Adele Williams (February 24, 1868 – December 18, 1952) was an American artist who was one of the earliest

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painters in Virginia.

Biography

Adele Williams was born in Richmond, Virginia, the daughter of Victoria (née Smith) and John H. Williams. Graduating high school at the age of 15, she went to New York in 1886 to study at the Woman's Art School of

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-s ...

and the

Art Students' League 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 fu ...

. She also studied at the

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

in Paris, where she won the Prix Concours medal. She studied there with Jacques Blanche,

Lucien Simon Lucien Joseph Simon (1861 – 1945) was a French painter and teacher born in Paris. Early life and education Simon was born in Paris. After graduating from the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, he studied painting at the studio of Jules Didier, then from ...

and

Émile-René Ménard Émile-René Ménard (15 April 1862 – 13 January 1930) was a French people, French Painting, painter. From early childhood he was immersed in an artistic environment: Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Corot, Jean-François Millet, Millet and the Ba ...

. She studied at the Julien Studio with

Gabriel Ferrier Gabriel-Joseph-Marie-Augustin Ferrier (29 September 1847 in Nîmes – 6 June 1914 in Paris) was a French portrait painter and orientalist. Early life and education His father was a pharmacist. He began his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts, ...

and

William-Adolphe Bouguereau William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French Academic art, academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings, he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of Classicism, classical subjects, with a ...

. Afterwards, she studied under

Charles Webster Hawthorne Charles Webster Hawthorne (January 8, 1872 – November 29, 1930) was an American portrait and genre painter and a noted teacher who founded the Cape Cod School of Art in 1899. He was born in Lodi, Illinois, and his parents returned to Maine, ...

Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown () is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States census, Provi ...

. Williams worked in oil, watercolor, pastel, and

mezzotint Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the intaglio (printmaking), intaglio family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzo ...

, painting landscapes, still lifes, and harbor and street scenes in an Impressionist style. She exhibited work at the Paris Salon during her stay in France, and after her return to the United States she showed at the

American Watercolor Society The American Watercolor Society, founded in 1866, is a nonprofit membership organization devoted to the advancement of watercolor painting in the United States. Qualifications AWS judges the work of a painter before granting admission to the soc ...

, the

Art Club of Philadelphia The Art Club of Philadelphia, often called the Philadelphia Art Club, was a Club (organization), club in Philadelphia, founded on February 7, 1887, to advance the arts.

, and elsewhere. A number of her portraits are cataloged by the Catalogue of American Portraits at the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

, including a 1902 self-portrait and a 1903 portrait of

Ellen Axson Wilson Ellen Louise Axson Wilson (May 15, 1860 – August 6, 1914) was First Lady of the United States from 1913 until her death in 1914, as the first wife of President Woodrow Wilson. Like her husband, she was a Southerner, as well as the daughter o ...

, the first wife of President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

. Her portrait of judge John W. Riely hangs in the Virginia Supreme Court, and her portrait of Commodore

Matthew Fontaine Maury Matthew Fontaine Maury (January 14, 1806February 1, 1873) was an American oceanographer and naval officer, serving the United States and then joining the Confederacy during the American Civil War. He was nicknamed "Pathfinder of the Seas" and ...

is owned by the University of Virginia. Williams lived on West Avenue in Richmond. She died on December 18, 1952, in Richmond. She was buried in Hollywood Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Adele 1868 births 1952 deaths American Impressionist painters Painters from Virginia Artists from Richmond, Virginia 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women painters Cooper Union alumni Art Students League of New York alumni Académie Julian alumni Burials at Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia) Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century