THE WORKS OF HARRIET SOPHIA PHILLIPS

THE WORKS OF HARRIET SOPHIA PHILLIPS The Emily Davis Gallery November 6-25, 2015 COPYRIGHT Copyright 2016 Julie Polsinelli Akron, Ohio, 44304 740.219.4117 julie.polsinelli@gmail.com Catalogue by Julie Polsinelli

THE WORKS OF HARRIET SOPHIA PHILLIPS The Emily Davis Gallery Mary Schiller Myers School of Art The University of Akron November 6-25, 2015 Bavarian Oil on Masonite 18 x 13 1/2 in. Curation and catalogue by Julie Polsinelli

CONTENT Overview of Exhibition................ 2 Biography of the Artist................ 4 Works of Art........................ 5 Landscapes..................... 5 Portraits.................... 12 Works on Paper.............. 24 i ii

THE WORKS OF HARRIET SOPHIA PHILLIPS At the turn of the twentieth century, Harriet S. Phillips left her position as secretary at her family s paper company on Akron s Exchange Street to follow her dream: to travel to Europe and paint among the great artists of the day. During the next forty years, Phillips studied and painted in Munich and Paris before settling in New York City. Throughout her career, she created hundreds of paintings, sketches, and works of art on paper and exhibited at several renowned exhibitions, including the momentous Armory Show of 1913 in New York City. Upon Phillips passing in 1929, she bequeathed her collection to The University of Akron where students learned from her artwork for decades. As the department relocated, the collection moved around campus, eventually finding a home in Archival Services where it has been in storage out of public view. Many of these artworks, which detail Phillips travels and evolving style, is on display for the first time in decades. The exhibition, The Works of Harriet Sophia Phillips, documents the life and work of this forgotten local artist, and was curated by UA Honors Student and Archival Services student assistant Julie Polsinelli. The exhibition is on display at The University of Akron s Emily Davis Gallery, Lower Gallery, at the Myers School of Art. Phillips work celebrates a moment in the history of art at the end of the nineteenth century which saw the crucial juncture and conflict between tradition and modernism, and how an Akron local found herself immersed in within it. This collection s history with the Myers School of Art makes this exhibition especially important for the Emily Davis Gallery. Support for this exhibition has been graciously provided by Archival Services of University Libraries, the Honors College, and the Mary Schiller Myers School of Art. 1 2

Biography of the Artist Harriett Sophia Phillips was born in 1849 in Delta, New York. Miss Phillips was a member of the family which founded the Thomas Phillips Paper Company on Exchange Street at the Ohio Canal, Akron s only paper mill. Miss Phillips worked as a secretary in the company, and eventually came to own an interest in the paper manufacturing business. At the age of forty in 1889, she decided to study art and for the next forty years of her life she painted and studied in Europe, witnessing first-hand some of the most exciting developments in the history of western art. She studied in the private painting school of Friedrich Fehr in Munich. She was also a student of Impressionist painter Lucien Simon at his Paris studio. Miss Phillips was very much involved in the art scene in both Europe and North America. She was a member of the Kunstlerinnen Verein in Munich, the National Arts Club, the New York Society of Craftsmen, the New York Society of Painters, and the Pen & Brush Club. Miss Phillips exhibited at the celebrated Armory Show of 1913 in New York, which also traveled to Munich and Paris. She also exhibited at the renowned annual exhibitions of the Society of Independent Artists from 1917 to 1921. In 1927, at the age of 78, Miss Phillips decided to pass on her art collection. At the suggestion of Akron Mayor Frank Rockwell, Miss Phillips wanted her work to be a gift made to a school with a developing program field. Mrs. Jane Barnhardt, head of the University of Akron Art Department, went to New York and won the complete confidence of the artist. Shortly after Miss Phillips death in 1929, her art collection and art library came to the University of Akron, as well as a $18,000 gift to inaugurate the Harriet Phillips Fund. 3 4

Works in the Exhibition The Indian Camp at Hague-on-the-Lake 20 1/2 x 25 1/2 Banks of the Ammer River Gouache and Charcoal on Matte Board 15 x 23 Neglected Graveyard Oil on Panel 13 x 19 Village with Haystack Oil on Panel 18 1/2 x 24 *All dimensions are in inches. 5 6

Church on Hill Oil on Panel 12 3/4 x 17 3/4 The Hills of Lake George 17 1/2 x 25 1/2 Churchyard in Kuorke-Sur-Mer 24 3/4 x 18 1/2 River Charcoal, Pastel, Gouache on Paper 17 x 25 Rear of Church at Kuroke-Sur-Mer Oil on Masonite 13 1/8 x 10 7 9

Chateau Farm Yard - France Oil on Panel 10 x 13 3/8 Environs of Paris #1 Oil on Panel 13 1/2 x10 Environs of Paris #2 Oil on Panel 13 1/2 x10 10 11

Young Girl with Orange 25 x 17 1/2 Bavarian Oil on Masonite 18 x 13 1/2 A French Lady Oil on Panel 20 x 16 1/2 12 13

Bavarian Peasant Profile 22 x 15 3/4 Bavarian Peasant 22 1/2 x 17 1/2 14 15

Woman in Bonnet 25 x 18 Nude - Seated Dammerung Oil on Panel 18 1/2 x 26 45 1/2 x 28 1/2 16 17

Greek Girl 24 x 17 1/2 Nude with Green Drapery 31 1/2 x 25 1/2 Woman in Red and Yellow 24 x 18 1/2 18 19

Portrait of Mrs. R 20 x 15 Man in Yellow Suit 17 x 15 1/2 20 21

At the Mirror Oil on Masonite 12 1/2 x 17 Portrait of Mrs. R 20 x 15 Three Girls 15 x 19 1/2 Old French Woman 19 1/2 x 14 1/2 22 23

Drapery Study Charcoal on Paper 21 1/2 x 15 Two Girls Charcoal on Paper 25 x 28 1/2 24 25

Head of Old Man Charcoal on Paper 15 1/2 x 12 3/4 Head of Old Man Charcoal on Paper 16 x 13 1/2 26 27

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The curator would like to thank The University of Akron Archival Services Vic Fleischer, Mark Bloom, John Ball The Williams Honors College Mary Schiller Myers School of Art Emily Davis Gallery Staff Charles Beneke Dr. Elisha Dumser The Department of Development Maureen Katanic The McClure Family Shelly and John Polsinelli Ernest and Bradley James 30 31