Florence Griswold

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Florence Ann Griswold (December 25, 1850 – December 6, 1937) was a resident of Old Lyme, Connecticut, USA who became the nucleus of the "Lyme Art Colony" in the early 20th century.

The youngest daughter of ship captain Robert Harper Griswold, she, along with her mother and two sisters, opened the Griswold Home School for girls in 1878 and taught there for 14 years. Her father, sister Louise, and mother died, leaving her and her sister Adele in a precarious financial position, and made ends meet by taking in boarders.

In 1899, artist Henry Ward Ranger, recently returned from Europe and inspired by the example of the French Barbizon, rented a room from Griswold and encouraged his acquaintances to do likewise, notably Childe Hassam who arrived in 1903. Many other American Impressionist masters summered at the colony, in Griswold's house. Wilson Irvine, for example, arrived in 1914. Ellen Louise Wilson, first wife of president Woodrow Wilson, came as an art student and became friends with Florence; in 1914 Florence attended the wedding of Presidential daughter Jessie Sayer Wilson. Many American impressionist paintings of the era are of subjects in and around the Griswold house.

Florence became the first manager of the Lyme Art Association's gallery when it opened in 1921.

Her home has since been made into the Florence Griswold Museum, exhibiting both art and historical material.

[edit] External links

• Museum website
• Florence Griswold biography