M. Jean McLane

M. Jean McLane (also known as Jean Johansen) (September 14, 1878 – January 23, 1964), was an American portraitist. Her works were exhibited and won awards in the United States and in Europe. She made portrait paintings of women and children. McLane also made portrait paintings of a Greek and Australian Premiers and Elisabeth, Queen of the Belgians.

Personal life Myrtle Jean McLane was born in Chicago, Illinois on September 14, 1878.

While a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago she met John Christen Johansen and later became his wife. They had a son John and daughter Margaret. The family spent their summers at Weyborne Hill in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and sometimes traveled to Europe. Their winters were spent in Greenwich Village.

She died in Stamford, Connecticut; Her residence at the time was in New Canaan, Connecticut.

Education She first studied with John Vanderpoel at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and later in Cincinnati under Frank Duveneck

Career Johansen and McLane helped to found the in 1912. Asked by a group of philanthropists to help depict the Allied Leaders from World War I she provided the only female subject, Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians, This painting today is exhibited in the National Museum of American Art.

In 1912, she was elected an associate to the National Academy of Design and a full academician in 1926. and also won the 1914 Lippincott Prize at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts as the best figurative piece by an American artist in oil. Her painting "Portrait Mrs. Edmund D. Libby" was included in the Fourth Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists and "The Baby" was included in the Fifth Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists held at the Detroit Museum of Art April 16 to May 31, 1919.

She made portraits of Elisabeth, Queen of the Belgians, Premier Hughes of Australia, and Premier Eleftherios Venizelos. She and her husband were among artists who were commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery committee to create portraits of World War I soldiers and statesmen. Another woman artist was Cecilia Beaux. The exhibition of 20 portraits, including Johansen's Signing the Peace Treaty, June 28, 1919, circulated among American cities.

Her works are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Her work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics.

Awards She received the following awards: Autumnae Girl in Green, 1912 On a Hill Top, 1908 Gallery