A painting in the Springfield Art Association‘s permanent collection by a local artist who gained international acclaim is headed to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.
“Woman with a Monkey” by Ethel Mars, believed to be a self-portrait created in Paris between 1906 and 1909, will be shown at the National Portrait Gallery as part of the exhibit “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900-1939,” which runs from April 26 through February 23, 2025.
“I am thrilled that an important institution like the Smithsonian is bringing attention to artists such as Ethel Mars and other young women who chose to go to Europe in the early 20th century because they were not taken seriously as artists in the United States,” said Betsy Dollar, executive director of the Springfield Art Association.
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Born in 1876, Mars grew up and was educated in Springfield before attending art school in Cincinnati.
According to SangamonLink, Mars got her first artistic recognition in the pages of the Illinois State Journal (a forerunner of The State Journal-Register) in April 1891, when a crayon drawing she did went on display in the window of Frank Simmons’ bookstore and art gallery in Springfield. “The picture is said to be the finest of its kind ever exhibited by an amateur,” the newspaper said.
After working as a book illustrator in New York City, Mars and her partner, Maud Hunt Squire, relocated to Paris, where they were frequent attendees of Gertrude Stein’s salon, which also included Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
The couple was the subject of Stein’s 1922 prose poem “Miss Furr and Miss Skeene,” containing what was believed to be the first published use of the word “gay” to refer to a homosexual relationship.
In addition to painting in France, Mars made chalk drawings and woodblock prints.
For a 2000 exhibition of her work, a New York Times critic wrote that Mars’ work was distinguished by “its flat forms, bold simplicity of design and lively color.”
“Woman with a Monkey” was featured in Harper’s Weekly magazine.
The Illinois State Museum has a number of Mars’ paintings.
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
