Elizabeth Jane Gardner (Bouguereau) Perseverance and Grit

I wakened to a realization that the foundation of good painting is correct drawing. Those are words of Elizabeth Jane Gardner, of her early years in search of a teacher. Elizabeth was from the beginning a woman who knew what her vocation would be and should be, and determined to make it all a reality. The road ahead would be especially difficult for anyone who seeks art as a profession, but particularly so for a young girl with those ambitions. I am determined that I will succeed now that I have sacrificed so much for art. Those words would define a determined artist, that nothing but nothing would discourage her from her dream to be a fully-fledged painter and to be at the very top of her ability. What do we know of Elizabeth Jane Gardner? We have some answers, albeit very little is known about Elizabeth Gardner's life before she left for Paris in 1864 at 27. She was born in Exeter, New Hampshire on October 4, 1837. She was the fourth of five children born to George and Jane Lowell Gardner. Her paternal grandfather, John Gardner, was a hardware merchant who came to Exeter from Brookline, Massachusetts in the latter part of the 18th century. It is evident Elizabeth Gardner was of a strong physical constitution, and was very seldom bedridden for any illness. Her brother John or Johnny, two years older than she, was a recipient of many of her letters from Paris, and took over the family hardware business at their father's passing, and in so doing helped sustain the family's financial affairs which had begun to wane. The younger sister, Maria or Ria, was, like John, a recipient of many of the extant letters. Elizabeth attended the Exeter Female Academy, where the course of instruction extended over a period of five years, with Latin and modern languages, instrumental music, designing and landscape drawing, and other accomplishments were taught. She must have found the limitations of the small school frustrating, for in 1854 she transferred to La Salle Female Seminary in Auburndale, Massachusetts, which offered more advanced courses in all areas of learning. Subjects such as physiology, botany, chemistry, mental philosophy, astronomy, geology, moral science, evidences of Christianity, logic, elements of criticism, trigonometry and geometry, made up the core courses taken by Elizabeth at La Salle. Along with Latin and modern languages, French, one of the more common foreign languages, would have been spoken at the dining table by the girls who were studying it. However, she recalled many years later, her training at La Salle, which she qualified as limited to drawing from outline cards and dabbling in watercolors, generally by slavishly copying, where copies could be had, of old world reproductions. She added, I wakened to a realization that the foundation of good painting is correct drawing. A well-attended entertainment at La Salle, that often took place at the end of each term, was described as, a costumed fixed pose with living figures representing a moment in history or some symbolic subject, and provided as an example of some attempt at duplicating a theme from history and a challenge for students. In the 1858 to 59 catalogue, Gardner is listed as being in charge of the English department. Of Gardner's qualities as a teacher, one observer is quoted as saying, her faculty for discipline is especially remarkable, and is combined with much gentleness and quietness of manner, and with superior scholarship. To illustrate the popularity of the academy, the night following one of these public examinations, Imogene Robinson, her close friend and associate at the school, and Gardner, hosted a reception, which was attended by approximately 1,000 visitors and students. In an 1861 program advertisement, Elizabeth Gardner is named as being in charge of the English and Classical department. Around that time, she took more than 30 private lessons in French elocution, from E. Harlow Russell, a professor who was associated with the academy's French institute, and founded in 1859. No doubt, even at this time, a trip to Paris was already determined. The last mention of the School of Design and Academy of Fine Arts is in 1863. It is known that both Elizabeth and Imogene sailed for Europe, probably in the summer of 1864. The artist's first surviving letter from Paris to her family in Exeter is dated September 19, 1864. To make a living in the capital, the two women created replicas of European masterworks, which were in high demand among American collectors. Outside of major cities, painted examples of famous artworks were so scarce that savvy promoters commissioned copies of specific paintings to tour various cities, charging the public an admission fee to see them. Imogene and Elizabeth met Jonas Gilman Clark, an art collector likely based in Worcester at the time, and served as his agents in Paris. They acquired paintings by French masters on his behalf, and sent them back to him in New York. Imogene Robinson and Gardner arrive in the capital city. They are met with the splendor and grandness that is Paris, and at one point went on to visit the Universelle exposition, where she writes, Before we entered the grounds, we saw a splendid great American flag waving on a building at one side. I just stood still and looked at it without moving. I felt proud of the flag. At the center of the fine arts building is a garden, with fountains and pavilions, beautifully arranged with statuary. It was such a relief to reach this lovely quiet place. We sat down to rest and look, for which luxury we of course were at once invited to pay for our seats. At the center, one sees the point from which the division of each country radiates, like the slices of mother's pies. We selected of course the American division which is small, Bierstadt's landscape is very fine, though not advantageously hung. Frederick Church's Niagara painting looks well. The English pictures are in the same hall, though all separate. Their works of art are very, very poor in my estimation, but they of course think theirs are fine. Then we spent several hours in the French collection. They have half of the building. I enjoyed more than I can tell you in looking at their pictures. The Capitol, as an international artistic center and American collectors, more readily used their newly acquired fortunes to purchase, among other styles, French academic paintings, as these were eagerly sought on both sides of the Atlantic. American newspapers were now encouraging artists to go abroad to study. Illustrated reviews were increasing the educated public's awareness of foreign art and the successes of the salons, awaiting what was new with great interest. Elizabeth Gardner and Imogene Robinson arrived in Paris in 1864, well ahead of the wave of artists that would follow in the next decade. This early arrival put them in a promising position to eventually benefit from the emerging art market. However, they still faced significant challenges before they could claim their share. They needed to master new artistic techniques, adapt to a foreign way of life, and earn recognition within the French art community. I had never dreamed on quitting America that all Paris had not a studio nor a master who would receive me. I had forgotten, if I ever knew, that the few French or foreign women were the wives, sisters, or daughters of painters, and it was in the ateliers of their family they lived and worked. The first obstacle, therefore, was for the two of them to gain admission into a studio. Male students had a variety of options at their disposal. For many, the famous Ecole des Beaux-Arts was the ultimate objective. The atelier was a vital stepping stone for acceptance into that prestigious institution. As women were not allowed access to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts until June 1897, tuition was much higher for women than it was for men, most often double. For example, at Académie Julian, women's fees were 60 francs a month for half-days, men paid 25 francs for the same instruction. At the Atelier of Carolus Duran, women paid 100 francs a month for half-days, while men were offered full days for 30 francs a month, while at Académie Colarossi, it was set at 40 francs a month for half-days, and was the only school to charge men and women the same fee. It is clear that Elizabeth needed to fund her carefully. A good part of her income came from making copies in the Louvre for orders she had received. She begins to understand the sacrifices involved in making one's way as an artist in the mid-sixties. We are well and very busy, working at the Louvre from 7 a.m. till 6 at night part of the time, and occasionally when we have friends here, giving all our time to fun. She continues, I'll have a long programme prepared for the future. We should not have worked so long in the Louvre had we not had orders for pictures. I hope to go into a studio to study. I am working early and late, busy with anatomy classes every evening. The Louvre is too cold to work in much now. There are furnaces which make it comfortable for visitors who are moving about, but all the artists who can, go elsewhere for the winter. I have begun at the studio. All was new at first, the walk of two miles, and working from models to which I was unaccustomed, and the strange faces around me. I knew that Jean-Baptiste Ange-Tissier had pupils now beginning their third year, whom he did not yet allow to use colour. So with a sigh I closed my paintbox and started the first morning with port crayon and paper. A port crayon is an instrument for holding a crayon, or charcoal stick. I worked with crayon two days, and was then told to provide myself with canvas and paints, which you may be sure I remembered the next morning. My admiration for Mr. Tissier is not boundless. He is a Frenchman of about fifty, tender and irritable. Drawing is his forte, but his colour is bad. I shall learn what I can there while watching the horizon. Our class is small and select. The French element consists of people over eighteen, who are brought by their mothers or nurses in the morning and called for at night, but they are full of fun and trained enough when left to themselves. After fruitless attempts to learn the pronunciation of my name, they submit to me whether I object to being called La Petite Sauvage, inasmuch as I come from a country of savages. On her routine, we have models four times a week, and choose our own work the other two days. This week we have had a young Italian boy, with jet black hair and eyes, and complexion to match. He is a spirited little wretch, poses with sentiment, submits gracefully to the pictures we make from him, and criticizes our work without ceremony when the day is over. Next week we shall have his sister. The painter Thomas Couture was well known and very popular among American expatriates. Both Imogene and Elizabeth had hoped to work with him. Imogene took five lessons with the artist. Couture, like many artists trained in France at the time, was a firm believer in the benefits of solid draftsmanship. However, what differed in his technique was that he encouraged students to sketch with paint rather than pencil, and to work up the composition in that medium. The objective of the exercise was to preserve the vitality of a sketch by actually painting from the first step. Gardner and Robinson were hopeful for entry into the studio, however when we came we expected to study with him, but heard that he had given up teaching entirely. Last week Imogene learned that he had just returned from the country, and was at leisure for a few days. She called to see him the next morning with her paint box. He took a great fancy to her, and set her to work in a few minutes. She took five lessons of four hours each, and then he told her that she did not need any teacher, to work away fast and boldly, and to come to him at any and all times for advice or suggestions. She paid him five dollars for each lesson, and in one of these days he drew a crayon portrait for which he had 500 francs. He says that he will give me a few lessons in about six months. He has a large picture underway. He often earns a thousand francs for an oil portrait which he paints in four hours. He is a genius. He has inspired us both with courage and hope, but he says he only gained his power after 15 years of hard study, in which he often drew 14 hours a day. Elizabeth writes, I have just joined a few young ladies who have an independent little studio the other side of the river. I found my old walk to the studio too great a tax on time and strength, and as they besought me to come with them, I concluded to try it. I have been there now for three weeks, and like it much. We hire our own models, buy our own carbon, and do just as we please. It is less expensive than where I was before. We are a merry set, and have a good time together the first three days of the week. She continues her remaining time at the Louvre for orders that have been received. I have been at work for two weeks very steadily on my picture for Mrs. Young. It is already looking well. I hope it will be the best I have painted. I do it with a good zest, because it is an order, but I do not like much to copy. I want to be at work on something original. The young artists come out here from America, and expect to do something wonderful in a few months, but the most of them get discouraged and go home. I am determined that I will succeed, now that I have sacrificed so much for art, and I know that I have made great progress. Then I shall come home to live, and have big orders like Mr. Bierstadt. But by 1871 we learn of her first mention of Bouguereau. But it is likely she met him much earlier, as they have addresses near the same building. Bouguereau and his first wife, Nelly, moved to 73 Rue Notre-Dame des Champs, so her studio home faced across the courtyard from theirs. It also seems probable that she worked under Bouguereau's tutelage at Académie Julien's. From this point on, her style begins to copy that of Bouguereau, whom she admired above all others. Her famous quote, I know I am criticized for not more boldly asserting my individuality, but I would rather be known as the best imitator of Bouguereau than nobody. However, artists of all nationalities came to Paris and willfully imitated the masters in order to broaden their artistic skills and imitate their successes financially as well. For the years before her engagement to Bouguereau in 1879, by which time she was functioning as a fully independent professional, she sought every opportunity to better her craft. In another viewpoint from Julien's Académie, the advice to female students. As Anna Klumpke recalls Julien's advice, that women should listen without tears to the criticism of their professors and follow the lead of such glorious heroines of art as Madame Lebrun, Angelica Kauffman, and Rosa Bonheur. In recollecting her early struggles, I resolved, said Madame Bouguereau, recalling those tentative days over the teacups in the garden of Villa de Cambys, to follow Rosa Bonheur's example in a similar emergency. My hair was short, the fever having clipped it before I quit America. I applied to the Paris police for permission to wear a boy's costume. This was readily granted. In that guise, I was admitted to the Gobelin school, with the approval of the professor who was interested in helping me. I never suffered the slightest annoyance. The students were most courteous. I was never remarked in the streets of Paris and always changed my costume when I returned home. When Monsieur Julien, inspired by the American girl's courage and talent, opened to women students his famous studio in the Passage des Panorames, Miss Gardner discarded her boy's costume and left the Gobelin school. Where at Gobelin she was the only woman. She had now, in the Julien atelier, three fellow students. This number soon increased, for the precedent once established, women not only flocked thither from all parts of the world, but divided the honors with the men, art recognizing no sex in its awards. Some of our countrymen find an impropriety in our working in a mixed atelier. And perhaps there is, according to Societe's code, but if a woman wants to be a painter, she must get over her squeamishness. If she wants to paint strong and well like a man, she must go through the same training. There is no sex here. The students, men and women, are simply painters. This is one of the best ateliers in Paris to learn to paint in, and this is a sufficient reason for our coming here. Elizabeth Gardner is reported as saying that it procured me the means of studying from life in the company of strong draughtsmen, and to it I am indebted for whatever virility there may be in my drawing. Now to relate an interesting story of her great masterpiece of King David and the Lion, we have the following as told by her. A lion in a traveling circus was the model. The lion was ill and asleep, said Madame Bouguereau, when I asked permission of the circus proprietor to sketch it. Its position was just what I wanted, but the proprietor, having himself no use for a lion not in action, was loath to understand. When I secured his reluctant permission, I set to work. But before the study was completed, the lion inconsiderately died. Not to be outwitted, I bought the body and carted it home to my studio where the picture was finished. As we close this presentation, we have a little insight into the Bouguereau household. We are enjoying our new studio, though we often wish we were a little nearer the center of Park. We have a splendid great room to work in. Just now our family is quite numerous. We have a little French girl living with us. We found that our housekeeping took too much time, so we took a orphan child, who had neither home nor relatives. She is pretty and very smart. She is delighted to be here and says that she shall never leave us. She is very useful and costs but little. And we have a splendid great dog, an African hound. He is an enormous fellow, just one yard high. He is very useful to put in pictures. He won't allow anyone about who is not well dressed. The floor of our studio is dark wood and we keep it waxed. The man who comes once a week to polish it is quite deformed. Bruce, the dog, hates him and flies at him if we leave them alone for a minute. I have had a present of two lovely turtle doves. They are perfectly tame and play about the studio all day, often lighting on our shoulders. We fear that they are destined to be eaten by the dog, for he is a hunter, and at first chase them about. Now they will get on his back when he is asleep, and he does not like it. Gardner, at one point, had as many as twenty-six birds in her aviary at 73 Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs. Though they demanded a lot of attention, they were a great comfort to her when she was alone. Her favourite was Coco. She writes, My birds are all well. I have built a fire in their little room tonight for the first time this season. It opens into the studio, and my stove there has thus far been enough. My little maid is good and works well. Coco had a new cage for his New Year's present, and he is covered with the afghan tonight. And finally, we hope you enjoyed the presentation, and we hope as well that many more works by Elizabeth Bouguereau may emerge. It is understandable that many collectors are reluctant to show or sell her works, so they may remain hidden a bit longer, but Elizabeth succeeded beyond her expectations and remains a true pioneer for women today, for art is a difficult profession to be sure. 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