Willie Betty Newman (American, 1863-1935), A Portrait

Oil on canvas, signed "W. B. Newman" at lower right, the canvas with stencil for Moirinat Paris artists' supplier, retaining exhibition label to verso, presented in a period frame.

Stretcher size 18 x 15 in.; Frame dimensions 30 x 27 in.

Ex Collection Mrs. J. C. Bradford, Nashville, Tennessee

Exhibited:
Memphis, Tennessee, Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Second Annual Exhibition, Southern Art Association, April 15 - May 30, 1922

Willie Betty Newman was a Tennessee-born painter who achieved international recognition at the turn of the 20th century. After studying at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, she traveled to Paris around 1890 and enrolled at the Académie Julian, studying under William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Benjamin Constant, Jean-Paul Laurens, and Jules-Joseph Lefebvre. During nearly twelve years in France, Newman spent extended periods painting in Brittany and Normandy, where rural landscapes and village life inspired much of her work. Influenced by Impressionism and the Barbizon School, she exhibited nearly every year at the Salon des artistes français between 1891 and 1901 and received an honorable mention at the 1900 Salon.

Newman returned to Tennessee in 1902 and established a studio in Nashville, where she briefly operated the Newman School of Art before concentrating on portraiture. She became a sought-after portraitist of prominent Southern figures, earning commissions for politicians, civic leaders, and society patrons, as well as posthumous portraits of President James K. Polk and Congressman John C. Bell for the United States Capitol. Throughout her career, Newman was admired for her accomplished draftsmanship, rich color, and skillful treatment of light, and she remained an influential presence in Nashville's artistic community.

Old patch repair to canvas at proper right of sitter's head; small puncture to canvas along lower stretcher bar; 1 1/4 in. puncture with associated paint loss and canvas loss to ground above sitter's forehead; light surface grime and dryness; loss to frame.