Louise Upton Brumback
American, 1872 - 1929
Louise Upton Brumback was born in Rochester, New York, and was greatly influenced by William Merritt Chase at his Summer Art School in Shinnecock, Long Island. Brumback ultimately settled in Kansas City, Missouri and exhibited there for the first time in 1915, when she was awarded the first Moore Prize given to artists of Kansas City. She spent many summers painting in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and made several painting trips to California. In 1920 she moved east and divided her time between Gloucester and New York City.
Brumback played an important role in the small war going on in Gloucester between conservative and more adventurous artists in the 1920s. After Gallery-on-the-Moors in Gloucester ceased exhibiting art, local artists formed what is now the North Shore Arts Association by 1922. The group purchased a building on Reed’s Wharf (still in use today), which was closer to the burgeoning tourist market. The NSAA followed the policies of the Gallery-on-the-Moors, including the most contentious practice, juried art exhibitions. Championing exhibitions that were open to all and an equal chance for all, a second group of artists met at Grace Horne’s more avant-garde gallery and formed the Gloucester Society of Artists.1 Brumback was elected president, and the art committee included former residents of the “Red Cottage”: Stuart Davis and Alice Beach Winter.
Brumback participated in eleven annual exhibitions at the National Academy of Design from 1905 until 1920. Additionally, she showed at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Society of Independent Artists. She became a member of the National Association of Women Artists, the National Arts Club and the New York Society of Women Painters.
Brumback played an important role in the small war going on in Gloucester between conservative and more adventurous artists in the 1920s. After Gallery-on-the-Moors in Gloucester ceased exhibiting art, local artists formed what is now the North Shore Arts Association by 1922. The group purchased a building on Reed’s Wharf (still in use today), which was closer to the burgeoning tourist market. The NSAA followed the policies of the Gallery-on-the-Moors, including the most contentious practice, juried art exhibitions. Championing exhibitions that were open to all and an equal chance for all, a second group of artists met at Grace Horne’s more avant-garde gallery and formed the Gloucester Society of Artists.1 Brumback was elected president, and the art committee included former residents of the “Red Cottage”: Stuart Davis and Alice Beach Winter.
Brumback participated in eleven annual exhibitions at the National Academy of Design from 1905 until 1920. Additionally, she showed at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Society of Independent Artists. She became a member of the National Association of Women Artists, the National Arts Club and the New York Society of Women Painters.
