Anna Klumpke

by Britta C. Dwyer

Drawing on a wide spectrum of sources from art history to psychology, Britta Dwyer's account goes beyond traditional biography by addressing such themes as the choices available to women in the arts, the social and artistic obstacles faced by women artists in the male-dominated art community, female relationships, and the importance of women's patronage. Dwyer begins by describing how Klumpke's formative years were shaped by her career-oriented mother and sisters and other American women artists living in Paris. She then discusses Klumpke's growing reputation as a Salon exhibitor, recounts her years in Boston, and relates the dramatic turn in Klumpke's life when she was invited in 1898 to paint a portrait of Rosa Bonheur. Dwyer provides new evidence of the meaningful and romantic partnership between these two creative women - a relationship that ended abruptly with Bonheur's death a year after they met.