Dixie Selden

Dixie Selden (February 28, 1868 – November 15, 1935) was an American artist. She studied with Frank Duveneck, who was a mentor and significant influence, and William Merritt Chase, who introduced her to Impressionism. Selden painted portraits of Americans and made genre paintings, landscapes and seascapes from her travels within the country and to Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Mexico. She helped found and was twice the president of the Women's Art Club of Cincinnati. Her works have been exhibited in the United States. She was one of the Daughters of the American Revolution and on the Social Register.

Early life Dixie Selden, named for the song Dixie Land, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was one of three children of John Roger Selden and Martha Peyton McMillon Selden. See Selden family. and her father fought for the Union during the American Civil War, Her parents indulged her artistic abilities, They took her on two tours of Europe in 1878 and 1882 to 1883. She enrolled in the McMicken School of Design, now the Art Academy of Cincinnati, in 1884 and studied there off an on until 1912 and he became her mentor who recommended her for commissions and assisted her in having her works shown in "male-dominated" exhibitions.

Selden won prizes for her oil paintings and portraits that she began to exhibit at the Covington Art Club in 1890. She exhibited four paintings in 1891 at the Cincinnati Art Club. Selden attained the status of a professional artist in 1892 when her works were shown with those of Duveneck, Charles Henry Sharp, Henry Farny, Edward Henry Potthast, and Frank H. Lungren. Her style changed considerably after studying with Chase, as she moved from the darker influence of the Munich School to a lighter, impressionistic style painting landscapes, genre scenes, and portraits "with a "broad stroke and sprightly brush." The images captured people and street and market scenes. According to biographer Richard M. Sacksteder, she is "one of the premier Impressionists from the Greater Cincinnati area", best known for her "lively landscapes" and portraits. which is considered "her most powerful portrait"; Mrs. Mary Emery, and Judge A. M. Cochran of Maysville, Kentucky. Selden also painted images of domestic life, portraits of family members and pets, and flowers.

Selden reached national acclaim and her works were exhibited and won prizes throughout the United States.

Selden was a member of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, American Women's Art Club, National Arts Club, Southern States Art League, Louisville Art Association, Covington Art Club, and Cincinnati McDowell Society.

Personal life and death Called "the little one" by Duveneck, Selden enjoyed a long friendship with fellow Cincinnati artist, Emma Mendenhall. Selden died suddenly of a heart attack the night of a dinner party in her Walnut Hills house in 1935. She is buried in Highland Cemetery, Fort Mitchell, Kentucky.

A memorial exhibition was held at the Cincinnati Art Museum In 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2008, her works were exhibited with other city artists in the "Panorama of Cincinnati Art" annual shows at the Cincinnati Art Galleries. Herbert Greer French said in the foreword of the exhibition catalog, "Honest and forceful in her art, as in her life, she gave of her best to every undertaking. Should her painting give to those who see it in the future some measure of beauty of spirit which was hers, the world would be better, even as those who knew her in the flesh were the better for that privilege." Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio: 79th and Riverside Drive, 1915; Frank Duveneck, 1918 and others Covington Art Club, Kentucky: Public Square, Ragusa 1924 Kenton County Public Library, Kentucky: After the Shower, Copenhagen, The Woman Hanging Laundry, Balloon Ascent at Night. Kentucky State Historical Society: Brittany Woman Knitting Brittany Quai, 1929; Olive Tree, 1933;

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