Louise Cox

Louise Cox
Birth name	Louise Howland King
Born	(1865-06-23)June 23, 1865[1] San Francisco, California
Died	1945 Windham, Connecticut
Spouse	Kenyon Cox (1892–1919, his death)[2]
Nationality	American
Field	Painting

Louise Cox (born Louise Howland King, June 23, 1865 in San Francisco, California—1945 in Windham, Connecticut)^[3] was an American painter known for her portraits of children. She won a number of prizes throughout her career, notably a bronze medal at the Paris Exposition of 1900 and a silver medal at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo.^[4]

Education

Louise Cox attended the National Academy of Design in New York City, and is quoted as saying, "Although I was born in 1865 in San Francisco, it was not until sixteen years later that I started to live, for in 1881 I entered the National Academy of Design."^[5] She left after two years to enroll with the Art Students League.

During her time at the National Academy of Design, Louise Cox learned an academic style of painting, grounded in the style of Jean-Léon Gérôme (One of her instructors, Professor Lemuel Wilmarth, was taught by Gérôme). According to Cox, the Gérôme principles "were based on study, thoroughness, and self-discipline" and her "grounding in the Gérôme tradition prevented my taking on the arty methods in vogue".^[6]

When Cox later attended the Art Students League she would have a less traditional education. The A.S.L. was unendowed and run by students. Many classes, in fact, had no instructors and were collaboratively held by the students alone. Cox took one such sketching class and was forced to quickly interpret and understand forms. Of this she said, "Maybe that very sketch class helped me in my later portrait painting of young, active children"^[7] Also invaluable were the costume parties held by Cox and her peers known as the Art Students League Balls, as these events educated Cox in costuming her paintings' figures.

In Cox's memoir she wrote of the flirtations and jokes that occurred at the Art Students League. Her sense of humor is evident in a recollection of a composition class in which, "One of the subjects for composition was 'Early Settlers.' My interpretation was rejected promptly and with distaste, as my misguided sense of humor led me into painting a graveyard"^[8]

It was at the Art Students League that Louise Cox met her art instructor and future husband, Kenyon Cox. Having a solid reputation at the A.S.L., Kenyon Cox was selected as the 1885 instructor for the women's life class.^[9] The two grew close and were married in 1892.^[10]

Career

Cox's first renowned painting was The Lotus Eaters, which was displayed at the National Academy of Design in 1887, the Paris Exposition in 1889, and the Columbian Exposition in 1893. Cox also won the third Hallgarten prize of the National Academy of Design in 1896, the Shaw Memorial prize from the Society of American Artists in 1903, and a silver medal from the St. Louis Exposition in 1904.^[11] In 1902, she was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate Academician.

In 1893 Cox displayed the painting, Psyche at an annual exhibition for the Society of American Artists. She was elected a member in the same year.^[12]

Louise Cox was well regarded for her portraiture of children, and particularly regarded for her talent with fidgety sitters.^[13]

Selected Works

• May Flowers, 1911, oil on canvas, 24 1/8 × 20 1/8 in. (61.2 × 51.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of William T. Evans ^[14]
• Portrait of Leonard Cox, 1895, oil on canvas, 11 3/4 × 12 in. (29.8 × 30.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Allyn Cox^[15]
• Untitled (Seated Young Girl), 1903, pencil and pastel on paper, 15 7/8 × 10 3/8 in. (40.2 × 26.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Allyn Cox^[16]

References