This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| A native of Washington DC, Beatrice Edgerly became a successful
magazine illustrator, known for her decorative pen work, and also an
educator, who, with her husband and Charles Golden, founded the
Southern Arizona School of Art in 1947. In addition to her
illustration and teaching she completed numerous paintings and
prints. Among her Arizona paintings are Storm in Arizona, Desert Night and Canyon Pool.
She
was born in Washington DC, and studied at Gunston Hall, a private
school and at age eleven was admitted to the Corcoran School of Art,
the youngest student ever to be admitted to that time. Three
years later, she enrolled in the Pennsylvania Acdemy of Fine Art in
Philadelphia. The same year she accompanied her sculptor sister,
Gladys, and father to Europe, where she pursued her interests in art,
archaeology and music.
After European trips and some Oriental travel, she opened a studio in
Philadelphia and did numerous book and magazine illustrations including
assignments for McCall's, Christian Herald, Ladies Home Journal and Better Homes and Gardens.
In
1922, she married John Havard Macpherson, a landscape painter whom she
had met in their student days at the Pennsylvania Academy. They
built studios in Bushkill, Pennsylvania and later Mystic, Connecticut,
where they were active as organizers of the Mystic Art Associaion in
1925. During this period she continued with her illustration work
including a school textbook, Peter and Peggy, for Macmillan Company. She also wrote newspaper art and archaeology reviews.
In 1937, she and her husband and her studio partner, Charles Golden,
began visits to Arizona, and about 1941, the moved to Tucson.
During the war years, she set aside her art interests and worked as a
grey lady at Davis-Monthan Field and was part of the search and rescue
team. She also taught writing and drawing at the Army Air Force
Regional Hospital in Tucson, and organized a hospital newsletter.
After the war, she devoted much of her time to the School of Art, which
she served as co-director from 1947 to 1964. For many years she
wrote for the Tucson Sun newspaper with the art column in the
society section. She was a major activist in the womans' rights
movement, and after World War II, she took was an American pilot in the
powder puff derby.
In 1974 she died, her ashes placed with her sons. Her husband survived her
and continued to paint.
Sources include:
Phil Kovinick and Marian Yoshiki Kovinick, An Encyclopedia of Women Artists of the American West
Information provided by John Havard Macpherson, Jr.
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