USA > Texas > Prominent women of Texas > Part 7
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Mrs. Gresham is the wife of Walter Gresham, a late mem- ber of Congress from Texas, and well known for his wealth, influence and ability. She is a native Texan and was born at Corpus Christi, where she is remembered in society as Miss Josephine C. Mann. Her father was a Virginian, and her mother a South Carolinian, cousin of John C. Calhoun, and belonging to the well-known Baskin family of that State. She has five children, of whom the eldest, a daughter, is mar- ried. Her residence, in the city of Galveston, is a spacious and sumptuous mansion of imposing appearance, built of yellowish gray sandstone, Romanesque-gothic in style, with a ground area of about ninety feet square, and a handsome front of commanding height overlooking the principal thor- oughfare of the city. Strong outline is given to the building by a massive corner tower twelve feet in diameter, and by a turret nearer the center with shaft in mosaic of blue and red granite and gray sandstone, pinnacle of dressed sand- stone and surmounted by highly ornamental finial. The
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door at the main entrance is guarded on either side by a column of polished porphyritic granite of purplish red hue, producing an extremely graceful and classic effect. The carving, tracery and moulding within the building are as elaborate in artistic design as are the decorations and finish of the exterior. In this home of marvelous beauty the brush has kept pace with the chisel; its most noted achievement is the painting on the ceiling of the dining-hall, which, for ac- . curacy of perspective and harmony of colors suggests the work of the masters in the Sistine Chapel. Connected with the building is a conservatory designed in conformity to the general architecture, and in which are many rare plants, both indigenous and exotic.
Such is the home over which Mrs. Gresham presides, and in which she performs, with taste, dignity and ease, the social duties belonging to a life and environments such as hers. Domestic in her habits, and of strong motherly instincts, she gives her first care to the direction and welfare of her household ; with the gifts and the culture of the artist, she finds abundant occupation for her leisure hours in the studies that belong to the palette and easel. Thus en- dowed by nature and education with capacity for elegant enjoyment, favored by fortune with the means for its in- dulgence, and imbued by a spirit both cheerful and gener- ous, Mrs. Gresham brings to society the choicest elements for its enlightenment, its beneficence, and its polish.
JULIA SINKS ROBERTSON .- Seldom do we note in the annals of art, the name of one so rarely endowed with the rich gift of form and color as was Julia Sinks Robertson.
Her wonderful wealth of genius may have been an inherit- ance-inasmuch as she was a niece of Samuel Lee, a noted painter of Cincinnati, a cotemporary and warm friend of Hiram Powers. She was immediately descended from the widely known pioneers of southwest Texas-Dr. Joseph and Mrs. Lydia Lee Robertson. Cradled in the wilds of the western frontier, with no breath of art atmosphere to fan the divine spark, we find the child with sensitive temper-
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ament and refined thought, expressing her passionate love of nature in spirited sketches of shady nooks, or tiny cas- cades, or breezy distances that appealed to her poetic fancy.
At this juncture, her celebrated uncle-whose mantle was to fall on her shoulders-made a visit to the then far away Texas home, and the startling revelation of brush, palette, pigment, and canvas, opened a world of thrilling possibili- ties to her.
In a rapture of silent wonder, day by day she watched the magic touch of brush beneath which sprang to life an un- dreamed of vision of beauty. And when the great man was gone, a few cast-off brushes and some tubes of paint were proudly borne away to the attic window, and a rude easel at once prepared.
Titian, Holbein, or Rembrandt must surely have whis- pered to the white fingered child, as she patiently tied four small sticks together and stretched a bit of cloth over them, and rapidly placed on her royal canvas the hills and valleys so dear to her heart.
Even thus early was manifested that quick response to nature, that in later years enabled her to paint a sunset ere it faded; for, like Duran, she loved the sunsets and afterglows, and they left all their tender sweetness on her canvas.
Her sincere and sympathetic interpretation of nature grew with her, and at riper years resulted in a wholly unaffected technique, which made every picture a true art achievement.
Far removed from feverish salon clamor for recognition, she never drifted into pyrotechnic coloring or sensational methods; but with simple integrity copied nature in its truth. She was singularly successful in her pictures of baby faces, with their damp hair-tendrils and sleep-flushed cheeks ; and her brush has made imperishable the sweet flowers of her own Texas.
Who shall doubt the divine inspiration of genius, when, from an untaught, unheralded canvas shines out the soulful eyes of a Greuze, the tender realism of Bougereau's child pictures, the marvelous technique of Corot, and the spirit
W. of T .- 6
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and vigor of Dagnau Bouveret; and we are told that the modest, gifted woman, whose wealth of soul is thus revealed, had studied no methods save her own, had never trodden the halls of a salon, or even seen the works which have made our great masters immortal. Her pictures, with a few exceptions, remain in the family. "The Return of the Fish- erman," is in the collection of Mrs. T. F. Mitchell, and an original landscape being in the possession of Mrs. Searcy.
The life work of this gifted woman was brief; her genius had just unfolded its wings, when they were folded forever. The brush fell from the white hand, the easel stands draped in the corner, and the window away in the attic is desolate.
MISS DEE BEEBE, of Galveston, the daughter of Mrs. S. R. Beebe, so well and favorably known in the educational world of Texas, is one of the most capable artists in the State.
A morning of pleasure and valuable education in art knowledge can be spent by anyone who has the entrée to the charmed atmosphere of her studio in the Young Men's Christian Association Building in Galveston. There can be seen a collection of oil and water color paintings, studies and etchings in various stages of completion, of such marked ability and originality as to stamp the artist as one of those children of genius that have been touched with the sacred flame that ever burns in the truly artistic soul.
Miss Beebe paints what she sees, and she sees the true, the beautiful, and the picturesque, in nature, and those tints in earth and air, in sky and water, which are revealed only to the eye and spirit of the inspired artist, even before technical skill has been acquired necessary to put them on canvas.
But this artist has also acquired the technique of her art, for she has been an earnest student from childhood, under the best masters that Galveston could give her, and later in the Cincinnati Art Conservatory, and then in that great art center of America, New York City.
After remaining in Cincinnati one year, M. . s Beebe reluc- tantly left that admirable preparatory school for the greater
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facilities offered in New York for the pursuit of what she had elected to make her life work.
There she continued her studies under Mr. William Chase and Mr. Kenyon Cox, and after having the honor of being elected to the membership of The Art League of New York, she entered the studio of Wendell, the famous landscape painter, and went down with him to Gloucester, Massachu- setts, to learn his methods of putting water effects upon canvas.
Her favorite studies and most popular pictures show how well she applied her admirable powers to the splendid op- portunities that have been given her up to the present time. Her treatment of still life, her water and atmospheric effects, and her selection of subjects, are all in evidence of her consci- entious attention to detail.
This, added to the indomitable industry and fine judgment of the young artist, give promise of a near future of rarely successful endeavor in the high field of work to which she is devoting her life.
Galveston may well be proud of the nobly earned successes of this young artist, who possesses much strength of charac- ter, genius, and a high sense of duty.
MRS. MARGARET JOBE'S remarkable skill with the brush emphasizes the surprise one must experience upon viewing the careful, finished productions of those who have developed their gifts though exiled from art centers. The painter re- quires constant communion with nature, to burnish into perfection the vivid thoughts, the living outlines that, thus transformed, will glow upon the canvas. Yet this, the fire and fever of inspiration, is not all that is required, for al- though art is three parts divine, it is one part human, and therefore must be given the most unwearied and elaborate training. The conditions favored this special training when Miss Jobe became the pupil of Miss Janet Downie, an artist who has added luster to her capacity under the tutelage of European masters. Through this association Miss Jobe has enriched her natural gifts, and with patient effort gives
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promise of reaching the Pisgah of this fascinating pursuit. Sheis the daughter of Doctor Jobe, of Gonzales, who rendered skillful and faithful service, as surgeon in the Confederate army, and the granddaughter of Mr. Wm. D. Smith, one of the early pioneers, who located on the Guadalupe River in 1823, having previously served at New Orleans in the war of 1812.
MISS CORDIE HEARNE has devoted the greater part of her life to art. She has studied in the East, where some of her work has been highly praised by art critics, and has sold for good prices. She understands the intricacies of coloring and has done a great deal of decorative work. Her speci- mens of china painting found a place in the art exhibitin the World's Fair in 1893. Miss Hearne, has the faculty of im- parting her methods, and has given satisfaction as an instructor to large classes in colleges and at her own studio in Dallas.
MRS. GEORGE W. BARKER holds an honorable place among contemporary artists. It is easy to trace in her noble compositions, wrought out with power and feeling, an indescribable touch of life that has won for Mrs. Barker her laurels. She has made portraiture a specialty and is one of the most successful artists of Houston, where she has her home and studio.
MRS. BIRD DUVALL, of San Antonio, has profited by her studies in Europe. She has a poetic, sensitive nature, which gives her a faculty of expression in the realm of art some- what akin to that of a master musician. She has been especially successful in developing the talent of others and in giving direction to various phases of artistic activity. She has won fame for her fidelity in this field.
MISS MARION BROWN, of Dallas, is a fine amateur artist. Her love of art has proven an inspiration during the years in which she has devoted herself to the cultivation of her
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talent. She received her first lessons under the tutelage of Miss Sophie Mitchell, of Rhode Island. For the past six years she has been a student of Mrs. R. J. Onderdonk, one of the founders of the Art Students' League in New York City. Miss Brown's water colors are exquisite, while her work in oil and pastel has been considered equally fine. She has achieved much success through her illustrations with pen and ink.
MRS. KRONENGER paints with remarkable fidelity and dramatic force. She has been a diligent student, and her pic- tures are attractive as well for their technical qualities as for their refined realism. Her home is in San Antonio.
MRS. MARIA CAGE KIMBALL, of Galveston, is one of the most gifted artists of her day. She has visited the principal cities of Europe to study the work of the greatest painters and has always been received with a degree of distinction worthy of her merit. In the treatment of her subjects she sees the dignified, graceful and agreeable, and communicates it to the canvas with a felicity rare in art. Like Teniers, she excels in scenes from humble life.
-- CHAPTER XI. WELL KNOWN VOCALISTS.
MRS. L. RICHARDS-CLAGETT-MRS. DIXIE CROOKS POTTER - MISS BESSIE HUGHES.
MRS. L. RICHARDS-CLAGETT .- Among the remarkable workers of the present day, in voice culture, none have exhibited a higher devotion to improved methods, nor a more conscientious application of their axioms in the modern school of instruction than has Mrs. L. Richards-Clagett.
So important and so varied are the accomplishments that are dependent upon the human voice for their fullest expres- sion that, from Pythagoras and Euclid to the present time,
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the world's best thinkers have been enlisted for its develop- ment; but not until the present century was the field of study so enlarged as to embrace sciences heretofore undeveloped or deemed inapplicable for the purpose. A decisive impulse in the direction of the new processes was given by Molineaux' work, by Doctor Rush's Philosophy, by Lablanche, by Carlo Bassini, and by Garcia, the latter of whom insisted that a knowledge of human anatomy was indispensable to the teacher who would form and develop the voice. Others of equal note have lectured and written and taught in the same progressive spirit. Among these Mrs. Richards-Clagett takes high rank, and can exhibit, as the fruit of her many years' labor, voices in a dozen States whose melody is the delight of church, of concert hall, and lecture room.
Mrs. Richards-Clagett came to America from her native Scotland, at a very early age, and soon gave evidence of such natural flexibility and compass of voice, and of such intui- tive appreciation of the harmony of sound, that measures were taken by her father to develop her remarkable gifts. The best masters were employed, and the most approved physical discipline was observed, and, as a result, her progress was as rapid as her precocious powers could have promised. Her attainments and her predilections soon pointed out to her that her proper life work lay in the direction of training and developing the vocal talents of others in the manner that had been so successful with her own. Once embarked upon this career ; she surrendered herself wholly to its duties, and gave to their performance the riches that nature and art and experience combined alone can command. In her work she never fails of a harvest-not a harvest of material rewards alone, but a harvest, of successful effort, and of gratitude and affection from successful pupils.
In her system of instruction Mrs. Clagett is committed to that philosophy of voice-building that recognizes as factors not only the lungs, and the larynx, and the mouth, and such organs as are directly concerned in the production of vocal sound, but also all other organs and structures that more or less remotely contribute to the activity of the functions
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immediately involved. The nerves and their sensitive sources of expression, no less than the muscles of the throat, are im- plicated in adjusting the tension of the vocal chords, and thereby in determining the number of their vibrations. The system, thus broad in its conception of cooperative action among associated organs, is equally comprehensive in its recognition of the powers mutually exerted between kindred sciences. It thus opens to the teacher a field of study that is rich in materials for illustration. The acoustic laws, for in- stance, are found to be in close analogy to those of optics. The tones of sound are collected by the vocal organs as the rays of light are collected by a glass, and a "focus of vibra- tion " is attained in both that will mark the highest point of concentrated energy. The system, furthermore, goes beyond the mere physical causes of sound, and finds efficient influence in the moral part of man. That essence in our nature holds its seat in a body from which it converses with the outer world through the appointed organs of sense and sympathy. If that essence be nurtured in the admonitions of a pure and lofty spirit, its inspirations will soften every harshness, will strengthen every weakness in the tones through which it finds expression. Thus, this medium of interpretation, the voice, endowed with highest sympathy, takes on the habit of its moral training and interprets passions, emotions, thoughts, after the manner of its teacher ; and thus, the voice may flow from its depths dripping with tears, or leap from the throat sparkling with joy; may suffer and tremble under the burden of its pathos, or, bathed in the sunshine of the heart, it may warm into gladness the sorrowing life of its listener.
Mrs. Richards-Clagett, in this union of ethical teaching with vocal calisthenics, has produced results in her eighteen years of instruction, and among her hundreds of pupils, that must permanently influence the social life of our people.
After many years of close application to her classes before coming to Texas, Mrs. Clagett succumbed under the confine- ment incident to the work, and resorted to her native coun- try for recreation and repose. On coming back to America
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in the autumn of 1893, her physicians ordered her South, and she adopted Dallas, in this State, as her home. She there took a class of thirty-five pupils, and this class, by accession from abroad, soon increased to two hundred and fifty. Finding herself again overworked, she took refuge in the healthful regions near Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and, unable to resist the fascinations of her work, she there formed a class of four hundred pupils, drawn from several of the adjacent states. After her course of instruction to this class was completed, she left Arkansas and returned to her former home and her former work in Dallas.
It may be said of the attainments of Mrs. Richards- Clagett, that they are measured by the limits she has as- signed to the science of voice-building and its correlative arts; and, of her life and character, that they reflect the studies embraced within this broad field of thought. Anat- omy, physiology, acoustics, moral and mental philosophy, are the quarries from which she has gleaned the material for her building, and, like an intelligent architect, she has given to these, as to the sources of the elements that enter into her structure, the best years of a life devoted to meditation, to study, and to productive toil.
MRS. DIXIE CROOKS POTTER. - Mrs. Potter's grand- father, Turner B. Edmundson, emigrated from Mississippi to Texas in 1839, and settled in Paris, then a small village; there her mother's infant years were passed; and there she herself was born, May 23, 1862. Thus she is of the third gen- eration of her family, who are Texans by birth or adoption, and she may be fairly enrolled among the autochthons of her country, as were the proud Athenians of the land that in- spired their patriotic ardor. On the paternal side of her house Mrs. Potter is also of pioneer descent. Her father, T. J. Crooks, came to Texas from Indiana in 1844, when only nine years of age, and has borne true allegiance to the land of the Lone Star. He began life as a printer, then became a news- paper publisher, to the duties of which he gave thirty-five years of his life. He has filled public office, legislative and
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judicial, in both Republic and State; he has also served in the municipal governments of Sherman and Denison, and he lately held the position of United States Commissioner in Indian Territory.
When Mrs. Potter was ten years of age she removed with her parents from Paris to the adjacent city of Sherman, in Grayson County. She there entered the North Texas Female College and remained till the completion of her educational course. During this time she gave signal proof of the vocal gifts foreshadowed in her childhood, and she cultivated them with a patience and assiduity unusual in one of her years. The compass and melody of her rare voice soon gave her local fame, and made her a familiar figure in choir, concert and social gatherings. Conscious of her powers she resolved to enter broader fields. She took a course in the New Eng- land Conservatory at Boston, in which city, as well as in other musical centers of Massachusetts, her songs were always greeted by full houses of delighted listeners. On her return to Texas she was welcomed with many expressions and tes- timonials of appreciation; notably a reception at Austin attended by the legislature in a body, and presided over by the Governor of the State. Two years after her return she again left home for a visit to Washington City. She there attracted the attention of Prof. J. W. Bischoff, organist of the First Congregational Church, through whom she was engaged as sopranist, and filled, during two seasons, appoint- ments in the Bischoff Concert Course, and also at the Mozart Musicales, of Richmond, Virginia. Among other evidences of the favor in which she was held at the capital may be mentioned a musical entertainment under the patronage of members of the Cabinet and Congress, encomiums from foreign ministers and musical critics, and the flattering at- tention received from Mrs. Cleveland, by whom she was christened the "Song bird of Texas."
When she returned to her Texas home she was the recipient of an ovation altogether worthy of her tri- umphs and of the high order of talents by which they were won.
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In February, 1888, she was married to C. L. Potter, Esq., a member of the Texas bar, and carried with her into domes- tic life, not only the sweet memory of plaudits and praise, but the gladsome gifts by which that life is so efficiently adorned. Her home is now to the social world around her what her melody was to the musical world when she stood before it as the "Song bird of Texas."
MISS BESSIE HUGHES, the sweet soprano singer of Hous- ton, whose lovely and sympathetic voice has received the most careful training which art can give under the tutelage of the best musicians, is appreciated by the music and art loving world of Texas.
A modest, industrious and earnest student of music, she has been drawn frequently from her retirement and busy life to appear before critical audiences in San Diego, Pacific Beach, Houston, and many places in this State.
She has made her mark in comic opera as well as on the lyric stage, in concerts, and at private entertainments among leading society people.
Her popularity as a lovable, noble and conscientious girl is only equaled by her fame as a finished vocalist and dramatic artist.
Her numerous friends and admirers, as well as the news- paper critics, predict for Miss Hughes a brilliant career, and one of solid and long duration.
CHAPTER XII.
MISS MARGUERITE FISHER-MISS MAMIE VAN ZANDT- MISS GRACE KNIGHT-MRS. JOHN O. CARR -MRS. T. ATLEE COLEMAN.
MISS MARGUERITE FISHER .- No gift of nature so soon reveals itself as that of rhythmical expression in uttering vocal sounds. It is often heralded in the infant's earliest notes; it is always known before the tender years of child-
MISS BESSIE HUGHES.
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hood have passed away. And thus it was that, while yet a cheery songstress in the nursery, Miss Marguerite Fisher disclosed the priceless heritage of her rich soprano voice, to- day made famous by its wealth of volume and of sweetness.
Miss Fisher is a native Texan, born at Brenham, in 1875. She there began her vocal training and paved the way to higher and more classic culture. At the age of seventeen she was sent to Leipsic, the music center of the world, and entered the Royal Conservatory under the skillful guidance of Professor Wold, a teacher of European reputation. In this great school is everywhere apparent the genius of Mendelssohn, its noble and well-remembered founder. In the city that enshrines it-the city that is named for its sweetly murmuring lindens-music finds its tenderest, its most en- dearing memories. There Bach died, and there Wagner was born. In the broad fatherland that cherishes both the classic city and its temple of melody, every hamlet tenderly pre- serves the crypt or cradle of one or more of music's sweet interpreters, and music is the familiar friend of every home, the cheerful guest at every board. There is the land of Han- del, creator of the solemn oratorio; of Gluck, the father of the opera; and Weber and Meyerbeer, his splendid succes- sors ; of Hayden and Beethoven, the writers of imperishable symphonies; of Mozart, the unrivaled composer of sonatas and serenatas; and of a host of others whose compositions will last as long as there is air to give to sound its voice. In the midst of such a land, the true lover of music must be stirred by the inspiration of its memories and the genius of its people; and, if endowed with the gift of harmonious expression, must rise to the highest plane of successful effort. This is the promise that fortunate environments and a happy combination of events seem to hold out to Miss Fisher.
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