Calvin Gates Page by Marie Danforth Page

Marie Danforth Page (1869–1940) was an American painter, mainly of portraits. A native of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

, Page began drawing lessons with

Helen M. Knowlton Helen Mary Knowlton (August 16, 1832May 5, 1918) was an American artist, art instructor and author. She taught in Boston from 1871 until the mid-1910s, when she was in her 70s. Her instructor and later employer, William Morris Hunt, was the subje ...

at 17. These continued until 1889, when she began five years of lessons at the

School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is the art school of Tufts University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusett ...

, under the tutelage of

Frank Weston Benson Frank Weston Benson, frequently referred to as Frank W. Benson, (March 24, 1862 – November 15, 1951) was an American artist from Salem, Massachusetts known for his Realistic portraits, American Impressionist paintings, watercolors and etching ...

and

Edmund Charles Tarbell Edmund Charles Tarbell (April 26, 1862August 1, 1938) was an American Impressionist painter. A member of the Ten American Painters, his work hangs in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Smithson ...

. In 1903 she traveled to Europe, where she copied paintings of

Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptized June 6, 1599August 6, 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of the ...

while in Spain; on her return she took lessons at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

color theory In the visual arts, color theory is the body of practical guidance for color mixing and the visual effects of a specific color combination. Color terminology based on the color wheel and its geometry separates colors into primary color, se ...

with

Denman Ross Denman Waldo Ross (1853–1935) was an American painter, art collector, and scholar of art history and theory. He was a professor of art at Harvard University and a trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Early life Denman Waldo Ross was born ...

. She also studied informally with

Abbott Handerson Thayer Abbott Handerson Thayer (August 12, 1849May 29, 1921) was an American artist, naturalist and teacher. As a painter of portraits, figures, animals and landscapes, he enjoyed a certain prominence during his lifetime, and his paintings are represe ...

at some point. In 1896 she married Dr. Calvin G. Page, a research bacteriologist, and settled with him at 128 Marlborough Street in Boston, where she had a studio on the top floor. The couple would adopt two daughters, Susan and Margaret, in 1919. Page soon began to receive commissions at home; some of these were simply for copies of works by people like Gilbert Stuart, but others were for original portraits. Three of her paintings were accepted for the Panama-Pacific Exhibition of 1915 in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, and one won a bronze medal. Further prizes followed, 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, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...

– to which she was elected as an associate in 1927 – and the Newport Art Association, and her first one-woman show came in 1921 at the Guild of Boston Artists. She continued to win prizes, including an honorary MA from

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learnin ...

, and show work until her death. Page insisted throughout her career that sitters visit her in her studio instead of going to visit them; by the 1920s she was charging a respectable $1000 for a full-length portrait. Among figures whom she painted were

Mary Emma Woolley Mary Emma Woolley (July 13, 1863 – September 5, 1947) was an American educator, peace activist and women's suffrage supporter. She was the first female student to attend Brown University and served as the 11th President of Mount Holyoke Colleg ...

, the president of

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United State ...

; the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1 ...

, in rehearsal under

Serge Koussevitsky Sergei Alexandrovich KoussevitzkyKoussevitzky's original Russian forename is usually transliterated into English as either "Sergei" or "Sergey"; however, he himself adopted the French spelling " Serge", using it in his signature. (SeThe Koussevi ...

; and six professors at Harvard, where her husband taught at the medical school from 1911 until 1925. She also designed a poster, ''Building for Health'', to be published during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. Her technique was bold and virile, and some contemporaries criticized it as too "masculine". Page's papers are currently held by the

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

. One of her portraits, a c. 1911 painting of a boy titled ''Portrait of Henry'', was included in the inaugural exhibition of the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since ope ...

, ''American Women Artists 1830–1930'', in 1987.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Page, Marie Danforth 1869 births 1940 deaths American portrait painters American women painters 19th-century American painters 20th-century American painters 19th-century American women artists 20th-century American women artists Artists from Boston Painters from Massachusetts School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts alumni National Academy of Design associates