"Re-reading Old Letters" by Lee Lufkin Kaula (AM.b.1865

Lee Lufkin Kaula

Oil on Canvas, signed

Painting:21.50" x 17.50"
Frame: 28.5" x 24.5"

Born in Erie, Pennsylvaniain 1865 , Lee Kaula became an impressionist painter Lee Lufkin is best known for her portraits and figures and is considered a member of the "Boston School of Impressionism". She had a wealthy family, so she did not have financial worries. She first studied with Charles Melville Dewey in New York and then she and a friend, Claire Shuttleworth, went to Paris in 1894, and Kaula studied with Edmond Aman-Jean at the Academie Colarossi. Charles Gruppe also gave her encouragement.

In 1902, she married artist William Jurian Kaula (1871-1953), whom she had met in Crecy, France, and they were the first artists to have studio space in the Fenway Studios in Boston at 30 Ipswich Street. Painting together, they lived in one space and used the other for a studio. They spent summers painting in Bank Village, near New Ipswich, New Hampshire, and became known there for their spectacular flower gardens.

She was a member of several Boston art associations including the Copley Society, the Guild of Boston Artists and the Boston Society of Watercolorists. She exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1897 and 1898; the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York; and the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. From 1897 to 1913, she exhibited 14 times at the Art Institute of Chicago, and in 1928 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. From 1901 to 1922, she was in five annual exhibitions at the National Academy of Design.

Sources:
Paul Sternberg Sr., "Art by American Women"
Jules and Nancy Heller, "North American Women Artists of the 20th Century"
Pettys,"Dictionary of Women Artists"