Docent’s Corner | The Intertwined Legacies of Elliott Daingerfield and Collector Janet Wilson
Image credit: Helen Kiner McCarthy (American, 1884-1927). Mayview Road, first quarter, 20th century. Oil on canvas. The Janet H. Wilson Collection, BRAHM.
Elliott Daingerfield (1859-1932) was a renowned American artist who taught at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (now Moore College of Art & Design) from 1895-1915. He was an advocate and mentor for women artists during a time when they were denied the privileges of their male counterparts. Many art organizations would not accept or exhibit the work of women based solely on their gender.
Daingerfield built his first cottage in Blowing Rock in 1890 and spent every subsequent summer here painting landscapes of this area. Daingerfield’s students from PSDW made the arduous journey to Blowing Rock for his summer art classes, where they were called the “paintin’ ladies” by the mountain people. They traveled from New York and Pennsylvania by train to Lenoir. From there they rode in horse-drawn buggies (dressed in their long skirts and high collared blouses) up the rugged Lenoir-Blowing Rock Turnpike. What is now a 30-minute drive from Lenoir to Blowing Rock on HWY 321, took a full day or two for them.
Many of these remarkable women were independent, successful artists, representing the first generation of modern art professionals. Most also felt compelled to choose their artistic career over a commitment to home and family…. a radical position during the early 1900s.
In 1917 a group of women artists who attended art schools in Philadelphia (including the artists who followed Daingerfield to Blowing Rock) organized The Philadelphia Ten. This group banded together for “moral support, friendly competition and good fellowship.” Although they planned exhibitions and collectively showcased their members’ work for nearly 30 years, each woman maintained a strong sense of artistic individuality.
Janet Wilson (1924 – 2020) was born in New York City but spent most of her adult life in Lenoir, NC. Humble, gracious and concerned for others, she served on multiple boards and was given multiple awards for her many years of community service. An admirer of art, she was always on the look-out for paintings by women. Why? Because she felt women were every bit as talented as their male peers, and their work was more affordable.
Janet further concentrated her attention on collecting those women artists who studied with Elliott Daingerfield at PSDW and in Blowing Rock and were members of The Philadelphia Ten. Her collection is currently on view at BRAHM.
One of the paintings in this exhibition is an oil by Helen Kiner McCarthy who studied with Daingerfield at the PSDW from 1904-1909. Here we see how McCarthy captured the atmospheric beauty of our mountains in the painting of Mayview Road in Blowing Rock. No wonder that an art critic said of McCarthy, “It was chiefly in the skies that she found her inspiration”.
We would not be enjoying this exhibition without the quiet support that Janet Wilson gave for the construction and opening of BRAHM and the gift of this collection.
This Docent’s Corner is brought to you by Kadie Dean