Thanks for tuning in as we discuss four female artists from the past and present. Today we are going to tell the stories of these four inspiring women: Harriet Cany Peale, Sarah Freeman Clarke, Mary Cassatt, and Lorna Simpson.
Harriet Cany Peale is our most historic artist, being born in 1799, in Philadelphia. Married to Rembrandt Peale as his second wife, Harriet didn’t stop painting when she wed as most women were expected to do at the time. Her work was exhibited for most of her career and can still be found in galleries like the Chrysler Museum of Art, the Schwarz Gallery and many more.
Sarah Freeman Clarke was a creative of many types. Born in Boston in 1840, she painted, illustrated, wrote poetry, sketched, and frequently traveled. There is a Facebook group, Old Marietta, that highlights vintage photos of Marietta, Georgia, where Sarah settled down for a time. The page has spotlighted Sarah numerous times.
She knew how to network and had friends in high places like Margaret Fuller and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Sarah’s connection to Emerson influenced her work and style. She traveled to the Great Lakes with Margaret Fuller, sketching and painting landscapes along the route. This became part of Fuller’s Summer on the Lakes collection of poetry, art, dialogues, anecdotes and more. Sarah had accumulated thousands of books throughout her years of travel and opened a catalogue of her books to lend out. Eventually her catalogue merged with the Marietta Library Association and today it is part of the 16 branch Cobb Library System as the Clarke Library.
Editor's note: When Kate mentions a president who died after eating too many cucumbers and being cut open, she said William McKinley, but we later learned it was Zachary Taylor.
Mary Stevenson Cassatt was born in Boston in 1840, as the daughter of two real estate and investment brokers. The high status she was born into led to many early opportunities to travel and explore artistry. Although women were discouraged from pursuing careers, she enrolled in the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts at 16 years old. She ended up quitting the program to move to Paris after realizing the courses were slow and inadequate.
Her portrait titled The Mandoline Player was selected for display by Paris Milan, an exclusive annual exhibition organized by the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture.
Finally, we discuss modern artist Lorna Simpson who continues to produce art. Lorna’s style and choice of mediums has evolved over the course of her career. She has drawn, painted, photographed and sculpted hundreds of works of art in her lifetime already. As a pioneering feminist, her work raises questions about the nature of representation, identity, gender, race and history. Listen in for her full story!
For the first time since we started the podcast, we're plugging ourselves! Kate's mom, Cynthia Mollenkopf, is an artist with work displayed at the Cocoon Gallery in Apex, NC.
Kate is a pastry master and you can find her on Instagram @cococake15. Natasha paints and such and her Instagram is @artbynatashahope
Thanks for supporting us and this podcast! Enjoy and see you next time!
