LILLIAN GENTH

Born in Philadelphia in 1876, Lillian Genth studied at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women and won the Elkins Scholarship in 1900, which enabled her to study with Whistler in Paris. She painted Whistler’s portrait while studying with him. Back in New York, she achieved great commercial success with her paintings of female nudes in pastoral settings, which totaled 150. However, in 1928 she declared that she would never paint another nude and so became known as a portrait painter. She painted in Brittany, Venice, North Africa, the South Pacific, and also did a series on bull-fighting. She exhibited widely in the United States and South America, and won several medals, including the gold medal of the American Art Society in 1907. She died in New York in 1953.