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Historical Artist - Cecilia Beaux (1855 - 1942)
Born in Philadelphia, Cecila Beaux spent most of her career working in her hometown and in New
York City. She studied at the Academie Julien in Paris, where she developed her talent as a
portraitist. Beaux painted the likeness of many notable clients, including Henry James and
Theodore Roosevelt. Her autobiography, Background with Figures, was published in 1930. Her
sympathetic renderings of American ruling class made her one of the most successful portrait
painters of her era. Though Beaux was an individualist, comparisons to Sargent would prove
inevitable, and often favorable. Her strong technique, her perceptive reading of her subjects,
and her ability to flatter without falsifying, were traits similar to his.
During her long productive life as an artist, she maintained her personal aesthetic and high
standards against all distractions and countervailing forces. She constantly struggled for
perfection, “A perfect technique in anything,” she stated in an interview,
“means that there has been no break in continuity between the conception and the act of
performance.” She summed up her driving work ethic, “I can say this: When I attempt
anything, I have a passionate determination to overcome every obstacle…And I do my own
work with a refusal to accept defeat that might almost be called painful
Contemporary American Artists
Art Galleries in United States of America
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