Painting Catharine Lorillard Wolfe's Portrait

Painting Catharine Lorillard Wolfe's portrait:             "A Woman ahead of her time".

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe  Collection Grace Church, New York, N.Y., 22 x 18 oil on linen

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe was a prominent American philanthropist who strongly believed in the value of education and the role museums could play in presenting art to the public.

 

 

 She was the only woman of the 106 founding members of the The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The bequest of her art collection was her most significant philanthropic endeavor. Her collection gave the Metropolitan its first significant representation of the kinds of paintings that appealed to the general public. Miss Wolfe subsequently bequeathed 140 paintings to the museum, including Weaning the Calves (1879) by Rosa Bonheur, and an endowment for their maintenance. Wolfe's gift of $200,000 was the first permanent endowment fund for buying art ever given to a major American museum.

As a proud elected member of the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, I was inspired to paint her portrait because of her generosity, social good will, her dedication to supporting women, and cultivating quality fine arts, and because I had a unique family connection with the Lorillards.

 

 She was a strong and passionate woman who, instead of just being a  wealthy socialite, really wanted to help make the world better.

The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club was established in 1896. The purpose at the time was to provide aid, counsel and exhibition opportunities to young women artists in New York City. 

Now, getting back to my challenge to bring recognition to such a caring, generous and special woman…where to find an image reference for her portrait!

    I looked everywhere, The New York Library, New York Historical Society, The Newport Rhode Island Historical Society, The Smithsonian, The Library of Congress, The National Portrait Gallery, and The New York Times Archives.  Consequently, I had to do a lot of research…which I will explain further on. I had found no images of Catharine, besides the beautiful oil portrait by Alexandre Cabanel painted in 1876, which hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 

  

 

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, 1876, Aleandre Cabanel, Collection Metropolitan Museum of Art,                      The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection 

 

 

 

But I was not going to give up! Yes, I did finally find an image of Catharine, in her later 40's. It was a rendering after a photograph by William Kurtz, in the collection of the New York Public Library, (I could not find the photo the rendering was based on). 

Now, I had something to start with! I had the face to base the portrait from and the background. I placed Catharine in the same background color scheme as in the Metropolitan Museum Cabanel portrait. This way, she is captured in her real setting in her real period of time. I also changed her hair style so it would be as elegant as in the Cabanel portrait. But I still needed a torso and period dress that fitted her respected social status and period of the 1870's. After much research, I found in the Library of Congress, a photograph of President Garfield's wife, in an elegant day dress of the same exact period.

 

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe rendering after William Kurtz photograph artist unknown

 

      

 

 

 

Detail of Cabanel Portrait

 

The rendering proportionately  placed on the Garfield torso and dress

 

 

Also, I have a very unique connection to Catharine, which I think added to my inspiration for painting her portrait.  My great-great grandfather Charles Littlefield and my great-great uncle R. Wyndham Walden, both in the Racing Hall of Fame, were the horse trainers for the Lorillard family. 

 

The Lorillard family were one on the most successful and powerful racing families in the mid-to late 1800’s. Under my great-great uncles R. Wyndham Walden guidance, the Lorillard family won the Preakness Stakes a record five straight years between 1878 and 1882; the Belmont Stakes in 1878, 1880, and 1881; and the Travers Stakes in 1878 and 1880. Among George Lorillard's best horses were the famous Saunterer, Vanguard, Grenada, Tom Ochiltree, and Duke of Magenta. 

 

What is even more exciting for me is that I have letters, (dating from the late 1800’s) of horse racing correspondence between George Lorillard and the Walden family. My great great-grandfather, Charles Littlefield also trained for Pierre Lorillard, George Lorillard’s brother.

 

This has been a fun, exciting and rewarding portrait to create!

 

To see more of my portraiture, please visit my website:

www.SusanDurkee.com

A wonderful mid-late 1800's print showing RW Walden & Lorillard winnings

I received this lovely letter from Reverend J. Don Waring of Grace Church:

 

 

 

To see more portraits by Susan Boone Durkee, visit:

www.susandurkee.com

 

Founder Cancer Research Institute: Helen Coley Nauts: Advocate for Immunotherapy

Helen Coley Nauts: Advocate for Immunotherapy

 

Helen Coley Nauts Founder  Cancer Research Institute  collection Cancer Research Institute

 

 

 

 

 

Helen Coley Nauts, a remarkable woman dedicated to the pioneering work of her father, Dr. William B. Coley.

Above is the oil portrait I was commissioned to create for the Cancer Research Institute. I will never forget the memorable day I spent with this amazing, charming and engaging woman. I chose to paint Helen with her hand on her chin as this was a characteristic gesture and a small portrait of her father, Dr. Coley, beside her.

 Here is some information about this amazing woman.

On January 27, 1953, Helen Coley Nauts and her devoted friend Oliver R. Grace Sr., founded the Cancer Research Institute with a grant of $2,000 from Nelson Rockefeller.

  Helen had no formal medical training, yet recognized the potential significance of the pioneering work of her father, Dr. William B. Coley. She taught herself oncology and immunology in order to interpret and publish detailed case histories of cancer patients treated with Coley's toxins, a bacterial cocktail that we now understand stimulated the patient's immune system to fight cancer. This was the beginning of Cancer immunology.

 

Also, an image of my portrait of Helen Coley Nauts hangs  in the collection of the United States National Library of Medicine, see article below:

Posted by Circulating Now on April 19, 2016 in Collections, Prints & Photographs | 5 Comments

 https://circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov/2016/04/19/helen-coley-nauts-advocate-for-immunotherapy/

 

The article features my oil portrait of Helen Coley Nauts commissioned by The Cancer Research Institute. An image of my portrait of Helen Coley Nauts is now in the collection of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Douglas Atkins of the U.S. National Library of Medicine has written a wonderful and timely blog about Helen Coley Nauts, the founder of The Cancer Research Institute, and her father Dr. William Coley, the father of cancer immunology. To read the informative blog on the U.S. Library of Medicine Circulating Now site click on this link:
https://circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov/2016/04/19/helen-coley-nauts-advocate-for-immunotherapy/

To see more of my commissioned portraiture and art work, please visit: www.susandurkee.com

The importance of traditional portrait painting today

 "There is no greater work of Art then a great Portrait"             Henry James

 

An oil portrait lives forever! 

 

The portrait symbolizes the value and worth of the individual in society. To capture a loved one or to honor a special individual on canvas is a timeless human need and expression. An oil portrait, unlike a photograph, has so much more room for expression and power, passion and harmony, and life. 

 

Today, portraiture is more important than ever. In a world becoming less and less sensitive to the human condition, the more important portraiture becomes for  preserving our humanity, culture, care and love. 

 

Mankind has an inherent need to love and honor, as an art form, only portraiture can accomplish this. 

 

The Hotchkiss School, a honored commission to paint the Head of School, Dr. Kevin Hicks

                                                       Dr. Kevin Hicks, Head of School
                                                  The Hotchkiss School,   36 x 26 oil on linen, 
                                      Collection The Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Connecitcut
                 

Your work is beautiful and flattering, and I appreciate your meticulous attention to detail, craftsmanship, and warmth….

With sincere gratitude, Kevin

Dr. Kevin M. Hicks '85

Former Head of The Hotchkiss School

 Current President

Stevenson School

Thanks so much for this great work of art...John

John P. Tuke

Chief Financial Officer

The Hotchkiss School

  

In April 2015, I was contacted by John Tuke, the CFO of The Hotchkiss School for a  commission to capture on canvas the current Head of School, Dr. Kevin Hicks. I was delighted and honored to have such a prestigious commission. The Hotchkiss School is one of the top preparatory schools in the Country. Both my brothers went to Hotchkiss, and I can still remember watching my brothers play soccer on many beautiful crisp colorful fall afternoons.

  I traveled to The Hotchkiss School  to meet with Dr. Hicks and to see where the portrait would hang. This opportunity would also help decide the portrait setting and composition. It was a delight to meet Dr. Hicks! He was so warm and engaging, and an attractive man with blue twinkling eyes and a easy friendly and sincere smile. Dr. Hicks earned a B.A. in Religious Studies from Yale and a Ph.D. in English from Princeton. He also served for 5 years,the Dean of Berkeley College at Yale University. A very accomplished young man! After my meeting with Dr. Hicks, I was given a tour of the Main building and viewed potential staging areas with the helpful Curator, Joan Baldwin. 

 

 The size of the oil portrait was decided, along with where the portrait would hang. Because the portrait would have a simple background, I asked if there was anything meaningful and special to Dr. Hicks that we could include, not only for composition but also to give the portrait a more personal  meaning. Joan mentioned that Dr. Hicks was  fond of a special antique chair, which has been in the school's collection for long time,( the matching desk was in Dr. Hicks' office). I thought this would be a fine  addition to the composition, see below:

 

 

I decided that the large seminar room was the best spot to pose Dr. Hicks. The lighting is wonderful, particularly  with the two walls  in the alcove (looking  out towards the front circle)  softly reflecting the morning light. Two weeks after the initial meeting, I returned to The Hotchkiss School to take the reference photos for the portrait of Dr. Hicks.

 

Seminar Room view from outside main building entrance

Seminar Room with  staging set up

After the photos were taken, Dr. Hicks and I reviewed together and selected the photo(s) that we thought would work best for the portrait and evoke Dr. Hicks' warm, thoughtful and spiritual nature.

 

Photo reference for the portrait

          Now, I am ready to get to work!

 

 Below are stages of the portrait development: first, blocking in the masses, then building and refining the details.

To see more of my commissioned artwork and painting, please visit: www.SusanDurkee.com

U.S Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor,  

oil on linen 40 x 30

Collection Southern District Court, New York, N.Y 

 

The Artist and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor at the unveiling of her Official portrait at the Southern District Court of New York.

 

In between my commissions, when I have time, I like to paint exceptional individuals who inspire me, this very often this leads to a successful outcome. For example, after finishing my portrait of former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, I was contacted by the U.S. Court of Appeals of the 7^th Circuit. Now the portrait is hanging in their Judicial Conference Room in Chicago.”

Former Supreme Court Justice, John Paul Stevens

with the Medal of Freedom

Collection U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit

oil on canvas, 39 x 32

To see more paintings and portraits visit my website:

www.SusanDurkee.com