At the tender age of 13, Fern Isabel Coppedge, born in Decatur, Illinois, visited her older sister’s watercolor class and knew then she wanted to study art. She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and at New York City’s Art Students League soon after. Her move to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in 1920 was perhaps the most defining moment in her career.
Fern Isabel Coppedge (1883-1951), Jersey Village, ca. 1932. Oil on canvas, 38 x 40 in. Gift of David and Nancy Barclay.
Coppedge, who lived in the area until her death in 1951, was known for her association with the New Hope School of American Impressionism. The majority of her works, hallmarked by bold shapes and colors, are landscapes from the region and other areas she visited.
The Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, is located in Bucks County and is one of the leading repositories for work by the artist. Last year the museum was gifted four winter paintings by Coppedge from collector Tom Fowler and collectors David and Nancy Barclay. To celebrate the gift, the museum mounted Fern Coppedge: New Discoveries on September 18.
“The acquisition of these paintings is extremely important to the museum as we strengthen our holdings of work by women artists from the Delaware Valley region,” says the museum’s curator of American art, Laura Turner Igoe. “These paintings have never before been on view at the Michener and have not been publicly exhibited in many decades, perhaps not since Coppedge’s lifetime.”
Fern Isabel Coppedge (1883-1951), Winter Landscape Near New Hope. Oil on canvas, 25 x 30 in. Gift of David and Nancy Barclay.
The exhibition also coincides with the museum’s digitization of Coppedge’s scrapbooks from the museum’s library and archives. This has allowed art enthusiasts to learn more about the artist’s private life through the museum’s website. “Covering the artist’s career from 1916 until her death in 1951, the Fern Coppedge Scrapbooks contain important information about the artist’s exhibition history, evolving style and critical reception. They were likely compiled by the artist herself, with additional newspaper clippings and obituaries added after her death,” explains Igoe.
Fern Isabel Coppedge (1883-1951), Winter Landscape. Oil on canvas, 18 x 20 in. Gift of David and Nancy Barclay.
Through these scrapbooks, which are comprised of pasted newspaper clippings and other fragile items, the museum has been able to continue the research of Coppedge and her work. Igoe says, “The scrapbook digitization process yielded some exciting insights into some of our recently acquired Coppedge paintings. We learned, for example, that Jersey Village won a Gold Medal in a Women’s Achievement Competition at Gimbels department store in Philadelphia in 1932.”
Fern Coppedge: New Discoveries will remain on view until April 18, 2021. —
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