Fanny Adele Watson (April 30, 1873 – March 23, 1947) was an American painter and

lithographer Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German ...

. She lived and worked for much of her life in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

. Her work is best known for its spectral female figures and

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...

landscapes.

Life and career

Watson was born on April 30, 1873 in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

. Her family moved to Pasadena in 1880, after the death of her father. As a young adult, Watson studied at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

before returning to California in 1917. She also traveled to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and became a pupil of

Raphael Collin Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composi ...

. Throughout her life, Watson was interested in the spiritual dimension of nature and the beauty of the natural world, a subject that also greatly interested the poet and artist

Kahlil Gibran Gibran Khalil Gibran (January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931), usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran, was a Lebanese-American writer, poet and Visual arts, visual artist; he was also considered a philosopher, although he himself reject ...

, with whom she became friends. Gibran drew a portrait of her in graphite in 1926. Watson's first public exhibition was in 1913. Her first New York solo exhibition was held in 1916 at the Folsom Galleries and was reviewed as having "joy, freedom, vitality and abounding sense of rhythm." She exhibited with and was a member of the American Artists Professional League, the

Pen and Brush Club Pen and Brush Club (also known as Pen + Brush) is an international organization of professional women, writers and artists. Organized in 1897, the women formed themselves into a club of which the object was to be recreation and the promotion of ...

, and the

Society of Independent Artists Society of Independent Artists was an association of American artists founded in 1916 and based in New York. Background Based on the French Société des Artistes Indépendants, the goal of the society was to hold annual exhibitions by avant-gard ...

; she also exhibited work at the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

, among other places. She died in Pasadena on March 23, 1947.

Work and legacy

Art and influences

Taking inspiration from some of Arthur B. Davies's quasi-

symbolist Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

paintings (e.g., ''A Measure of Dreams''), Watson's early work is frequently characterized by otherworldly nude female figures set in natural landscapes. Beginning around the 1930s, her later paintings and lithographs began to blend landscape and the human form together, so that anthropomorphic figures seem to emerge out of dreamlike terrain. This shift in Watson's work occurred predominantly in response to her experience of the landscapes of

Zion National Park Zion National Park is a national park of the United States located in southwestern Utah near the town of Springdale. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park has a unique geography and a ...

and

Bryce Canyon National Park Bryce Canyon National Park () is a national park of the United States located in southwestern Utah. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along ...

. She made several similar coastal scenes as well, some of which depict the coast of

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

Critical reception

Contemporaneous reviews of Watson's art were often positive. Reviewing an exhibition of Watson's work in 1918, an article in

American Art News ''ARTnews'' is an American art magazine, based in New York City. It covers visual arts from ancient to contemporary times. It is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. ''ARTnews'' has a readership of 180,000 in 124 co ...

describes "unworldly beings" in her paintings that imbue them with a "spiritual impulse;" the article goes on to praise Watson's "dramatic, epic and pageant sense for conveying her thoughts through her work." A 1924 article in ''

The Art News ''ARTnews'' is an American art magazine, based in New York City. It covers visual arts from ancient to contemporary times. It is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. ''ARTnews'' has a readership of 180,000 in 124 co ...

'' describes a San Diego exhibition of "sixteen canvases of mystical subjects," which it characterizes as "very low tone and beautiful in color."

Arthur Millier Arthur Millier (1893 – March 30, 1975) was a British-born American painter, etcher, printmaker, and art critic. He was the art critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1926 to 1958. His work is in the permanent collections of many museums in th ...

, writing for the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

in 1933 about Watson's exhibit of paintings and painted screens, suggests that "Miss Watson sees landscape in terms of the soul of man." Millier notes that "this is her first Los Angeles showing of her works which have gained favor in the East."

Posthumous exhibitions and collections

In 1953, the

Pasadena Art Institute The Norton Simon Museum is an art museum located in Pasadena, California. It was previously known as the Pasadena Art Institute and the Pasadena Art Museum and displays numerous sculptures on its grounds. Overview The Norton Simon collections ...

held a retrospective of Watson's work; and again, in 1963, the Pasadena Art Institute held a memorial exhibition of her work. Some of Watson's lithographs were included in a 2021 show at the

Ogunquit Museum of American Art The Ogunquit Museum of American Art (OMAA) is an art museum located in Ogunquit, Maine. The Museum officially opened in 1953 and was founded by Lost Generation artist Henry Strater. Situated near Perkins Cove, the Museum and its three acres of s ...

titled ''Remember the Ladies: Women Painters in Ogunquit, 1900–1950.'' Watson's work was also included in the 2022–2023 exhibit, ''At the Dawn of a New Age: Early Twentieth-Century American Modernism'', at the Whitney Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, which holds two of her paintings in its permanent collection. Her work is also held in the collections of the Orange County Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Note

There was another Adele Watson, who was a contemporary actress: Adele Watson (1890–1933) from Minnesota starred in over 20 films in the 1920s–1930s.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Adele 1873 births 1947 deaths 19th-century American women artists 20th-century American women artists 20th-century American women painters 20th-century American printmakers 20th-century American lithographers American women artists Artists from California Artists from Pasadena, California Artists from Toledo, Ohio Art Students League of New York alumni American landscape painters Symbolist painters American women printmakers