The early history of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women

Journal of Design History

Volumn 9, Issue 4, 1996, Pages 237-252

  Chalmers, F Graeme ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA   (Canada)

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EID: 34249177440     PISSN: 09524649     EISSN: 17417279     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/jdh/9.4.237     Document Type: Review

References (44)

1. Handwritten report signed by J. Fraser, S. Merrick, F. Fraley, D. Brown, & C. Smith, Franklin Institute Archives, School of Design for Women, Folder 3, 1850-3.
2. F. G. Chalmers, 'Fanny McIan and London's Female School of Design, 1842-1857', Woman's Art Journal, vol. 16, no. 2, 1995, pp. 3-9.
3. H. M. Watts, 'The importance of design as a means of expression', Prospectus of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women 1916/17, Philadelphia School of Design for Women, 1916, pp. 25-8, 25.
4. Franklin Institute, Proceedings, 1850, p. 4. These sentiments, expressed so widely in London, were also common in America. Twenty-five years later, the Prospectus of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women 1875/76, Philadelphia School of Design for Women, 1875, stated THE IMPORTANCE OF SCHOOLS OF DESIGN. In the lively competition of skilled labor which is now observable in the operations of Art Manufacturers among rival nations, it is obvious that the community which presents objects of utility the most graceful in form and the most beautifully adorned will be the most successful. Hence, the establishment of schools of design in those countries the most advanced in civilization, with the view of educating their artisans in a knowledge of the harmonies of form, color, and arrangement, and thereby improving the taste and style of the diverse products of their industry. And we maintain that the practice of the Arts of Design is one peculiarly adapted to the female mind and hand, and it is desirable that an avenue to this tasteful employment should be open to the sex whose range of occupations has been heretofore so needlessly and injuriously circumscribed. It is at the same time an attractive study and an elegant accomplishment for those whose present station in life would appear to render them secure from the need of ever deriving pecuniary advantage from it. But experience admonishes us as to the uncertainties of the future, and that the revolutions of the wheel of fortune are ceaseless (p. 4).
5. W. Smith, Art Education, Scholastic and Industrial, J. R. Osgood, 1872, pp. 111-12. English-born and South Kensington-trained Walter Smith was State Director of Art Education in Massachusetts, and Director of the Massachusetts Normal Art School. Smith previously served South Kensington as the head of English branch schools in Halifax, Huddersfield, Keighley, Leeds, and Wakefield.
6. T. Braidwood, Circular, 9 September 1853, Franklin Institute Archives, School of Design for Women, Folder 10, 1853.
7. A. Efland, A History of Art Education: Intellectual and Social Currents in Teaching the Visual Arts, Teachers' College Press, 1990;
8. C. Erskine Clement & L. Hutton, Artists of the Nineteenth-century and Their Works: A Handbook Containing 2,050 Biographical Sketches, Houghton Mifflin, 1879;
9. C. Knauff, Training for the Useful and the Beautiful, Philadelphia School of Design for Women, 1922;
10. N. de Angeli Walls, 'Art and industry in Philadelphia: origins of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, 1848 to 1876', Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 17, no. 3, 1993, pp. 177-99.
11. J. C. Zachos, Report of the Curator, The 14th Annual Report of the Trustees of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, G. A. Whitehorne, Book & Job Printer, 1873, p. 10
12. in P. Peet, 'The emergence of American women printmakers in the late nineteenth century', Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1987, p. 67.
13. Franklin Institute, Proceedings, op. cit. pp. 1-2.
14. S. J. (Buell) Hale, Woman's Record, or Sketches of all Distinguished Women from the Creation to AD 1855, Harper & Brothers, 1855, p. 870.
15. Rosine Association, Constitution and Report of the Managers of the Rosine Association, Merrihew & Thompson Printers, 1848, p. 16.
16. de Angeli Walls, 'Art and industry in Philadelphia', op. cit., p. 182.
17. See also M. R. King, Memoirs of the Life of Mrs. Sarah Peter, R. Clarke, 1889;
18. A. S. McAllister, In Winter We Flourish: Life and Letters of Sarah Worthington King Peter, 1800-1877, Longman Green, 1939.
19. School of Design for Women, Brochure, Franklin Institute, 1851.
20. Minutes of the Franklin Institute School of Design for Women, 1 February 1853, p. 58;
21. W. Smith, Industrial Art Education: A Lecture Delivered in Philadelphia April 23, 1875 by Walter Smith, State Director of Art Education for Massachusetts, L. Prang, 1875.
22. J. R. Tyson, Letters on the Resources and Commerce of Philadelphia: To Mr. William Peter ... with Mr. Peter's Answer, C. Sherman, Printer, 1852, pp. 42-3.
23. Minutes, 12 September 1854 in Minutes No. 1 1853-1863: The Philadelphia School of Design for Women. Handwritten document in the Archives of the Moore College of Art & Design; Fanny McIan's name and address can be found on the inside cover of a set of minutes kept by the Lady Managers: Minutes, 1850-55, the Philadelphia School of Design for Women.
24. Handwritten document in the Archives of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the Dickens eference to the Philadelphia School of Design for Women is in 'The Female School of Design in the capital of the world', Household Words, no. 51, 15 March 1851, pp. 577-81, 580.
25. The Philadelphia School of Design for Women, Broad and Master Streets, Philadelphia Pa., n.d. unpaginated, in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
26. Original in the archives of the Franklin Institute.
27. B. C. Dwyer, 'Nineteenth century regional women artists: the Philadelphia School of Design for Women', Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1989.
28. This notice was signed by Thomas Braidwood, Principal; Mary Jane Greig, Teacher of Drawing and Painting; and Miss E. K. Hayburst, Teacher of Geometry and Perspective.
29. Pennsylvania Institute, Report of the First Annual Exhibition of Ingenuity and Design held in the City of Philadelphia, King & Baird, Printers, 1857, p. 23.
30. Minutes, 12 October 1862.
31. Prospectus, Philadelphia School of Design for Women, 1868, p. 8.
32. Smith, Industrial Art Education., op. cit., pp. 13-14.
33. The Prospectus for 1870-1 stated: ORDER OF STUDIES Preliminary Stages STAGE 1 a. Drawing in outline, and shading, from casts of geometrical figures and vases, in different positions. b. Pencil drawing from flat examples. c. Practice in handling of Instruments. d. Ornamental geometry. e. Primary perspective. STAGE 2 a. Drawing and shading from groups composed of casts of geometrical solids and vases. b. Pencil drawing from flat examples of ornamental details. c. Ornamental geometry. d. Elementary perspective. e. Coloring of diagrams with the three primary colors, by which the student sees how the secondary, tertiary, and complementary colors are produced, and the modification which colors undergo by being brought in contact with each other. NOTE - All these works must be executed with an intelligent clearness and precision, and the last drawing in the group section must be commenced and finished without instruction; that is, it will be a 'test group,' determining whether the student will be passed, or retained for further practice in the preliminary stages. Advanced Stages STAGE 1 a. Drawing and shading from casts of single leaves, from nature. b. Drawing and shading from casts of details of architectural ornament, consisting of a leaf molding from the Temple of Mars, the centre rosette from Trajan's Scroll, and a molding boss from St. Stephen's, Westminster. c. At this point the student must exhibit well-executed diagrams, illustrating the primary rules of perspective. d. Landscape, from the flat, in pencil. e. Ornamental geometry. f. Drawing and shading, from details of architectural ornament, consisting of casts from the upper cornice of Trajan's Pillar; a Gothic capital from stone church, Kent; a Saracenic panel from Alhambra; a Byzantine panel ... and Gothic spandrel ... g. The students at this point must be able to answer questions satisfactorily, relating to the human skeleton. STAGE 2 a. Drawing the upper and lower extremities and head of the human skeleton, in different positions; the names of the details to be written thereon. b. Drawing and shading from casts of antique features, consisting of the nose and eye of Hadrian, Bacchante, Laocoun, and a pair of ears, the nose and mouth of Hadrian, Tesculapius, Antinous, Venus d'Arles, Juno, Caracalin, and Adonis. c. Drawing from copies of the antique, from the flat, in pencil. d. Anatomical drawing from casts of the muscular system, on which must be written the names of the principal bones and superfidal muscles, - the origin and insertion of the latter to be carefully expressed. e. Drawing and shading, from casts from the antique and from life, of hands, feet, arms and faces. f. Landscape painting, from the flat, in monochrome (water colors). g. Drawing and shading, from casts of antique busts, viz., Diane, Venus of Milo, the Young Hercules, Mercury, Juno, Hercules, Antinous, German Prisoner, Ajax, and the Apollo Belvedere. NOTE - Students, while passing through the two preceding stages, will, every Monday, be engaged in drawing and painting in water-colors, plant forms, mostly from nature; and students in these stages, desirous of entering the wood engraving or designing, or the class of landscape painting in oil, from the flat for introductory study, can do so; but the studies in the regular stages cannot be discontinued. At the end of the 'advanced stages' students may enter any of the technical branches taught in the institution; such as are designated as follows: PROFESSIONAL CLASSES DESIGNING Designing patterns for calico and oilcloth printers, &c. WOOD ENGRAVING LITHOGRAPHY DRAWING AND PAINTING Figure drawing and painting from the antique and from life. Landscape painting in oil and water colors. ART TEACHING The order of studies in Pittsburgh was very similar.
34. Clipping in Sartain Scrapbook, Moore College of Art & Design Archives, dated 1866.
35. A. E. McDowell, 'The School of Design for Women', Woman's World, vol. 1, April 1877, p. 2.
36. Dwyer, 'Nineteenth-century regional women Artists', op. cit., p. 45.
37. For the numbers of casts and sample drawings sent to Pittsburgh, the Schools Department at Harrisburg, the State Normal School at Millersville, the State Library at Harrisburg, the Philadelphia Public Schools, and the plans to present casts to each of the high schools and normal schools in the State of Pennsylvania, see Prospectus of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, 1870, pp. 29-32.
38. E. Croasdale, System of Industrial Art Drawing, Issued in Sets from the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, Philadelphia School of Design for Women, 1876.
39. C. Dresser, Principles of Decorative Design, Cassell, Petter & Galpin, 1873, p. 104. From a series of articles first published in 1870.
40. Dresser's three lectures were published in the Penn Monthly, January/February/March 1877.
41. Smith, Industrial Art Education, op. cit.
42. and W. Smith, The Masterpieces of the Centennial International Exhibition, Volume 2: Industrial Art, Gebbie & Barrie, 1875, pp. 512-13.
43. Prospectus, Philadelphia School of Design for Women, 1880, pp. 5-6.
44. Knauff, Training for the Useful and the Beautiful, op. cit.