Cecilia Beaux
A master portraitist who rivaled Sargent in capturing the intelligence and spirit of America's Gilded Age elite with dazzling brushwork.
1855–1942 (age 87)·American painter·Birthday: May 1
Biography
Cecilia Beaux emerged from a constrained Philadelphia childhood to become a commanding figure in American portraiture. Studying in Paris in the 1880s, she absorbed the lessons of the French academies but forged her own distinct style—luminous, psychologically acute, and technically brilliant. She returned to the United States not as a mere society painter but as a critical and commercial rival to John Singer Sargent, capturing figures like First Lady Edith Roosevelt and industrialist Henry Clay Frick with a vitality that avoided flattery. In 1895, she broke a significant barrier by becoming the first woman with a permanent faculty position at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where she influenced a generation. Living and working independently in New York and Gloucester, she maintained a prestigious career on her own terms, earning recognition from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and leaving a legacy of paintings that feel startlingly alive.
#1 When Cecilia Was Born
The biggest hits of 1855
Cecilia's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1855Born
1860Started school
1868Became a teenager
President: Andrew Johnson
1871Could drive
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1873Could vote
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1876Turned 21
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1885Turned 30
Karl Benz builds the first gasoline-powered automobile
President: Grover Cleveland
1895Turned 40
First public film screening by the Lumiere brothers
President: Grover Cleveland
1905Turned 50
Einstein publishes the theory of special relativity
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1915Turned 60
The Lusitania is sunk by a German U-boat
President: Woodrow Wilson
1925Turned 70
The Scopes Trial debates evolution in schools
Home: $4,366President: Calvin Coolidge"Sweet Georgia Brown" — Ben Bernie
1935Turned 80
Social Security Act signed into law
Gas: $0.19/galHome: $3,450President: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Cheek to Cheek" — Fred AstaireBest Picture: Mutiny on the Bounty
1942Died at 87
Battle of Midway turns the tide in the Pacific
Gas: $0.20/galHome: $3,175Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"White Christmas" — Bing CrosbyBest Picture: Mrs. Miniver
Key Achievements
- Became the first woman appointed as a full-time instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1895.
- Was awarded the gold medal for lifetime achievement by the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1942.
- Painted the official portrait of First Lady Edith Roosevelt, which hangs in the White House.
- Had her work "Sita and Sarita" acquired by the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, a rare honor for an American artist of her time.
Did You Know?
She turned down a marriage proposal from artist Charles Grafly to prioritize her career, stating she had 'rooms full of beautiful children'—her paintings.
A childhood accident with burning coals left her with a slight limp, which she concealed throughout her life.
Her 1894 portrait "A Little Girl (Fanny Travis Cochran)" was praised by the French painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau as 'the finest portrait of a child he had ever seen.'
She was a member of the exclusive, women-only literary club The Lyceum in Philadelphia.
“When I attempt anything, I have a passionate determination to overcome every obstacle.”
