Elizabeth Campbell Fisher Clay

Elizabeth Campbell Fisher Clay (1871-1959) was an American artist and painter. Clay studied art in Boston, New York, and Paris. After her marriage, she lived in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England and exhibited in London, including two exhibitions at the Royal Academy of Arts.

Elizabeth Campbell Fisher Clay
Born	Elizabeth Campbell Fisher April 2, 1871 West Dedham, Massachusetts
Died	June 29, 1959 (aged 88) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nationality	American
Education	Smith College Museum of Fine Arts, Boston New York School of Art Art Students League of New York

Early life

Elizabeth Campbell Fisher was born on April 2, 1871 in West Dedham, Massachusetts to Joseph and Mary Elizabeth Fisher. She attended Dedham High School.[1]^:171 Her sister Hattie Smith Fisher was born in 1857.[1]^:127 Joseph Lyman Fisher was born in 1861 and attended Highland Military Academy in Worcester, Massachusetts.[1]^:131

Education

She was a student at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts,[1]^:171 in the class of 1892.[2] In the 1890s, she attended the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. At the New York School of Art, she studied under William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri, and studied in the Netherlands and Spain. She also studied with the Art Students League of New York. She and two artists from Boston were students of Robert Henri and they shared a studio on Quai Voltaire in Paris. Henri came to the studio to review their work twice each week.[3]

Career

Elizabeth Campbell Fisher Clay, Holy Week in Seville, oil on canvas, 1907

Clay had a solo exhibition at Rowland's Gallery in Boston in 1908.[3] She also exhibited in Boston at the Copley Society of Art,[3][4] Boston Art Club, and City Club.[4] In England, she exhibited in London for over 30 years, at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1927 and 1928, and at the British Society of Women Artists, Yorkshire Union of Artists, and the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art.[3] Her work is in the collection of the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia.[3]

Marriage and family

She married Howard Clay on April 20, 1909 in Dedham, Massachusetts.[4] Howard was a councillor and the alderman of Halifax, and served on the Halifax Education Committee.[5][6] In 1910, she gave birth to Howard Fisher Clay and two years later Monica Mary was born.[4] Monica was also an artist.[5][7] They lived in Halifax, England,[3] specifically Godley Halifax, by 1915.[8][2]

In June 1930, by which point she was a widow, Clay laid the stone for the Halifax High School for Girls.[9] The official opening of the school was performed by Princess Mary, Countess of Harewood.[9] Clay was a Unitarian, where she taught Sunday school, and was active in college settlements and boys' clubs. She opposed women's suffrage.[4] Clay was in the Lady's Who's Who in 1938.[10]

Death

Clay died in Philadelphia in 1959.[3]

References

1. Dedham High School, Massachusetts (1889). Historical catalogue of the Dedham high school, teachers and students, 1851-1889. Printed by H. H. McQuillen. p. 171.
2. Smith College. Alumnae association (1917). Annual Register of the Alumnae Association of Smith College ... with Report. p. 87.
3. Marian Wardle (2005). American Women Modernists: The Legacy of Robert Henri, 1910-1945. Rutgers University Press. pp. 188–189. ISBN 978-0-8135-3684-2.
4. John William Leonard (1914). Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada. American Commonwealth Company. p. 183.
5. Bernard Dolman (1962). Who's Who in Art. The Art Trade Press, Ltd. p. 146.
6. Monthly Notes on Tariff Reform. Tariff Reform League. 1908. p. 318.
7. "Monica May Clay". Art UK. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
8. Smith College. Alumnae Association (1915). Smith College Alumnae Register. Smith College. p. 87.
9. David Glover (June 18, 2013). "The School They Simply Call PM". Halifax Courier. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
10. The Lady's Who's Who. Pallas Publishing Company. 1938. p. 91.