Lily Irene Jackson (September 17, 1848 – December 9, 1928), was an American artist and arts organizer active in West Virginia who specialized in paintings of animals. Lily Irene Jackson-Two Bird Dogs

Biography

Lily Irene Jackson was born in

Parkersburg, West Virginia Parkersburg is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Ohio and Little Kanawha rivers, it is the state's fourth-largest city and the largest city in the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna metrop ...

to Carrie C. Glime Jackson and John Jay Jackson, Jr., an attorney and later a federal judge. She had one sibling, her brother Benjamin. Her uncle

Jacob B. Jackson Jacob Beeson Jackson (April 6, 1829December 11, 1893) was the List of Governors of West Virginia, sixth Governor of West Virginia from 1881 to 1885. In 1855, he married Maria Willard Jackson, Maria Willard."West Virginia's First Ladies," West ...

was a governor of West Virginia and another uncle, James Monroe Jackson, was a Congressman. According to a letter written in 1868 by U.S. Chief Justice

Salmon P. Chase Salmon Portland Chase (January 13, 1808May 7, 1873) was an American politician and jurist who served as the sixth chief justice of the United States. He also served as the 23rd governor of Ohio, represented Ohio in the United States Senate, a ...

, Jackson (then 20) was "a little deaf". She lived in the family home, 'Carrinda', her entire life. Jackson studied art in New York, and both her paintings and her sculpture were praised by critics. She is best known as a painter of animals and as an arts organizer. In 1887, she organized the Parkersburg Art Society and was elected its first president. In 1892, she organized contributions by West Virginia women to the state’s exhibit at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. She exhibited two of her own oil paintings at the fair: ''Watching and Waiting'' and ''Anticipation'', both with dogs as subjects. ''Anticipation'' featured two then-famous St. Bernard dogs: one owned by actor Sarah Bernhardt, and another from New York that had recently sold for the large sum of $6000 (roughly $150,000 in 2015 dollars). ''Watching and Waiting'', which featured a pair of Jackson's own dogs (a pointer and a setter) hung in the Board Room of the Women's Building at the fair. In 1917, Jackson published a chapbook of poetry, ''From One Who Loves You''. Jackson died in Parkersburg in 1928 of

diabetic coma Diabetic coma is a life-threatening but reversible form of coma found in people with diabetes mellitus. Three different types of diabetic coma are identified: #Severe low blood sugar in a diabetic person #Diabetic ketoacidosis (usually type 1) ...

Legacy

Jackson's work is held by the

Blennerhassett Museum of Regional History Blennerhassett is an English surname. Origin The name originates from the village of Blennerhasset (with one t) in Cumbria, England. People with the surname *Arthur Blennerhassett (1687–1758), Anglo-Irish lawyer, politician and judge * Arthur ...

, the

West Virginia State Museum The West Virginia State Museum, formerly the West Virginia Science and Culture Center, is a history, culture, art, paleontology, archaeology and geology museum at the West Virginia Capitol Complex in Charleston, West Virginia. It was founded in 18 ...

, and other institutions. She was the subject of a 2004 exhibition at the Parkersburg Art Center.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Lily Irene 1848 births 1928 deaths American women painters 19th-century American painters Animal painters People from Parkersburg, West Virginia 19th-century American women artists Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century