'Self Portrait With Orchids' by Leonebel Jacobs, Circa 1945, National Association of Women Artists, American Watercolor Society

Description

An enigmatic and psychologically penetrating self-portrait in vivid shades of yellow, green and red.

Signed lower right, 'Leonebel Jacobs' (American, … more An enigmatic and psychologically penetrating self-portrait in vivid shades of yellow, green and red.

Signed lower right, 'Leonebel Jacobs' (American, 1883-1967) and painted circa 1945.

Writer, sculptor, teacher and portrait painter Leonebel Jacobs first studied under Brush and Charles Hawthorne at the University of Oregon. A well traveled artist, Jacobs lived and painted in China, Hawaii, New York City and Los Angeles. She was a member of the American Watercolor Society, the American Federation of Arts, the Municipal Art Commission of New York, the National Association of Women Artists, the New York Watercolor Club and the Pen & Brush Club.

Jacobs spent her early years in the Foreign Colony in Peking, China as a portrait artist to nobles and visiting foreigners, including Rabindranath Tagore. Notably, Jacobs painted several portraits of the Emperor and Empress after they fled to Tianjin when Christian General Feng Yu-Hsiang came to power. Additionally, Jacobs's paintings include Hawaiian notables, former First Ladies Grace Coolidge and Lou Henry Hoover, Sir John Lavery, Mrs. William B. Meloney, Dr. Frances Carter Wood and Gutzon Borglum among others. Jacobs exhibited widely and with success, including in Paris, New York City and Boston and in 1937 she authored "Portraits of Thirty Authors".

Displayed in a period gilt-wood frame. Framed dimensions: 9.75''H x .75''D x 8.25''W.

Reference:
Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America, Peter Hastings Falk, Sound View Press 1999, Vol. 2, p. 1706; E. Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs, Jacques Busse, 1999 Nouvelle Édition, Gründ 1911, Vol. 7, p.418; Biographical Encyclopedia of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers of the U.S.: Colonial to 2002, Bob Creps, Dealer’s Choice Books, Inc. 2002, Vol. 1, p.695; Mallett’s Index of Artists, Daniel Trowbridge Mallett, Peter Smith: New York 1948 Edition, R.R. Bowker Company 1935, p. 212; Mantle Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers, Glen B. Opitz, Apollo Press 1983, p. 476; et al. less