieth century by her family
incredible fortune to be able to engage in and expand on the Marie Spaeth
tribute: The treasure trove of letters, diaries, drawings, essays and journals, discovered in the bottom of a drawer
on the Marie Haughton Spaeth Hilltop; in her 80/40 studio, barn – in a metal filing cabinet, in a box labeled 33
“Mothers
new.
The story of artists which
with art, is in and of itself a victory of measure and success. The work of
MHS is subject to the same ravages of
time as the work of countless painters, especially women painters. For the few hundred women included in
books, and these have appeared only recently, there are many hundreds
more about whom we know very little, if anything at all. The very fact that Marie Haughton Spaeth was only one of many women who made places for themselves in the art world is deplorable. It is . . .
Stand of Birch
intolerable that their work is gradually succumbing to decay and all trace of their 1918
Oil on Canvas
struggles will soon be lost . . . it is even more intolerable that their work has been record- 28 x 13 in. ed as achievements of others . . . Art could only benefit by a concerted attempt to re-people the historical artscape. But the important thing is that
we interest ourselves in the work of women, for their dilemma is our own . . . Every painting by anyone is evidence of a struggle, and not all strug-
gles are conclusively won. . .When we learn to read them we find that the evidence of battle is interesting and moving.
Germaine Greer, Obstacle Race , Farrar Straus Giroux, London, 1979 The rediscovery of Marie’s work appeared to contain a piece of the
history about which we know so little. Not only is this a personal
history of a sucessful female artist, but perhaps as importantly, it is an aspect of the unfolding events during the turn of the twentieth cen-
tury. We are certainly very fortunate for it being a part of our legacy. It was and is fragile, fugitive and delicate. For many generations, in
all our differences, and different experiences, we, her grandchildren, have had a taste of the “Living Spirit” and the treasure. Her work was
always there – outside, inside, on the walls, in the air, in the light, to the mountains in the west, in the grass, the hilltop itself, in reality and
in imagery. Perhaps that is what is most stunning to me – in broad
daylight or under mousy dust in a corner of an old barn there is still spirit, magic, mystery and revelation about life and people.
34
Lupine, Mt. Rainer 1919 Oil on artist board 11 x 14 in.
My dear Miss Berryman;
I am writing in answer to your letter of December 13, asking for publicity materi-
al for the American Federation Circuit Catalogue. Although I am especially a painter
of children I have painted portraits of older people and a number of landscapes. One “Apennine Village” is in the permanent collection of the Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. I have a portrait of “Dr. Theodore Hunt” in the Library of Princeton University and a portrait of “Dr Alfred Baker of Trinity Church Princeton” is considered one
of my best. Amongst the children I have painted are those of Mr. and Mrs. Struthers Burt, the authors, the children of Herbert Adams Gibbons, well known writers. A por-
trait of “Jessie Williams” the author of And So They Were Married and the daughter (“Penny“) of the artist Alice Mumford Culin, also a number of pastels of children in
the neighborhood of Philadelphia. Oil however, is the medium I most care for. I feel
keenly that children are nearer to nature and I try in my portraits to catch some of the
intimate closeness which is part of the mystic of childhood. Up on our hilltop farm in New Hampshire I have made many studies of my own amongst the trees or with some favorite animal. It is there that I painted “White Birch” last summer. For years I have
made studies of those birches, painting them largely out of doors. It is hard to state a
time needed for a portrait, because I care for the intimate interpretation, but certainly three weeks is hardly enough for a finished oil painting. However some rapid effects have been accomplished in a few sittings. . .
35
Sincerely Yours, MHS
Painting is a testimony to history
in the making, or the making of poet-
ry and history. It recalls our sense of
memories defined by space and self.
low, purple, white, in the barn paddock
– on the walls inside. Marie was never there, but she was everywhere.
Women can and do identify the forms
Her paintings, her imagery, in my ear-
of our bodies with the undulations of the
cal galaxies and a protection: Poetry
were the first gardens and first temples
liest memories were misty, spheriand history unfolding in simultane-
earth – The hills and sacred ruts which . . .Art is born of these experiences and
ous revelation. As we, her grandchil-
must be faithful to them to be authentic.
and sharpened, embraced by her sum-
is to neutralize and falsify what women
dren matured, our sensibilities evolved mer studio, the environment, with both
painting and reality simultaneously re-
vealing itself, reflecting the physical, and spiritual; resonating and replicat-
ing memory everywhere. Birch trees inside, birch trees outside. Roses per-
meating the air, inside on the walls, outside in the fields. Iris gardens, yel-
Therefore to deny the fact of women’s art are learning from our new approach to history: that one of the roles of female culture has always been to reach out and in-
tegrate art and life, idea and sensation – or nature and culture.
L. Lippard, Overlays, Pantheon, NY. 1983
Water Lillies 1920 Oil on artist board 21 x 25 in.
36
Josephine 1921 Oil on canvas 30 x 25 in.
Josephine c. 1921 Charcoal on paper 17 x 14 in.
37
Doro Matthews (the heiress) 1922 Oil on canvas 12 x 9 in.
Left Janet 1924 Charcoal and chalk on paper 9 x 6 in. Right Dorothea 1924 Charcoal and chalk on paper 9 x 6 in.
38
White Birch 1923 Oil on canvas 40 x 30 in.
39
yond, the passing clouds, the sun-
shine, light and grey. It is always changing ever more so when the
rain overflows its basin and trickles down its sides making them green and mossy – Like a mirror
in a room, it enlarges and beautifies by reflection. Like the eye to be successful it must have setting and mystery.”
As a young woman, painter, Janet Spaeth philosopher, historian, observ- by Alice Mumford 1924
er and participant of the world, Oil on Cnavas Marie Haughton Spaeth demonIn her essay, Eye of the Garden which
22 x 18 in.
strated an unwavering strength
MHS delivered to the Princeton Gar-
and courage about her own destiny.
ties both literally and figuratively and
ted to making art: “Developing her av-
She discusses the watery pool of in-
to no school of painting, bound by no Yucca
den Club, she discusses the possibili-
From a very early age she was commit-
we see the referent in her painting.
ocation on her own initiative, belonged
trospection and reflection in her peo-
pled and non-peopled paintings. Like
conventions.” She exhibited with the Oil on Cnavas best of her day on the internation- 23 x 17.5 in.
titudinous qualities of reflective and
herself available to
reflect and mirror both self and sub-
mentor and vision-
the culminating mirror, the window
writer, and as a wife
perceptions made effective by the sea
In Princeton, New
quality of the figure and the hills, the
delphia, New York,
1925
Velasquez who played with the mul-
al front. She made
true light, she uses the eyes to engage,
so many others as a
ject. (See Sunshine in the Hills: she is
ary,
to light, reflecting. She gives back her
as well as a painter.
of greens and yellows and the illusive
Hampshire, Phila-
landscape, it is like poetry, organic.)
Italy, France, Spain,
is the eye of the garden, it reflects the
and England as well
The Eye of the Garden: The fountain
ever changing moods of the great be-
philosopher,
Northern
Europe
as Wyoming, Mon-
40
Top In the Field 1926 Oil on Cnavas 20 x 27 in. Bottom Two Sisters 1926 Oil on Cnavas 33.5 x 36 in.
41
tana, Alaska, California, she carried
tation of art, I accept the challenge, for
out adversity.
modernism. My nursing babies are more
on the creative spark. But not with-
On being turned down for entry
into an exhibit for not being modern enough, she writes back:
I take it that there is an argument on
as to what ‘more modern’ means. If it means fashion, we stop there, for such a policy would certainly not succeed in the
midst of the human element that makes your strategic policy at 10th and Broad-
way. Faddism has not enough legs to
stand on and you could not sell a carved chair under those conditions at Belmaison. If your interpretation of “more modern” means a growing living interpre-
I was told to write to you because of my
than modern, and on account of the pe-
culiar circumstances and difficulties under
which they were painted, I feel I have to say they have not been done before. I by no means feel that I can define the distinc-
tion between faddism and modernism but I am positive that the real past, present
and future is a living thing and the people who understand can be drawn from
every class. In other words true modern-
ism has to do fundamentally with growth
and life, not outer literalness of form. A Under the Apple Tree 1926
faddish policy obliges one to skip, hop, and Oil on Cnavas jump to keep up with modern baggeries.
26.5 x 36.5 in.
42
Her work is sen-
the environment in which her paint-
very bold, gentle, con-
the emotions generated by her work.
sitive, probing, true, temporary, and for-
ward, especially her
landscapes in concept and self portraits in
fact. Her work was personal to women, to lovers of people and
nature. There is an abiding understand-
ing of the essence of Top Flowers from a Mountain Pass (Wyoming) 1927 Oil on canvas 9 x 7 in. Bottom Princeton Garden 1927 Oil on canvas 24 x 22 in. Opposite page Top Wyoming Cowboys 1927 Oil on canvas 16 x 20 in. Opposite page Bottom Wyoming Place 1927 Oil on artist board 5.5 x 9.5 in.
43
ings were executed. It is evidenced by White Birch, New Hampshire Farm, An Abandoned Farm, New Hampshire Farm House, Spirit of New Hampshire, Farm
House, were different titles given to different encounters with the expressionistic color, form, and the impression of
the time sensitive, but also timeless, summer sunlight of her farm, the fields and hills where the studio inside and outside served as the study place dur-
ing the time between 1903 and 1937.
According to the Impressionist and
Post Impressionist ways of thinking, the creation of beauty is not the prime ob-
ject of art, but adequate expression of life. This puts vitality and effectiveness first
and regards beauty as a by-product. . . It is an answer to an inward need and therefore it stimulates and opens up new vis-
tas, attracts general attention. . .the aim
of the artist is to get the inward essence . . . spiritualized.
Marie Haughton Spaeth, Foreword March
People wrote to her in appreciation
of her effectiveness, “wholeness of spirit, initiative,” her “philosophy taking
root,” inspiring the vision and sensibilities in others, “I’m going to be happier and incidentally thankful to you the
more, you see than ‘bed and board.’” 44
Girl on the Old Farm (Helen Towne) 1933 Oil on artist board 29 x 24.25 in.
And from another: “I wish to return to France to learn to paint and then come back to America to paint deserted farms . . . in this. . . I will have a master to follow.” Landscapes and portraits, self portraits, integrate and overlay. “Her work
expresses the positive aspects of humanity and the environment. . . the living dynamic world,” as her son John Duncan Spaeth, Jr. says.
The presence of her vision, the source of her imagery has been an important
gift and referent for those to have been fortunate enough to have shared them
and her space. She embarked on a visual quest early in life as a traveler, and
artist-student. Deeply attached to the technique and visions of the old masters, she copied them to learn their power. In 1898, she writes in her diary: “Giotto 45
is like getting down on the floor and playing with children. . . Diego Velasquez, mi frate morto.” She began painting early at the age of 18 and continued until her death in April 1937. In a reply to Rossiter Howard of the Kansas City Art Institute, who wrote to her in appreciation of the “quiet power” in the portrait of
“Bishop Rowe” in the Retrospective Exhibit in March of that same year, She replies from her bed, in her sister Margarete’s hand:
Thank you for your interpretive article in the Bulletin. Few critics clarify the future as well as interpret the past
and present and what you say makes me want to rise out of my bed and paint. It is a fine gift to be able to help others and one sometimes waits a long time before having the privilege of intelligent assistance, but I must be one of many who feel that way about you.
MHS
Her portraits perhaps were the most controversial. They are intimate, personal, sensitive, probing, coura-
geous and revolutionary as one reviewer describes them. They were contradictory, however she found ways to integrate the differences.
While it is true that the Impressionists and Postimpressionists were highly responsive to the visual appearance
of the contemporary world in the shape of their own circle of family and friends . . . portrait painting has been peripheral to the central concerns of much of the advanced art of our times. . . What more natural than they (women)
should put their subtle talents as seismographic recorders of social position, as quivering reactors to the most minimal subsurface psychological tremors to good use in art? For the portrait is implicated, to
some degree at least – whether artist, critic, or sitter, wish to admit it or not – in that terrible need for contact. . . Unlike any other genre the portrait demands the meeting
of two subjectivities: if the artists watch-
es, judges the sitter, the sitter is privileged, by the portrait relation to watch and judge back. In no other case does what the artist
is painting exist on the same plane of free-
dom and ontological equality as the artist as mediator rather than dictator or inventor
so literally accentuated by the actual situa-
tion in which the art work comes into being. This is particularly true of the representaBlueberries 1935 Oil on artist board 28 x 24.5 in.
46
Sunshine in the Hills 1935 Oil on canvas
tion of relatives, friends, or kindred spirits – rather than commissions – and of course, of self portrayal – characteristic of the best twentieth century portraiture.
Linda Nochlin, Women Art and Power Pantheon, NY. 1983
The enormous conflicts and contradictions, diverted energies and cultured de-
structiveness experienced by women artists before and at the turn of nineteenth
and twentieth centuries which is pointed out by feminist historians, is by com-
parison and contrast – in similarities and differences – to be found in the work
of many women. In experiencing and handing on the spark many did not survive
the struggles. The universality of women, the shared experiences whether innate or conditioned is the seed from which an encounter with art is born. In all of its
complexities – choices made – possibilities unrealized and realized – in the garden of Marie Haughton Spaeth, her vision and spark examined the vitality and respect for the possibilities and the will to grasp them. . . .
Meaning transfigures all; and once what you are living and what you are doing has
47
Marie Spaeth Final portrait c. 1936
for you meaning, it is irrelevant whether you are happy or unhappy. You are content. You’re not alone in your spirit. You belong.
Lawrence van der Post, Hasten Slowly: The Journey of Sir Laurens van der Post Directed by Mickey Lemle
From the gift of land in a place called “Uncas’ Chair” in CT, from Uncas, the
Mohican, to her great ancestor Richard Haughton, in 1638, for what Uncas de-
scribes as “reasons known to me,” where Richard was said to have saved the life of
Uncas – to her grandfather Reverend Victor Mellet of Lake Leman, Lausanne, of Chillon Castle, of historical fame and his daughter, Augustine Mellet Haughton, wife of the Reverend James Haughton, her father, of NH, and Bryn Mawr –
to Princeton, and a hilltop studio in southern NH, a wedding gift in 1902, Fruit-
lands Museum in MA is an interesting venue for the first Retrospective Revue of her work in 75 years.
From Tribute to Marie Haughton Spaeth J. de M. 12, 2011
© Copyright 1993 Nelson, NH 48
Partial Exhibition List Works of Marie Haughton Spaeth 1891 – PAFA, Philadelphia, PA 1892 – PAFA, Philadelphia, PA 1898 – PAFA, Philadelphia, PA 1899 – PAFA, Philadelphia, PA 1900 – PAFA, Philadelphia, PA 1901 – PAFA, Philadelphia, PA 1911 – Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 1914 – PAFA, Philadelphia, PA ; PAFA purchases ‘Apennine Village’; Society Of Independent Artist,
New York, NY
1919 - Society Of Independent Artist, New York, NY 1920 - PAFA, Philadelphia, PA; Soc. Of Independent Artist, New York, NY 1921 – 3rd Alice Ewing Exhibitions at Newman’s, Philadelphia, PA; Society Of Independent Artist,
New York, NY; Gift of portrait of Professor Hunt to Princeton University
1923 – Princeton Exchange, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ; Corcoran Gallery, Washington DC;
Society Of Independent Artist, New York, NY
1924 – National Academy of Design, New York, NY; PAFA, Philadelphia, PA; American Federation of
Arts, Washington DC; Society Of Independent Artist, New York, NY
1925 – 16th Annual Exhibition, Fort Worth Museum of Art, Fort Worth, TX; Western Washington Fair,
Pu yallup, WA; Spokane Art Association, Spokane, WA: Grand Forks, ND
1926 – PAFA, Philadelphia, PA; Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA; University of WA, Seattle, WA;
Oregon State College, Corvallis, OR; University of Oregon; Eugene OR; University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; State University, Missoula, MT; Women’s Club, Anaconda, MT
1927 – Honolulu, HI 1929 – Babcock Galleries, New York, NY; PAFA, Philadelphia, PA; Ferargil Galleries, New York, NY; Art
Department of the “Literary Digest”, New York, NY; Portland Art Association, Portland, OR;
Museum, Los Angeles, CA; San Diego Fine Arts Gallery, San Diego, CA; Phoenix Fine Arts
49
Art Institute of Seattle, Seattle WA; East-West Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles
Association, Phoenix, AZ; Western Associations of Art Museum Directors Choice (White Birch)
1930 – Society Of Independent Artist, New York, NY; American Fine Arts Society, New York, NY; 8th
Annual Exhibition of Princeton Artist, Princeton, NJ; Elected Member of Society of Medalists,
Portland, OR; Portrait of Dr. Baker purchased by Princeton University
1931 – Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ 1932 – Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ; 10th Annual Exhibition, Ogunquit Art Center, Ogunquit, ME
1933 – Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ; Elected to the Round Table of the Association of Women
Artists, Washington DC.
1934 – Salons of America, New York, NY; Argent Galleries, New York, NY 1935 – 14th Biennial, Corcoran Gallery, Washington DC; PAFA, Philadelphia, PA; Invited to become a
Member of MOMA
1936 – Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, New York, NY 1937 – Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, KA
Authors:
John Curuby, Boston Art Club President
Theresa M. Upton, New Hampshire historian
Joey de Martelly, Marie Spaeth’s granddaughter 50
102 Prospect Hill Road Harvard, MA 01451 www.fruitlands.org
www.bostonartclub.com