The Library’s Summer Hours will go into effect Monday, May 20th:
Monday-Thursday: 8am – 8pm
Friday: 8am – 5pm
Saturday: 8:30am – 5pm
Sunday: 11am – 7:00pm
Next week the library will be closed on Friday May 24 and Monday May 27 for the Memorial Day holiday. Enjoy the summer — we look forward to seeing you again in the fall!
Photograph by Gray Malin
Connelly Library employs talented work-study students and we’d like to take a moment at the end of the semester to recognize their hard work.
Congratulations to our Graduating Seniors — you will be missed!
In addition, several of our underclass-women received scholarships and awards this year:
Qiaoyi Chen, Charming Shoppes, Inc. Endowed Scholarships
Angela Chu, dress design featured in the Senior Fashion Show, Blasting Off, on May 18, 2013
Jessica Clark, 2nd Place Miriam Troop Portrait Prize and 2nd Place Frieda Fehrenbacher Foundation Award
Marine Hovsepyan, Ruth Lynn Leiter ’37 Memorial Prize for Excellence in Interior Design
Megan Rhodes, Sis Grenald Travel Fellowship
Caitlin Tschanz, Happy Fernandez Endowed International Study Scholarship
The Journal of the Month for May 2013 is new to the collection: Ceramics Now. Ceramics Now began as an online platform with the goal of making contemporary ceramics a more visible art field and to support innovative ideas by bringing together artists from different communities. The magazine focuses on personal approaches with interviews, reviews and artists profiles of new and world-renowned ceramic artists. Online you will find additional information on contemporary ceramic art exhibitions and jobs and residencies.
Issue Two introduces the work of over 35 international artists, beginning with Ken Eastman, Kimberly Cook, Patricia Sannit, Marianne McGrath, Annie Woodford, Suzanne Stumpf and Ruth Power, and continuing with a special feature on Romanian ceramic artists, and a preview feature for Copenhagen Ceramics gallery. The issue also inaugurates the magazine’s new review category.
Be sure to browse this month’s journal, along with the rest of our journal collection!
JSTOR recently updated the registration process for remote access. To use JSTOR off campus, please follow the registration link found on Connelly Library’s Moodle page. You will need to access the registration link even if you have already registered for a MyJSTOR account:
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions: 215-965-4054 or library@moore.edu.
Professional Artist is dedicated to providing independent visual artists from all backgrounds with the insights, encouragement and business strategies they need to make a living with their artwork.
Each issue of the magazine presents practical business advice on subjects such as art marketing, art law, portfolio development, exhibition presentation, communication skills and sales techniques, as well as articles to help artists feel encouraged and motivated. Both the print magazine and the Professional Artist website provide a comprehensive list of Calls to Artists (ad postings for shows, competitions, residencies, grants, and exhibition opportunities).
Volume 27, Number 2 Features:
“Word-of-Mouth Promotion”—Elena Parashko explains how electronic messaging and social-media platforms can be utilized to increase word-of-mouth promotion for artists.
“The Importance of Being Part of a Group Exhibition”—Terry Sullivan’s article discusses the benefits of participating in a group exhibition, focusing on the Converge: Where Classical & Contemporary Art Collide exhibition put on at 25CPW in New York.
“Artists as Inventors: How Innovative Individuals Have Made an Impact on the Arts Supply Industry”—Kim Hall presents the stories of six artists who persevered to bring their creative passions and business ideas to life.
Be sure to browse this month’s journal, along with the rest of our collection!
To conclude this series in celebration of Women’s History Month, we would like to present a contemporary of Alice Neel, Anna Russell Jones (1902-1995).
Anna Russell Jones in 1987
In 1920 Anna Russell Jones was the first African American woman to receive a scholarship from the Philadelphia Board of Education to attend Philadelphia School of Design for Women (PSDW). In 1925 she was the first African American woman to graduate from PSDW. She was among the first women to work as a freelance designer in Philadelphia and New York in the 1920s and 1930s. She was (or is believed to have been) the first African American woman from Philadelphia to enlist in the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) in 1942. Her ambition was boundless.
“She always told me I could do anything I wanted to do.” Anna Russell Jones, speaking of Dean Harriet Sartain.
1924-1925 PSDW catalog cover design by Anna Russell
Anna Russell Jones was born in Jersey City, NJ, the youngest daughter of a Pullman porter on the Pennsylvania Railroad. After her father’s death in 1911, her family moved to Philadelphia. She graduated from William Penn High School for Girls in 1920, and against convention and her family’s advice, she applied for college. With her scholarship from the Board of Education Jones attended PSDW for Textile Design. Upon graduation in 1924, she won three awards: for original rug design, original wallpaper design, and for her design of the 1924-1925 PSDW catalog cover. College Dean Harriet Sartain helped her find work as an in-house designer at James G. Speck Studio, a well established carpet design studio in Philadelphia.
“You see, I had three strikes against me: I was a woman, black, and a freelancer.”
In 1928, after four years at Speck Studio, Jones set out on her own. She established her own studio and began to seek commissions for her designs in Philadelphia and New York. This was not just unusual for the time, but almost unheard of. Gradually the Great Depression ended her freelance career, but she did manage to sell her wallpaper and carpet designs until 1935, no small feat for an African American woman in the architecture and design industry during the 1930s.
“I wanted to do it, so I did.”
Jones (left) working as a graphic artist for the WAAC
In 1942 Jones decided to enlist in the newly formed Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) — she was 40 years old. For three years she was stationed in Fort Huachuca, AZ, where she designed maps, posters and booklets for military publications. Before she was honorably discharged in 1945 Jones received the WAAC Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. After the war she studied medical illustration at Howard University, and in the 1950s she worked as a licensed practical nurse at Hahnemann University Hospital. In 1952 she married William Albert Marsh Jones Jr., a former elevator operator and Democratic committeeman in Germantown.
In 1986 Anna was awarded the Honor of Excellence Award from the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum (now African American Museum) in Philadelphia. And in 1987 she received an Honorary Degree, Doctor of Fine Arts, from Moore College of Art. She continued to paint until her death in 1995 at the age of 92.
For further information:
McMillan, Janet. “Success Against the Odds.” Philadelphia Inquirer, (Philadelphia, PA), November 23, 1986.
Richberg, Barbara J. “Anna R. Jones, 92, Pioneer In Many Fields.” Philadelphia Inquirer, (Philadelphia, PA), April 5, 1995.
Walls, Nina de Angeli. Art, industry, and women’s education in Philadelphia. Westport, Conn. : Bergin & Garvey, 2001.
Women designers in the U.S.A, 1900-2000: diversity and difference. Edited by Pat Kirkham. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.
A celebration of the women of Moore would be incomplete without mention of one of our most famous graduates, Alice Neel.
Alice Neel, ca. 1970s
Neel grew up just outside of Philadelphia in Colwyn, PA, and was drawn to art at an early age. Although plagued by insecurity, Neel found refuge in artistic expression because it allowed her to really be herself. After graduating from Darby High School in 1919, Neel initially pursued a conventional path, working in various civil service jobs and earning a modest living. She quickly realized, however, that art was an essential part of her life, and in 1921 she was admitted to the Philadelphia School of Design for Women.
Neel chose PSDW over other institutions for a number of reasons. As a women’s school, Neel felt she would be less distracted by men and could therefore concentrate on her studies. She also felt that a less structured curriculum would give her more freedom to pursue her own interests. Finally, she chose PSDW as a way of rejecting Impressionism, a dominant art form at the time which was popular at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Neel preferred the style of Robert Henri, who was a former instructor at PSDW who emphasized realism in his art. “Paint what you feel. Paint what you see. Paint what is real to you,” Henri exhorted. The importance of capturing the truth of a subject rather than portraying its beauty would greatly influence Neel’s work as she matured as an artist.
Based on her accounts, Neel’s time at PSDW was mixed. Harriet Sartain had recently taken over as principal of the school, and Neel was often at odds with Sartain’s “conventional” administration. She seems rather to have preferred aspects of the school put into place by Harriet’s predecessor, Emily Sartain, such as drawing from life. Generally, Neel found herself evolving beyond what the traditional art curriculum at PSDW could offer, but she remained dedicated to her artistic pursuits and her hard work was recognized through numerous awards and scholarships.
After Neel graduated from PSDW in 1925, she married Cuban artist Carlos Enríquez. Living briefly in Havana, Cuba, they launched their art careers and started a family. They returned to the United States in 1927, but the road to becoming a professional artist for Neel would prove to be long and trying. In the midst of seeking steady financial support for her art, Neel would suffer personal tragedy and instability, gradually becoming estranged from her husband in the 1930s. She worked for the Public Works of Art Project and later the Works Progress Administration, but she would not be met with major critical success until the 1960s.
Richard Gibbs, 1968
Neel is most famous for her expressively colorful, emotionally intense portrait paintings, often of fellow artists and intellectuals she met while living in New York City. Increased momentum in the Women’s Rights Movement combined with new trends in Pop Art helped to elevate Neel’s work in the art world. Moore featured her work in a solo exhibition in January, 1971 and awarded her an honorary doctorate in June of the same year. In 1974, her work was given a retrospective exhibition at the Whitney, and she was recognized by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 with a National Women’s Caucus for Art award. She painted portraits of Andy Warhol, Red Grooms and Mimi Gross, and New York Mayor Edward Koch. At the time of her death in 1984, Neel was a celebrated artist. She is still regarded today as an important painter, not only for women but for an entire generation of American painters.
Seated female nude, 1966, on display in Connelly Library
The library maintains a file on Alice Neel in its archives, and we welcome any researchers interested in following the progress of her career and her legacy at Moore. You can also check out one of the following resources about Neel for more information. Neel’s print, Seated female nude (1966), is on display in the library.
For further information:
Alice Neel. Edited by Ann Temkin. New York : Harry N. Abrams in association with Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2000.
Belcher, Gerald L. and Margaret L. Belcher. Collecting souls, gathering dust : the struggles of two American artists, Alice Neel and Rhoda Medary. New York : Paragon House, 1991.
Hills, Patricia. Alice Neel. New York : H.N. Abrams, 1983.
Hoban, Phoebe. Alice Neel: the art of not sitting pretty. New York : St. Martin’s Press, 2010.
Munro, Eleanor. Originals: American women artists. New York : Simon and Schuster, 1979.
Portrait of Alice Neel. Directed by Michel Auder. New York : Michel Auder Videos, 2000. VHS.
