In the Open
Pauline Palmer, of Prussian stock, benefited from parents who cultivated her artistic leanings as a young girl. They sent her for art lessons first in McHenry, later in Harvard Illinois, followed by St. Mary’s Convent school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was serving as the Supervisor of Art for the Chicago Public Schools when she met and later married in 1891 the successful Chicago physician Albert Palmer, who afforded her the opportunity to pursue painting full time. The Chicago School of the Art Institute (1893-1898) would be her next avenue for instruction, under the tutelage of anatomist John Vanderpoel and William Merritt Chase. To expand her horizon, she went to Paris, where the opportunity to study with the Paris-based American Impressionist Richard Miller strongly impacted her style. Additional education of the French persuasion came from academicians Gustave Courtois (1852-1923) and Lucien Simon (1861-1945) at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and the nearby Académie Colarossi in the Montparnasse district. Palmer was a success in Paris, as by 1903, the Paris Salon accepted her work for four consecutive years, and again in 1911.
She collected dozens of prizes, awards, and honors throughout her life, the list too long for a comprehensive report, but among them are: Julius Rosenwald prize, Art institute Chicago and Vicinity exhibition; Clyde M. Carr Landscape prize, Art Institute; bronze medal in 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis; and first female President, Chicago Society of Artists.
Though Chicago was home for decades, after the death of her husband she spent more time in Cape Cod and Provincetown, Massachusetts. The summers there allowed her to perfect her airy and impressionistic style. In 1938 she and her sister embarked on an art tour and lecture series mainly in Scandinavia, but Pauline contracted pneumonia, and died shortly thereafter in Trondheim, Norway. Chicago and much of the art world lamented her passing, a woman who had produced skillful and charming paintings for over four decades, in addition to an active spirit of promoting other artists and conservative values in art at the time of heated debates with incipient modernism.
In the Open presents the artist’s typically breezy, spontaneous style that made her a favorite among collectors and curators. Though Impressionistic, the figure maintains the integrity of realism in order to lend a penetration of character and physiognomy. Palmer related how she came upon the subject of her portrait, remarking that a young woman simply appeared at the door of her studio (Tree Studios on One East Ohio Street in Chicago). Palmer chose to depict the brunette beauty wearing hiking attire complete with a walking stick, as she remarked about the sitter: "She told me she was a gypsy, who in spite of the fact that she had married an American Harvard graduate, still clings to her outdoor habits." The painting was so well received that it garnered the silver medal of the Chicago Society of Artists.
Dr. Sally Metzler, Director of the Art Collection
