Beulah Bettersworth

Beulah Bettersworth (1894–1968) was an artist and muralist in the early 20th century. She was most known for her still lifes and street scenes. Her painting Christopher Street, Greenwich Village was selected for the White House by President Franklin Roosevelt and is now in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She won national competitions to complete post office murals for the post offices in Indianola and Columbus, Mississippi.

Beulah Bettersworth
Born
Beulah Ruth

(1894-08-22)August 22, 1894
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
DiedAugust 3, 1968(1968-08-03) (aged 73)
Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
OccupationArtist, muralist
Years active1925-c.1953

Biography

Beulah Ruth was born on August 22, 1894, in St. Louis, Missouri[1] to James B. and Ella Ruth.[2] She studied at the Art Students League of New York with George Bellows and John Sloan[3] and later studied under John Carroll, Frank V. DuMond and Charles Hawthorne.[1] On April 18, 1917, in Manhattan, New York, Ruth married[2] the illustrator Howard Bettersworth.[3]

Career
Christopher Street, Greenwich Village (1934)

Not much has been written of her early career, but it is known that Bettersworth did some artwork for advertising in the 1920s.[4][5] She was exhibiting paintings in New York in the early 1930s[6] and lived on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village.[7] In 1933, she began the year in January with a one-woman show at the Artists Gallery in the Tower Hotel in New York City[8] and in October she exhibited portraits in an exhibition at the same venue. Though not known as a portrait painter, her works were well received.[9] In 1934, her black and white works, predominantly still lifes were shown in the Art Gallery of the Tower Hotel along with several artists from the Brooklyn Painters and Sculptors' Group.[10][11] Her work in these shows was given attention[12] and earned Bettersworth invitations to show works at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Museum of Modern Art.[3] Her painting, "Christopher Street, Greenwich Village" (1934) was chosen by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to hang in the White House, when he saw it on exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art.[7] By 1936, she and Howard were living in the artists' colony in Woodstock, New York, where Beulah participated in exhibits.[13][14] Betterworth was selected to complete two murals for the WPA Section of Painting and Sculpture. "White Gold in the Delta" (1939) for the post office at Indianola, Mississippi and "Out of the Soil" for the post office at Columbus, Mississippi, both depict cotton harvesting scenes[15] and did not shy away from depicting white foremen and black laborers.[16] Bettersworth was not the original artist commissioned to complete the work in Indianola, but when Walter Anderson was unable to complete the mural, she was selected.[17] Both at the time they were installed and at present, there have been complaints that the murals depict racist themes and should be removed.[15] The Indianola mural was destroyed[18] and though the argument over whether the Columbus mural should be removed or remain, as it accurately reflects history, is unsettled, the mural is still in place.[15] In 1947, the Betterworths sold their home in Woodstock[19] and by the early 1950s they were living in Tucson, Arizona, where Howard was working as an art director for the Cabat-Gill Advertising Agency.[20] Erni Cabat and Norval Gill, another WPA artist, had founded the agency in the late 1940s.[21] Bettersworth died in Tucson on August 3, 1968, and was buried in Tucson Memorial Park Cemetery.[22]

Legacy

Bettersworth had works shown at the Corcoran Gallery of Art[7] and the Museum of Modern Art.[23] Her painting "Christopher Street, Greenwich Village" is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.[7]

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References

Citations
  1. Fazio et al. 1979, p. 10.
  2. New York City Municipal Archives 1917.
  3. Smithsonian 2015.
  4. Period Paper 1925.
  5. Period Paper & 4/1925.
  6. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle 1932, p. 61.
  7. Smithsonian 2010.
  8. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle & 1/1933, p. 16.
  9. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle & 10/1933, p. 23.
  10. The New York Times & 02/25/1934, p. 12.
  11. The New York Times & 02/14/1934, p. 17.
  12. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle 1934, p. 30.
  13. Kingston Daily Freeman 1936, p. 18.
  14. Kingston Daily Freeman 1938, p. 2.
  15. Burnett 2011.
  16. Lowe 2005, p. 107.
  17. Allen 2014.
  18. Fazio et al. 1979, p. 5.
  19. Kingston Daily Freeman 1947, p. 13.
  20. Tucson Daily Citizen 1953, p. 11.
  21. Walther 2014.
  22. Tucson Daily Citizen 1968, p. 25.
  23. Museum of Modern Art 1940, p. 21.

Bibliography
  • Allen, Susan (March 9, 2014). "Post Office Mural-Indianola, MS". Living New Deal. Berkeley, California: Department of Geography, University of California. Retrieved 14 May 2016.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Burnett, Garthia Elena (January 15, 2011). "Post office mural raises questions of racial sensitivity". The Dispatch. Columbus, Mississippi. Retrieved 14 May 2016.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Fazio, Michael W.; Parrish, William E.; Blackwell, Tomas; Franks, Curtis (October 1, 1979). "Four Building Act of 1926 Post Offices and Thirty-Two Public Works Administration Post Offices "Mississippi Post Offices Thematic Resources, 1931-1941."" (PDF). National Park Service. Starkville, Mississippi: United States Department of the Interior. p. 11. Retrieved 6 May 2016.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Lowe, John (January 2005). Bridging Southern Cultures: An Interdisciplinary Approach. LSU Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-3031-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Walther, Rachel (March 31, 2014). "A Century in the Arts: Norval Gill (Class of 1937) Reflects". Oakland, California: California College of the Arts. Archived from the original on May 14, 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2016.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • "1925 Ad Bigelow-Hartford Saxony Rug: Beulah Bettersworth". Period Paper. 1925. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  • "1925 Ad Fairfacts Bathroom Fixtures: Beulah Bettersworth". Period Paper. April 1925. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  • "A Group Show". The New York Times. New York City, New York. February 14, 1934. ProQuest 100968047.
  • "Arizona Lore Will Be Told in Bank Ads". Tucson, Arizona: Tucson Daily Citizen. January 3, 1953. Retrieved 14 May 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  • "Art Notes". The New York Times. New York City, New York. February 25, 1934. ProQuest 101017660.
  • "Beulah R. Bettersworth". American Art Smithsonian Institution. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian American Art Museum Renwick Gallery. 2015. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  • "Bettersworth, Beulah". Tucson, Arizona: Tucson Daily Citizen. August 6, 1968. Retrieved 14 May 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  • "B'klyn Painters and Sculptors Open in New Galleries". Brooklyn, New York: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. October 30, 1932. Retrieved 14 May 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  • "Brooklyn Painters and Sculptors Hold Exhibit of Portraits". Brooklyn, New York: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. January 31, 1933. Retrieved 14 May 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  • "Christopher Street, Greenwich Village". American Art Smithsonian Institution. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian American Art Museum Renwick Gallery. 2010. Archived from the original on June 9, 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  • "Flowers and Still Lifes at Artists Gallery". Brooklyn, New York: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. January 21, 1934. Retrieved 14 May 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  • "Last Art Show at Woodstock Gallery". Kingston, New York: Kingston Daily Freeman. August 28, 1936. Retrieved 14 May 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  • "American Art and the Museum". The Bulletin of the Museum of Modern Art. Manhattan, New York City, New York: Museum of Modern Art. 8 (1): 3–26. November 1940. doi:10.2307/4058061. ISSN 1938-6761. JSTOR 4058061.
  • "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1940". FamilySearch. ref I.D. #11562. New York City, New York: New York City Municipal Archives. April 18, 1917. Retrieved 14 May 2016.CS1 maint: others (link)
  • "Opening Art Exhibit Held at Woodstock". Kingston, New York: Kingston Daily Freeman. June 28, 1938. Retrieved 14 May 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  • "Opening Show at Artists Gallery". Brooklyn, New York: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. October 15, 1933. Retrieved 14 May 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  • "Real Estate Transfer". Kingston, New York: Kingston Daily Freeman. October 6, 1947. Retrieved 14 May 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
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