Elizabeth Macdowell Kenton

Elizabeth Macdowell Kenton (1858-1953) was an American artist known for her figure paintings and portraits. She was also a photographer.[1]

Elizabeth Macdowell Kenton
Kenton’s photograph taken by Thomas Eakins
Born
Elizabeth Macdowell

1858 (1858)
Died1953 (aged 94–95)
NationalityAmerican
EducationPennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Known forPainting, Photography
Spouse(s)Louis N. Kenton

Early life

She was one of the eight children of Hannah Gardner and William Hance Macdowell, a Philadelphia engraver, photographer, and a skilled painter. He passed on his interest in Thomas Paine and freethought to his three sons and five daughters.[2][3]

Elizabeth and her sister Susan each displayed an early interest in art, which was encouraged by their father.[4] They both studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins, and Susan married Eakins in January 1884.[5] Eakins painted portraits of several of the Macdowells, and used them as models in photographs.

Day Dreams: Portrait of Caroline Eakins, Elizabeth's portrait of Susan's sister-in-law, was exhibited at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.[6] It eventually found a home in the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia, while many of her other works can be found in private collections.[7]

Elizabeth Macdowell married Louis N. Kenton (1865–1947) on May 31, 1899.[8]:313, 318 Thomas Eakins painted a portrait of him, The Thinker (1900), now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Kentons' marriage was brief and not happy, with notes from Susan's diaries indicating that he was physically violent.[8]:313, 421 n.20

  • Parents: William & Hannah Macdowell
  • Kenton (2nd from r) with her sisters
  • Sister: Susan Macdowell Eakins
  • Brother: Walter S. Macdowell
  • Brother: Frank Macdowell
  • The Thinker by Thomas Eakins
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References
  1. Rosenheim, Jeff L. "Thomas Eakins, Artist-Photographer, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art" (PDF). The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. 52 (3): 44. doi:10.2307/3259423.
  2. Gaze, Delia (1997). Dictionary of Women Artists. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. p. 485.
  3. Carol Kort; Liz Sonneborn. A to Z of American Women in the Visual Arts. Infobase Publishing; 1 January 2002. ISBN 978-1-4381-0791-2. p. 58.
  4. Petteys, Chris, “Dictionary of Women Artists: An international dictionary of women artists born before 1900”, G.K. Hall & Co., Boston, 1985 p, 460
  5. Nichols, K. L. "Women's Art at the World's Columbian Fair & Exposition, Chicago 1893". Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  6. "Kenton, Elizabeth Macdowell, 1858-1953, painter". SIRIS. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  7. Sewell, Darrel; et al., Thomas Eakins. Yale University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-87633-143-6
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