Blanche Stillson

Blanche Stillson (June 6, 1889 - January 4, 1977) was an American artist and author from Indianapolis. She began her career as a painter, and later moved to wood-block printing.

Blanche Stillson
Born(1889-06-06)June 6, 1889
Indianapolis, Indiana, Marion County, Indiana, United States
DiedJanuary 4, 1977(1977-01-04) (aged 87)
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
NationalityAmerican
OccupationArtist, author, and art educator
Known forWood-block prints
Parent(s)Dr. Joseph O. Stillson
Matilda Rose (Bisch) Stillson

Early life and education

Blance Stillson was born on June 6, 1889, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Mathilde Rose (Bisch) and Dr. Joseph O. Stillson.[1] Joseph Stillson and Matilda Bisch married on October 27, 1880. In the late 1800s Doctor Joseph O. Stillson, attended Hanover College, practiced medicine in Bedford, Indiana, with his father, Dr. Joseph Stillson.

Stillson attended the Girls' Classical School in Indianapolis,[2] a college preparatory school founded by May Wright Sewall and her husband, Theodore Lovett Sewall.[3] Stillson also attended DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, where she joined Alpha Phi, and international women's fraternity.[4] She graduated with bachelor's degree from DePauw in 1911, the same year she was selected as a Phi Beta Kappa member.[2]

Stillson also attended John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis, where her art teachers were William Forsyth and J. Ottis Adams.[2][5] During several summers she also studied with Charles Webster Hawthorne in Provincetown, Massachusetts.[6] Stillson trained as a painter and did not began wood-block printing until the age of thirty-one.[7]

Career

Artist and art educator

Stillson taught art and painting from 1920 to 1934 at John Herron Art Institute (a forerunner to the Herron School of Art and Design at Indiana University–Purdue University at Indianapolis and the Indianapolis Museum of Art, present-day Newfields). She also taught art at Shortridge High School from 1928 to 1939 and Butler University in the evenings beginning in 1933.[8][9]

Stillson exhibited her paintings and woodcuts at numerous art shows, including the Hoosier Salon's annual shows from 1925 to 1928 and at the Indiana State Fair from 1920 to 1927.[6][10] Her art also appeared in books and newspapers, and on bookplates, greeting cards, promotional materials.[9]

Author

Stillson wrote a weekly art column for the Indianapolis News from 1923 to 1925.[9] She also wrote magazine articles, including "On Block Prints," an essay that was published in the Alpha Phi Quarterly in June 1922.[11]

She was the author of three books. Abe Martin––Kin Hubbard (Indianapolis, 1939), which she co-authored with Dorothy R. Russo, describes Frank "Kin" McKinney Hubbard and Abe Martin, the cartoon character he created. The Marmon Memorial Collection of Paintings (Indianapolis, 1948),[1] describes the modern art that Caroline Marmon Fesler acquired and donated to the Art Association of Indianapolis (Indianapolis Museum of Art).[12] Wings: Insects, Birds, Men (Indianapolis, 1954)[1] which gained national attention from the Book of the Month Club, is her most well-known work. Stillson, an avid bird watcher,[8] provides a detailed account of the evolution of flight. In a book review published in the American Museum of Natural History's magazine, Natural History, E. T. Gilliard described Wings as "a classic" and compared it to Rachel Carson's The Sea Around Us, explaining that Stillson's book "does for the air around us what Rachel Carson has done for the sea."[13]

Cultural leader

Stillson was active in the Indianapolis arts community. She was elected a trustee of the Art Association of Indianapolis, the present-day Indianapolis Museum of Art (Newfields) in 1944. She was also a member of the IMA's board of directors and served as vice president of the board in 1959.[9]

Personal life

Throughout her life, Stillson resided at a home that her parents had built in 1908 on North Meridian Street.[8]

Death and legacy

Stillson died on January 4, 1977,[5] at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. Her remains are interred at Indianapolis's Crown Hill Cemetery.[14]

Stillson produced art in several mediums, including still-life paintings, but she is best known for her wood-block prints, especially her bookplates. Examples of Stillson's art are included in the permanent collections of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (Newfields) in Indianapolis,[6] and in the collections of the William Henry Smith Memorial Library at the Indiana Historical Society in Indianapolis.[2]

References
  1. Donald Eugene Thompson and R. E. Banta (1974). Indiana Authors and Their Books, 1917-1966; A Continuation of Indiana Authors and Their Books, 1816-1916, and Containing Additional Names from the Earlier Period. I. Crawfordsville, Indiana: Wabash College. p. 586. OCLC 929100.
  2. Judith Vale Newton and Carol Ann Weiss (2004). Skirting the Issue: Stories of Indiana's Historical Women Artists. Indianapolis, IN: Indiana Historical Society Press. p. 329. ISBN 0-87195-177-0.
  3. Ray E. Boomhower (2007). Fighting for Equality: A Life of May Wright Sewall. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society. pp. 29 and 31. ISBN 9780871952530.
  4. "Gamma, De Pauw University Annual Report". The Alpha Phi Quarterly. Ann Arbor, Michigan: The Alpha Phi Fraternity. 20 (1): 90 and 229. November 1907.
  5. Judith Vale Newton and Carol Weiss (1993). A Grand Tradition: The Arts and Artists of the Hoosier Salon, 1925–1990. Indianapolis, Indiana: Hoosier Salon Patrons Association. p. 437. ISBN 9780963836007.
  6. C. Warner Williams (August 1927). "An Exhibit of Xylography". The Columbian. Indianapolis, Indiana: The Columbia Club: 15.
  7. Newton and Weiss, Skirting the Issue, p. 241.
  8. Newton and Weiss, Skirting the Issue, pp. 241–44.
  9. "Biographical Sketch," in Blanche Stillson Papers, 1911–1976, Collection Guide. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society. OCLC 19771516.
  10. Newton and Weiss, A Grand Tradition, p. 306.
  11. Blanche Stillson (June 1922). "On Block Prints". Alpha Phi Quarterly: 183–85.
  12. Harriet G. Warkel, Martin F. Krause, and S. L. Berry (2003). The Herron Chronicle. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 115. ISBN 9780253342379.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. E. T. Gilliard (January 1955). "Your New Books, 'Wings: Insects, Birds, Men'". Natural History. Washington, D.C.: American Museum of Natural History: 5.
  14. "Blanche Stillson". Find A Grave. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
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