Biography from AskART:
| A floral still-life painter much influenced by her teacher William
Merritt Chase, Winifred Adams spent most of her life in Indiana where
she was married to her art teacher, J. Ottis Adams. Winifred
Adams was born in Muncie, where her sister married Frank Clayton Ball,
a founder of Ball Brothers Glass, a major Indiana company that made
canning jars and lids. This connection, due to the generosity of
her sister and brother-in-law, allowed Winifred and her family to buy a
cottage in Leland, Michigan on the shores of Lake Michigan. The
place became their summer home and provided J. Ottis Adams many scenic
subjects for his canvases and also a retreat where Winifred could
paint, although in those years she was much preoccupied with raising
their three sons.
Winifred, petite and five-feet tall, had married her husband when she
was twenty seven and had completed much art education. J.
Ottis Adams was twenty years older than his wife and had been her
instructor for two years, 1889-1891, at the Muncie Art
Institute. She also had been a student there of William
Forsyth. The school closed in the spring of 1891, and Winifred
then attended the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry in
Philadelphia followed by enrollment in 1895 at the Art Students League
in New York City. Among her teachers during these years were
Douglas Volk, H. Siddons Mowbray, Robert Blum and William Merritt Chase.
In 1898, returning to Muncie, she married Adams, an event that got much
attention in the local newspapers, especially with Mr. and Mrs. Frank
Ball hosting the reception of several hundred people. Six years
later, J. Ottis Adams resigned his teaching job at Herron Institute,
and the family moved from Indianapolis to Brookville in Brown County,
southern Indiana. This scenic area was attracting many artists,
and Adams and Theodore Steele, a painter, had purchased a rambling
house there in 1898 that they used as a studio. Adams then
purchased Steele's share in what they called the Hermitage, on the
Whitewater River, and in 1907 took possession as the Adams family
home. Winifred and J. Ottis Adams remained there during the
growing-up years of their children but spent their summers at their
cabin on Lake Michigan. However, by 1915, J. Ottis Adams was
having frail health and needed easier climate, so he spent the winters
in Florida in St. Petersburg and then Smyrna, where he died in
1927.
Throughout her adult life, while raising children and maintaining
households, Winifred Adams managed to keep up her still-life painting
but was ever-modest about her painting skills.
However, critics were impressed. One of them wrote in the Indianapolis Star,
April 27, 1941: "She revels in still-life painting, and her flowers
with their glowing tones, combined with selections from her harmonious
china collections, have made many canvases of rare charm."
Adams was active in the Indiana Art Club, the National Art Club,
Indianapolis Art Association, American Association of Pen Women and the
Cincinnati Women's Art Club. Exhibition venues included the St.
Louis Exposition of 1904, John Herron Art Institute, Hoosier Salon,
Muncie Art Association and Richmond, Indiana Art Association.
Winifred Adams died in 1955, outliving her husband by twenty-eight years.
In 1976, a retrospective exhibition of her work was held at Ball State
University. The gallery director, William Story, wrote in the
catalogue: . . . "the painterly virtuosity of Chase lingers, sometimes
captured, especially in the glittering surfaces of brass or copper and
in the clear brilliance of glass."
Sources:
Judith Newton Vale and Carol Ann Weiss, Skirting the Issue: Stories of Indiana Historical Women Artists, pp. 84-87
Peter Falk, Who Was Who in American Art, p. 61
William E. Story, John Ottis and Winifred Brady Adams, Painters, 1976
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Biography from AskART:
| The following, submitted August 2005, is from Wickliff & Associates Auctioneers, Inc.
Winifred Brady Adams
b. 1871 Indianapolis d. 1955 Muncie, IN
often known for: Still Life
Education:
Muncie Art School, 1889-1891, Muncie, IN; Drexel Institute of Art,
Science and Industry, Philadelphia, PA; Art Students League of New
York, 1895, NY
Teachers: J. Ottis Adams, William Forsyth, Douglas Volk, Siddons Mowbray, Robert Blum, William Merritt Chase
Exhibits: Muncie AA; St. Louis Expo, 1904 2
Prizes/Awards/Honors: John Herron AI; Richmond Art 2
Biography:
Winifred
Adams entered Muncie Art School in 1889. When the Muncie Art
School was closed in 1891, Winifred attended the Drexel Institute of
Art, Science and Industry in Philadelphia before enrolling in the Art
Students League of New York in 1895. She studied with William
Merritt Chase, who was most influential on her art, as well as other
noted artists such as Douglas Volk, H. Siddons Mowbay and Robert Blum.
Winifred
Adams met husband-to-be, J. Ottis Adams, when she entered his Muncie
Art School as a student. After their three sons matured, Winifred was
able to pursue her art on a limited basis. "In spite of her
successes.Winifred was quick to brush aside any recognition. In fact,
'her modesty concerning her work and her unselfishness make her
pictures the more appealing.'"1
Sources include:
1 Newton, Judith Vale, Weiss, Carol Ann (2004). Skirting the Issue, Stories of Indiana's Historical Women Artists. Indiana: Indiana Historical Society.
2 Newton, Weiss (1993). A Grand Tradition: The Art and Artists of the Hoosier Salon 1925-1990. Indiana: Hoosier Salon Patrons Association, Inc. |
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