Cordelia Wilson
Encyclopedia
Cordelia Creigh Wilson (28 November 1873, Georgetown, Colorado
– 7 June 1953, Seattle, Washington
) was a painter noted for her landscapes
of New Mexico
and the American Southwest
.
. Her parents divorced when she was four years old, and she was raised by her mother, Emma (Webb) Creigh, who shuttled the family between Winfield, Kansas
and Colorado. She married Willard Wilkinson in Boulder, Colorado
in 1897 and gave birth to her only child, Louise, in Hayden
the next year. However, after a period of separation, the couple divorced in 1910. Cordelia met John Henry Wilson and they married in Victoria, British Columbia
in 1911, returning to Colorado soon thereafter.
Cordelia then began to seriously develop her skills as an artist motivated by latest trends in American realism
led by Robert Henri
. Her academic training emphasized development of an alla prima
technique and painting out of doors, which inspired her to produce bold impasto
works quickly. She started making road trips to New Mexico and became friends with painters in the Taos Society of Artists
and the Santa Fe
art colony. Her numerous expressive oil sketches and en plein air
canvases of adobe
dwellings and rugged landscapes caught the attention of art dealers.
She, her husband, and daughter settled on Tremont Street in Denver, Colorado
, just around the corner from the J. Gibson Smith Gallery which displayed and sold her works. Many of her paintings had frames she hand-carved in rustic Arts and Crafts style
and gilded
with sheets of gold leaf
.
In 1917, Cordelia Wilson was honored by having two paintings selected for the inaugural exhibition of the new New Mexico Museum of Art
in Santa Fe. The show featured easel
works by George Bellows
, Robert Henri, F. Martin Hennings, and Leon Kroll
, who were working in the Southwest at that time, along with the "Taos Six" (Oscar Berninghaus
, Ernest Blumenschein, Irving Couse, Herbert Dunton, Bert Geer Phillips, and Joseph Henry Sharp
) and other members of the Taos Society. One of her paintings exhibited in the show, A Mexican Home, was reproduced in the January–February 1918 issue of the journal Art and Archaeology (published by the Archaeological Institute of America
) that featured a cover article about the museum's opening.
Among Cordelia Wilson's largest landscapes is a 50" x 70" canvas, created for World War I military training. It was exhibited at the School of American Research of Santa Fe in 1917 with other large-scale so-called "Range Finder" paintings by Blumenschein, Berninghaus, Phillips, Gustave Baumann
, Walter Ufer
, Leon Gaspard, and others. They had been commissioned by the U.S. Army based on a proposal by the Salmagundi Club
of New York, whose members wanted to make a special contribution to America’s war effort. When the show closed, the works on display were shipped to Camp Funston
at Fort Riley, Kansas and Camp Cody at Deming, New Mexico
. The paintings were used for indoor instruction in range finding, topographical
quizzes, and map drawing at Army camps.
John Wilson, her husband, contracted tuberculosis
in about 1921. The couple moved to the Seattle for his treatment at a sanitorium, where he passed away the following year. In 1923, Cordelia married for a third time to John N. Fahnestock, but this marriage ended in divorce in 1928. Cordelia continued to reside in Pacific Northwest
producing still life
s, florals, and scenes of the Puget Sound
region, although she periodically traveled, worked, and displayed her art in the Southwest.
Cordelia Wilson died at age 79 and she is buried in the Wilson family plot at Lake View Cemetery
in Seattle. Notable paintings may be found in the holdings of museum and private collections.
Georgetown, Colorado
The historic town of Georgetown is a Territorial Charter Municipality that is the county seat of Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States. The former silver mining camp along Clear Creek in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains was established in 1859 during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush...
– 7 June 1953, Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
) was a painter noted for her landscapes
Landscape art
Landscape art is a term that covers the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, and especially art where the main subject is a wide view, with its elements arranged into a coherent composition. In other works landscape backgrounds for figures can still...
of New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
and the American Southwest
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
.
Biography
Cordelia "Cordie" Creigh was born in Clear Creek County, ColoradoColorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. Her parents divorced when she was four years old, and she was raised by her mother, Emma (Webb) Creigh, who shuttled the family between Winfield, Kansas
Winfield, Kansas
Winfield is a city situated along the Walnut River in the west-central part of Cowley County, located in South Central Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 12,301...
and Colorado. She married Willard Wilkinson in Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
in 1897 and gave birth to her only child, Louise, in Hayden
Hayden, Colorado
Hayden is a Statutory Town in Routt County, Colorado, United States. The population was 1,634 at the 2000 census. The town sits along U.S. Highway 40 in the Yampa River Valley between Craig and Steamboat Springs. Historically a center of coal mining and agriculture, it consists today of a small...
the next year. However, after a period of separation, the couple divorced in 1910. Cordelia met John Henry Wilson and they married in Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
in 1911, returning to Colorado soon thereafter.
Cordelia then began to seriously develop her skills as an artist motivated by latest trends in American realism
American realism
300px|thumb|[[Ashcan School]] artists & friends at [[John French Sloan]]'s Philadelphia Studio, 1898American realism was an early 20th century idea in art, music and literature that showed through these different types of work, reflections of the time period...
led by Robert Henri
Robert Henri
Robert Henri was an American painter and teacher. He was a leading figure of the Ashcan School in art.- Early life :...
. Her academic training emphasized development of an alla prima
Alla prima
-Definition:alla prima is a painting technique done mostly in oils, in which the work is completed before the first layer of painting has dried up or is still wet, such as the 'impressionist' technique or 'Glaze '...
technique and painting out of doors, which inspired her to produce bold impasto
Impasto
In English, the borrowed Italian word impasto most commonly refers to a technique used in painting, where paint is laid on an area of the surface very thickly, usually thickly enough that the brush or painting-knife strokes are visible. Paint can also be mixed right on the canvas...
works quickly. She started making road trips to New Mexico and became friends with painters in the Taos Society of Artists
Taos Society of Artists
The Taos Society of Artists was an organization of visual arts founded in Taos, New Mexico in 1915; it disbanded in 1927. The Society was essentially a commercial cooperative, as opposed to a stylistic collective, and its foundation contributed to the development of the tiny Taos art colony into...
and the Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
art colony. Her numerous expressive oil sketches and en plein air
En plein air
En plein air is a French expression which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors.Artists have long painted outdoors, but in the mid-19th century working in natural light became particularly important to the Barbizon school and Impressionism...
canvases of adobe
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
dwellings and rugged landscapes caught the attention of art dealers.
She, her husband, and daughter settled on Tremont Street in Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, just around the corner from the J. Gibson Smith Gallery which displayed and sold her works. Many of her paintings had frames she hand-carved in rustic Arts and Crafts style
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
and gilded
Gilding
The term gilding covers a number of decorative techniques for applying fine gold leaf or powder to solid surfaces such as wood, stone, or metal to give a thin coating of gold. A gilded object is described as "gilt"...
with sheets of gold leaf
Gold leaf
right|thumb|250px|[[Burnishing]] gold leaf with an [[agate]] stone tool, during the water gilding processGold leaf is gold that has been hammered into extremely thin sheets and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades...
.
In 1917, Cordelia Wilson was honored by having two paintings selected for the inaugural exhibition of the new New Mexico Museum of Art
New Mexico Museum of Art
The New Mexico Museum of Art , the oldest art museum in the state of New Mexico, is one of four state-run museums in Santa Fe...
in Santa Fe. The show featured easel
Easel
An easel is an upright support used for displaying and/or fixing something resting upon it.-Etymology:The word is an old Germanic synonym for donkey...
works by George Bellows
George Bellows
George Wesley Bellows was an American realist painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City, becoming, according to the Columbus Museum of Art, "the most acclaimed American artist of his generation".-Youth:Bellows was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio...
, Robert Henri, F. Martin Hennings, and Leon Kroll
Leon Kroll
-External links:* *...
, who were working in the Southwest at that time, along with the "Taos Six" (Oscar Berninghaus
Oscar E. Berninghaus
-Further reading:*Sanders, Gordon E. Oscar E. Berninghaus, Taos, New Mexico: Master Painter of American Indians and the Frontier West. Taos Heritage Publishing Company, 1985. ISBN 0-9615-1771-9-External links:* * Paintings* *...
, Ernest Blumenschein, Irving Couse, Herbert Dunton, Bert Geer Phillips, and Joseph Henry Sharp
Joseph Henry Sharp
Joseph Henry Sharp was an American painter and a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists, of which he is considered the "Spiritual Father". Sharp was one of the earliest European-American artists to visit Taos, New Mexico, which he saw in 1893 with John Hauser when he visited in 1893...
) and other members of the Taos Society. One of her paintings exhibited in the show, A Mexican Home, was reproduced in the January–February 1918 issue of the journal Art and Archaeology (published by the Archaeological Institute of America
Archaeological Institute of America
The Archaeological Institute of America is a North American nonprofit organization devoted to the promotion of public interest in archaeology, and the preservation of archaeological sites. It has offices on the campus of Boston University and in New York City.The institute was founded in 1879,...
) that featured a cover article about the museum's opening.
Among Cordelia Wilson's largest landscapes is a 50" x 70" canvas, created for World War I military training. It was exhibited at the School of American Research of Santa Fe in 1917 with other large-scale so-called "Range Finder" paintings by Blumenschein, Berninghaus, Phillips, Gustave Baumann
Gustave Baumann
Gustave Baumann was a printmaker and painter, and one of the leading figures of the color woodcut revival in America. His works have been shown at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, and the New Mexico Museum of Art...
, Walter Ufer
Walter Ufer
Walter Ufer was an American artist based in Taos, New Mexico. His most notable work focuses on scenes of Native American life, particularly of the Pueblo Indians....
, Leon Gaspard, and others. They had been commissioned by the U.S. Army based on a proposal by the Salmagundi Club
Salmagundi Club
The Salmagundi Club, also known as the Salmagundi Art Club, was founded in 1871 in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, New York, in the United States. It currently is located at 47 Fifth Avenue...
of New York, whose members wanted to make a special contribution to America’s war effort. When the show closed, the works on display were shipped to Camp Funston
Camp Funston
Camp Funston is located on Fort Riley, and is located southwest of Manhattan, Kansas. The camp was named for Brigadier General Frederick Funston . Camp Funston was one of sixteen Divisional Cantonment Training Camps established at the outbreak of World War I...
at Fort Riley, Kansas and Camp Cody at Deming, New Mexico
Deming, New Mexico
Deming is a city in Luna County, New Mexico, United States, located 60 miles west of Las Cruces. The population was 14,116 at the 2000 census. Deming is the county seat and principal town of Luna County.-History:...
. The paintings were used for indoor instruction in range finding, topographical
Topography
Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
quizzes, and map drawing at Army camps.
John Wilson, her husband, contracted tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
in about 1921. The couple moved to the Seattle for his treatment at a sanitorium, where he passed away the following year. In 1923, Cordelia married for a third time to John N. Fahnestock, but this marriage ended in divorce in 1928. Cordelia continued to reside in Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
producing still life
Still life
A still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural or man-made...
s, florals, and scenes of the Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
region, although she periodically traveled, worked, and displayed her art in the Southwest.
Cordelia Wilson died at age 79 and she is buried in the Wilson family plot at Lake View Cemetery
Lake View Cemetery (Seattle)
Lake View Cemetery is a cemetery located on Seattle, Washington, Capitol Hill just north of Volunteer Park. It is named for its view of Lake Washington to the east. It was founded in 1873 as the Seattle Masonic Cemetery.-Notable interments:...
in Seattle. Notable paintings may be found in the holdings of museum and private collections.
Sources
- Hewett, Edgar L., "On the Opening of the Art Galleries" in Art and Archaeology: The Arts Throughout the Ages, vol. 7, nos. 1-2 (January–February 1918), Washington D.C., pp. 50–54.
- Walter, Paul A. F., "Art in War Service" in Art and Archaeology: The Arts Throughout the Ages, vol. 7, nos. 1-2 (January–February 1918), Washington, D.C., pp. 395–409 (402).
- "Other Exhibits" in El Palacio, vol. 5, no. 6 (1918), Journal of the Museum of New Mexico & the School of American Research, Santa Fe, NM, p. 91.
- "Reception and Exhibit" in El Palacio, vol. 6, no. 4 (February 1919), Journal of the Museum of New Mexico & the School of American Research, Santa Fe, NM, p. 61.
- Lake View Cemetery (Seattle), Burial Index: Wilson, Cordelia
External links
- Google Books: Art and Archaeology: The Arts Throughout the Ages, vol. 7, nos. 1-2, 1918, (marker of John H. Wilson & Cordelia Wilson)