Elizabeth McCausland (1899–1965) was an American

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

, historian and writer.

Early life

Elizabeth McCausland was born in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

, on April 16, 1899.

Career

A few years after graduating from

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

(Bachelor's degree in 1920 and Master's in 1922), she began working for ''Springfield Sunday Union'' and '' The Springfield Republican'', both newspapers based in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...

. She became deeply invested in the Sacco-Vanzetti case and eventually compiled a series of articles in a pamphlet called ''The Blue Menace''. She taught at

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

(1956),

New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR), previously known as The University in Exile and The New School University, is a graduate-level educational division of The New School in New York City, United States. NSSR enrolls more than 1,000 stud ...

(1946), Design Laboratory (1939) and

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...

(art history, 1942-1944). She worked in close cooperation with the photographer

Berenice Abbott Berenice Alice Abbott (July 17, 1898 – December 9, 1991) was an American photographer best known for her portraits of cultural figures of the interwar period, New York City photographs of architecture and urban design of the 1930s, and science ...

on the publication of her ''Changing New York'' series in 1939. The project was sponsored by the

Federal Art Project The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administratio ...

and McCausland wrote the text that accompanied Abbott's photographs. Much of her interest in art scholarship was rooted in aspirations towards democracy and social justice. Starting from the mid-1930s, she worked as an art critic and freelance writer, contributing to ''Parnassus'', ''The New Republic'', and ''Magazine of Art''. Writing primarily on

Social Realist Social realism is work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers, filmmakers and some musicians that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structures ...

painting and photography, McCausland’s reaction to the art world’s turn to abstraction in the 1950s was grim, stating that she felt it "to be the artist’s flight from reality and from responsibility". Her feelings softened somewhat in later years, and she wrote that in her holistic commitment to the social aspects of art, she felt she had neglected her own emotional and poetic sides. McCausland wrote ''Work for Artists'' in 1947, which outlined the living conditions and economic status of the American artist."Revolt, They Said". www.andreageyer.info.
Retrieved 2017-08-17. She also authored works on individual artists, including

Marsden Hartley Marsden Hartley (January 4, 1877 – September 2, 1943) was an American Modernist painter, poet, and essayist. Hartley developed his painting abilities by observing Cubist artists in Paris and Berlin. Early life and education Hartley was bor ...

Alfred Maurer Alfred Maurer may refer to: * Alfred Henry Maurer (1868–1932), American modernist painter * Alfred Maurer (politician) Alfred Maurer (2 December 1888 Tallinn - 20 September 1954 Stockholm) was an Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of ...

, Edward Lamson Henry, Charles W. Hawthorne and

George Inness George Inness (May 1, 1825 – August 3, 1894) was an American landscape painting, landscape painter. Now recognized as one of the most influential American artists of the nineteenth century, Inness was influenced by the Hudson River Schoo ...

. Other books include: ''Careers in the Arts, Fine and Applied'' (1950) and ''Art Professions in the United States''. She also wrote poetry and designed limited edition publications which she printed on her private press. In 1939 McCausland organized the retrospective exhibition ''Lewis Hine'' at the

Riverside Museum The Riverside Museum (replacing the preceding Glasgow Museum of Transport) is a museum in the Partick area of Glasgow, Scotland, housed in a building designed by Zaha Hadid, Zaha Hadid Architects, with its River Clyde frontage at the new Point ...

. Other exhibitions of which she was the organizer include ''The World of Today'' (

Berkshire Museum The Berkshire Museum is a museum of art, natural history, and ancient civilization that is located in Pittsfield in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. History In 1903, local paper magnate Zenas Crane founded the Berkshire Museum. Inspired by suc ...

, 1939), an exhibition of silk screen prints for the

Springfield Museum of Fine Arts The Michele and Donald D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts, also called the D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts, is an art museum on the Quadrangle in Springfield, Massachusetts, which is primarily focused on paintings and works on paper. History The museum' ...

and

New York State Museum The New York State Museum is a research-backed institution in Albany, New York, Albany, New York (state), New York, United States. It is located on Madison Avenue, attached to the south side of the Empire State Plaza, facing onto the plaza and to ...

(1940), and ''Photography Today'' (A.C.A. Gallery, 1944). In 1943, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship for Humanities, US & Canada, for her study of "the status of the artist in America from colonial times to the present, with especial attention to the relation between art and patronage". In 1944 she was appointed on the Advisory Committee of the Department of Photography of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

. In 1950 she worked as a special consultant at the

Corcoran Gallery The Corcoran Gallery of Art is a former art museum in Washington, D.C., that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Founded in 1869 by philanthropist William Wilson Corcoran ...

for an American Processional exhibition and was editor of the accompanying book. McCausland's extensive research focused particularly on E. L. Henry,

Lewis Hine Lewis Wickes Hine (September 26, 1874 – November 3, 1940) was an American sociologist and muckraker photographer. His photographs taken during times such as the Progressive Era and the Great Depression captured young children working in harsh ...

, George Inness, and Alfred Maurer. She spent the last fifteen years of her life researching painter Marsden Hartley.

Personal life

McCausland moved to New York City in 1935 and died there on May 14, 1965. Throughout this period she lived with her partner

at 50 Commerce Street, Manhattan. After McCausland's death, Abbott moved to Maine where she died in 1991. McCausland is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery, Wichita. McCausland also corresponded with

Arthur Dove Arthur Garfield Dove (August 2, 1880 – November 23, 1946) was an American artist. An early American modernist, he is often considered the first American abstract painter.. Dove used a wide range of media, sometimes in unconventional combinat ...

and

Alfred Stieglitz Alfred Stieglitz (; January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his 50-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz was k ...

, the latter of whom was a close friend.

Legacy

The papers of Elizabeth McCausland are in the Archives of American Art,

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCausland, Elizabeth 1899 births 1965 deaths American art critics 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers Barnard College faculty The New School faculty Sarah Lawrence College faculty Writers from Wichita, Kansas Smith College alumni People from Wichita, Kansas American women non-fiction writers American LGBTQ writers LGBTQ people from Kansas 20th-century American LGBTQ people 20th-century American women academics