Emma Fordyce MacRae

Emma Fordyce MacRae, N.A. (April 27 1887, Vienna – August 6 1974) was an American representational painter. She was a member of the Philadelphia Ten, a group of women artists who worked and exhibited together. [" [http://www.tfaoi.com/newsmu/nmus16c.htm The Philadelphia Ten] ," Westmoreland Museum of American Art.] Her work — including still lives and paintings of women — shows the influence of Asian flower paintings and of Seurat.

Biography

MacRae enrolled at the Art Students League in 1911, studying first with Frank Vincent DuMond and Kenneth Hayes Miller, and later, beginning in 1915, with Luis Mora, Ernest Blumenschein, and John Sloan. She also attended one of Robert Reid’s summer courses.

MacRae's painting, "Green Jade," was shown at the Anderson galleries in 1928, at an exhibit of artist members of the American Woman's Association. ["Woman Artists Exhibit," "New York Times," April 10, 1928.] Many exhibitions and gallery showings followed. In 1937, MacRae's painting "A Persian Girl," was listed as deserving of special mention by "New York Times" critic Edward Alden Jewell. ["Academy of Design Opens 112th Show," "New York Times," March 13, 1937.] In the forties MacRae was chairman of the awards jury of the National Association of Women Artists. [Edward Alden Jewell, "Sculpture Prize to Miss Lathrop," "New York Times," April 6, 1943.]

MacRae's art was rediscovered by galleries in the 1980s; the Richard York Gallery in New York exhibited thirty of her paintings in December, 1983. ["Art," "New York Times," December 4, 1983.] In 1987, her painting of a Venetian cafe was part of a show called "American Women Artists, 1830-1930," displayed at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC and in four other museums. [Eleanor Tufts, "American Women Artists, 1830-1930" (Washington, D.C. : International Exhibitions Foundation for the National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1987; [http://books.google.com/books?id=EvxPAAAAMAAJ&q=emma+macrae&dq=emma+macrae&ei=TRjLR6OCLpbWzASc-rCpCQ&pgis=1 Google books] ).]

MacRae had studios in New York City and in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Memberships

* Allied Artists of America
* American Women’s Association
* Art Alliance of America
* Cosmopolitan Club
* Gloucester Society of Artists
* National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors
* National Academy of Design
* National Association of Mural Painters
* New York Society of Painters
* North Shore Arts Association
* Pen and Brush Club
* Philadelphia Art Alliance
* The MacDowell Club
* The Philadelphia Ten

Collections and museums

* Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
* Cape Ann Historical Museum, Gloucester, MA
* Cosmopolitan Club, New York
* National Academy of Design, New York

References

External resources

* [http://www.capeannmuseum.org/special/exhibits.htm The Paintings of Emma Fordyce MacRae (1887-1974)] , Cape Ann Historical Museum.
* [http://www.artnet.com/artist/10942/emma-fordyce-macrae.html Emma Fordyce MacRae] , "Artnet".
* [http://www.themintmuseums.org/item_detail.php?item_id=566 Emma Fordyce MacRae, "Elizabeth" (oil on canvas)] , The Mint Museums.
* [http://www.si.umich.edu/Art_History/UMMA/SC11/SC110.jpgEmma Fordyce MacRae, "Cherry Blossoms,"] SILS Art Image Browser.