Ethel Spears facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ethel Spears
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| Born | October 15, 1903 Chicago, Illinios
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| Died | August 2, 1974 (aged 70) Navasota, Texas
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| Nationality | American |
| Education | School of the Art Institute of Chicago |
| Known for | painter |
Ethel Spears (1903–1974) was an American artist. She was famous for her funny paintings of city life during the Great Depression.
Becoming an Artist
Ethel Spears was born in Chicago, Illinois, on October 5, 1903. She grew up in the Beverly area of the city. After finishing high school, she went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).
At first, she studied textiles, which are fabrics and weaving. She earned a certificate after three years. But she soon realized she wasn't interested in textiles anymore. So, she immediately went back to SAIC to study fine arts, like painting and drawing.
Ethel chose to learn from John W. Norton, a muralist. He was one of the most modern teachers there. With his help, she got to paint two murals in the SAIC tearoom. Murals are large paintings on walls.
Around 1925, Ethel graduated from SAIC. She decided to move to Woodstock, New York, to study with a sculptor named Alexander Archipenko. A sculptor makes art by shaping materials.
Nine months later, she moved to New York City. She lived there for about five years. She took classes at the Art Students League of New York and New York University. She worked odd jobs to support herself.
Around 1929–1930, she spent some time in Paris, France. After that, she moved back to Chicago. She enrolled at SAIC one more time and earned her master's degree.
Her Art and Teaching Career
Ethel Spears became well-known for her unique watercolors. These paintings showed everyday life in Chicago and New York. They were often funny and cartoon-like. She painted scenes from streets, parks, playgrounds, and beaches. She also showed people inside schools and apartments. She even painted a few country landscapes.
Her outdoor scenes often looked like you were seeing people from high above. They showed many different people going their own ways. A critic named C. J. Bulliet once wrote that her paintings were "alive with tiny figures." He said these figures were "doing humorous things without knowing it." Ethel was very good at arranging her pictures. She filled them with bright and interesting details.
Ethel mostly used watercolor paints. But she also worked with oil paints and gouache, which is a type of opaque watercolor.
She showed her art regularly throughout her life. Most of her shows were in Chicago and New York. Her work was displayed in famous places like the Brooklyn Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Painting Murals
Ethel was also very active as a muralist. She painted more than two dozen murals just in the Chicago area. Many of these were part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA was a big government program during the Great Depression. It hired people to do public works projects, including art.
Her murals could be found at the University of Illinois and in public buildings. These included schools and post offices. For example, she painted a mural of the Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus at a school named after him. She was also a member of the National Society of Mural Painters.
The Flagg-Rochelle Public Library has a mural called Merry Go Round. Ethel Spears painted and installed it in 1938. Many murals were created in the United States from 1934 to 1943. These were part of government programs like the WPA.
In 2019, some of Ethel's WPA murals were removed from middle schools in Chicago. This happened because the people in the murals were mostly white. Today, the schools have students from many different backgrounds.
Later Life
In 1937, Ethel Spears was hired as an art teacher at SAIC. She taught there for 24 years. She taught many subjects, including design, painting, and ceramics. She also started the school's departments for enameling and silkscreen printing. She taught those classes too.
By the late 1950s, Ethel became ill. This illness may have been caused by working with enameling materials. She retired with her life partner, Kathleen Blackshear. Kathleen was also an SAIC teacher. They moved to Kathleen's hometown of Navasota, Texas.
Ethel Spears passed away on August 2, 1974, in Navasota. Her personal papers and Kathleen Blackshear's papers are kept at the Smithsonian Institution's Archives of American Art. This is in Washington, D.C.
See also
In Spanish: Ethel Spears para niños
