Emily Sartain

Emily Sartain (March 17, 1841 – June 17, 1927) was an American painter and engraver. She was the first woman in Europe and the United States to practice the art of mezzotint engraving, and the only woman to win a gold medal at the 1876 World Fair in Philadelphia. Sartain became a nationally recognized art educator and was the director of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women from 1866 to 1920. Her father, John Sartain, and three of her brothers, William, Henry and Samuel were artists. Before she entered the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and studied abroad, her father took her on a Grand Tour of Europe. She helped found the New Century Club for working and professional women, and the professional women's art clubs, The Plastic Club and The Three Arts Club.

Early life Emily Sartain was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 17, 1841. She was the fifth of eight children of Philadelphia master printer and publisher of Sartain's Magazine John Sartain and Susannah Longmate Swaine Sartain. John Sartain taught his daughter art, John Sartain believed in equal opportunities for women and encouraged his daughter to pursue a career. which is 158 miles west of Philadelphia.

Of John and Susannah Sartain's children, Samuel (1830–1906), Henry (1833–1895), William Sartain (1843–1925) and Emily were painters and engravers, beginning a legacy of Sartain family artists and printmakers. supporting and caring for them in their later years. In 1886, her parents moved into her living quarters at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women. and entered into what biographer Henry Adams believes was Eakin's "first known romance". Their romantic relationship ended after Eakins went to Paris to study art and Eakins succumbed to what Sartain described as "temptations of the great city" and due to her interest in women's rights. The two remained lifelong friends. Two of Sartain's paintings, a genre painting Le Piece de Conviction (The Reproof) and a portrait of Mlle. Del Sarte, were accepted at the Salon of 1875. According to Phyllis Peet, Sartain's friendship with Cassatt ended when her friend decided to become an Impressionist. when she ran out of money. Harriet (Hattie) Judd Sartain, who was her brother Samuel's wife and a successful homeopathic physician, had lent Emily Sartain money for her education. Emily believed Hattie was likely to continue to help with education expenses in Philadelphia where expenses were lower and she would more likely sell her works.

Career

Early career Sartain set up a studio in Philadelphia in 1875 where she created paintings and engravings. Over the course of her career she made copies of paintings in Spanish and Italian galleries, portraits, genre paintings, and was the first woman to practice the art of the mezzotint in the United States and Europe. Among her works were period scenes that depicted submissive women with downcast eyes as in Italian Woman and The Reproof. and was the only woman to win a gold medal at the 1876 World Fair in Philadelphia Sartain exhibited her work at the Palace of Fine Arts and at the Pennsylvania Building of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.

Sartain was a progressive New Woman, who with her sister-in-law, Hattie Judd Sartain, formed the woman's organization, the New Century Club. Hattie is believed to have helped her attain the commissions of portraits of local physicians Constantin Hering and James Caleb Jackson. Besides having financed her education and being her ally and mentor, Hattie also modeled for Sartain. image3 = Emily Sartain, Portrait of a Young Girl, by 1893 - child.jpg width3 = 226 caption3 = Portrait of a Young Girl, in 1893

Philadelphia School of Design for Women In 1886 she became the director of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, It was the country's largest art school for women, where she was, according to Henry Adams, "a pioneering advocate of advanced education for women." Sartain implemented life-drawing classes at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, using draped male and nude women models, which was uncommon for women artists at the time. She created a professional program that was built upon technical and lengthy training and high standards. The women were taught to create works of art based upon three-dimensional and human forms. chair of the decorating committee for the Pennsylvania Building, and an art education speaker at the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition. She was president of the club from 1899 to 1903 and again in 1904 and 1905. She spoke in London in 1899 at the Professional Section of the International Congress of Women. In 1900, Sartain attended the first international conference on art education in Paris. She was one of three delegates from the United States or 1920. Her niece Harriet Sartain led the school after her retirement. Harriet was Henry's daughter Sartain received certificates, medals, and diplomas in recognition of her service to art and education, including recognition from the London Society of Literature, Science and Art. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts: Christ Walking on the Sea, Emily Sartain after Henry Richter, 1865, mezzotint, etching and stipple Christ Walking on the Water, Emily Sartain after Charles Jalabert, 1867, engraving with roulette Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emily Sartain after William Henry Furness, Jr., 1871, mezzotint, etching, engraving and stipple Untitled, 1887, oil on wood Welcome News, 1888, etching on chine collé I. S. Hentchin, etching, engraving, mezzotint, stipple and photomechanical texture S. C. Huntington, etching, engraving, mezzotint and stipple President Lincoln and Son, mezzotint, etching, engraving, stipple and photomechanical ground His Excellency Baron Lisgar, mezzotint, etching, stipple and photomechanical ground Samuel Partridge, mezzotint, etching, engraving and stipple Alexander Thomson, Emily Sartain after J. C. Darley, etching, engraving, mezzotint and photomechanical ground J. W. Weir, Etching, engraving and photomechanical ground