GERTRUDE NASON
Born: Everett, Massachusetts 1890 Died:1965
Gertrude Nason was born in Everett Massachusetts in 1890. She grew up in a home environment of art, literature and music. After graduating from high school in 1905, she entered the Massachusetts Normal Art School. She studied under Vesper L. George. She later studied in an advanced painting class with Joseph DeCamp. At the special invitation of DeCamp, she returned for additional studies from 1908 to 1911.
In 1912 Nason enrolled in the Boston Museum School, where she received instruction in figure painting from Edmund Tarbell. She established her own studio in Boston. She also became the Supervisor of Art for the Billerica and Burlington school systems - positions she held until 1927.
She married artist William H. Donohue. They soon discovered the painting colony at Old Lyme, Connecticut. They decided to maintain a studio in New York for half of the year, then spend the remainder at Old Lyme. Nason began exhibiting with the Lyme Art Association in 1919.Her paintings were included in almost every annual exhibit until 1966, when a memorial exhibit of her work was presented.
She became a member of the National Association of Women Artists in 1939. She was a member of the Creative Art Association, the New York Society of Women Artists and the Pen and Brush Club. She was also a member of the North Shore Art Association and the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts.
She exhibited in the 1921, 1927 and 1932 annual exhibitions at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Her work was included in the 1929 and 1934 annual exhibitions of the National Academy of Design. She also exhibited at the St Louis Art Museum and the Dayton Art Institute.
Nason participated in the 1917 exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists. She exhibited in the 1926 Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition in Philadelphia. Her work was included in the 1933 American Federation of Art traveling exhibition shown at the Copley Society in Boston. She also exhibited with the British-American Art Center, Allied Artists of American and at the Pen and Brush Club. She received many awards and prizes for her work.
"Fruit and Flowers" - Oil on canvas, 16" x 20"
Signed lower left "Gertrude Nason"
Paul E. Sternberg, Sr., is a specialist in the area of research of American Women Artists prior to 1940.