Sophie gingembre anderson biography

The absolute dilemma of writing about any female artist starts with the trivial of two perspectives, one which completely foretells the feminist spirit and the other which gives a rough sketch of anti-feminism. In the giants of two opinionated viewpoints, I always try to be as neutral and direct with you as the mirror itself. However, one foremost factor which I always consider in favour of the feminist part is the fact that it was only in the 19th century that few institutes allowed women to educate themselves professionally in the artistic world. Before that, they were supposed to learn from the outside world, and very few entered the Royal Art Institute. In the nineteenth century, while the Watercolour Society of Ireland was primarily composed of women artists, the Dublin art club categorized women as “lady members”, and the New English Art Club exclusively comprised men. Hence, to conclude, there were two situations- one where women commanded the art institutes and the other when they struggled to keep their positions. However, even with these, when it came to art, they professed well in their career. And few women drastically became famous for their works, like Kauffman and Vigee Le Brun. There came one time when there was progressive growth of the collector who wanted to purchase women’s art. For instance, George Holt, George McCulloch, and Edmund Davies showed an exceptional willingness to snap up them. There was a significant advance in public patronage in Edinburgh thanks to Amelia Paton Hill’s statue of Favid Livingstone, described as “the first public work of the kind to be executed by a woman.” Comparably, the Liverpool Corporation purchased Elaine by Sophie Gengembre Anderson in 1871 and Sintran by Louisa Starr in 1873, the first public acquisition of women’s work. As women escalated a new movement of tenacious success in the nineteenth ce

Sophie Gengembre Anderson (1823 – 10 March 1903) was a French-born British artist who specialised in genre painting of children and women, typically in rural settings. She began her career as a lithographer and painter of portraits, collaborating with Walter Anderson on portraits of American Episcopal bishops. Her work, Elaine, was the first public collection purchase of a woman artist. Her painting No Walk Today was purchased for more than £1 million.


Sophie was born in Paris, the daughter of Charles Antoine Colomb Gengembre, a French architect and artist, and his English wife, Marianne Farey (1779-1883), a daughter of John Farey Sr (1766-1826) and his wife Sophia Hubert. They married at St Pancras Church, London, on 12 April 1818 Her father was born in 1790 and began working as an architect at age 19. He worked primarily in municipal commissions, like the Mint of the City of Cassel, which he designed and built when he was 19. He was injured during the Revolution of 1830 on the same day that his son Philip was born. The family then went to London, where Gengembre worked as an architect for Charles Fourier. He returned to France and continued his work as an architect, designing communal schools around France.


The family moved to America and adopted the surname Hubert, because of difficulties in people pronouncing their french surname.


After moving to Cincinnati, Ohio, he settled in Manchester, Pennsylvania, and by 1863 had designed pro bono the Allegheny City Hall. He stopped speaking English in protest after he was offered a share of the graft of over-inflated construction costs.


They lived in Paris during the early years of Sophie's life, where her father was acquainted with artists, intellectuals, and actors, like François Joseph Talma. Circumstances required that the family leave Paris and live in a "remote area in France" from 1829 to 1843. At seventeen she developed an interest in art when a travel

orn in Paris, Sophie Gengembre had an English mother and French father (an architect and art-lover) and two brothers. She showed a passion for drawing and painting from a young age but the family lived in the provinces (perhaps Brittany) from c.1830-44, where she was limited to her own initiative. Then, at the age of twenty, she was able to join the Paris studio of Baron Charles de Steuben, with whom she studied for a year. Continuing to develop herself, she focussed on portraiture.

When political turmoil overtook Paris in 1848 (the "year of revolutions""), the family removed to the USA, settling in Cincinnati, Ohio. There was a fledgling art world in this city in which the young artist participated, making portraits and working for lithographer Charles A Jewett. Her brother Henry was also involved in this enterprise, as was an English artist, Walter Anderson, whom she married. Shortly thereafter the Gengembre family and the Andersons moved to Manchester, Pennsylvania. In 1852, Sophie and Walter had a daughter, named after her mother.

In 1854 the Andersons migrated to the UK, where they lived on the outskirts of east London, and soon (in 1855) Sophie debuted at the Royal Academy, the Winter exhibition and Birmingham's annual show. Within two years the Andersons had moved to the much more prosperous district of Kensington, and she steadily expanded her exhibition appearances to include the annual shows in Liverpool (from 1857).

In 1859 the Andersons were once again in Pennsylvania, this time in Pittsburgh. It is tempting to suggest that familial matters prompted this removal, for when her father Charles died in 1863 they relocated to Britain. Back in London once more, Sophie's annual exhibition round expanded to include Manchester (from 1862) and Glasgow (from 1868), while Walter's visibility in exhibition began to grow. One of the patrons they acquired at this time was Charles Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll. It is uncomfortably clear that he would have been attra

French-born British painter (1823–1903)

Sophie Gengembre Anderson (1823 – 10 March 1903) was a French-born British Victorian painter who was also active in the United States for extended periods. She specialised in genre paintings of children and women, typically in rural settings. She began her career as a lithographer and painter of portraits, collaborating with Walter Anderson on portraits of American Episcopal bishops. Her work, Elaine, was the first public collection purchase of a woman artist. Her painting No Walk Today was purchased for more than £1 million.

Early life

Anderson was born in Paris, the daughter of Charles Antoine Colomb Gengembre, a French architect and artist, and his English wife, Marianne Farey (1799–1883), a daughter of John Farey Sr. (1766–1826) and his wife Sophia Hubert (1770–1830). They married at St Pancras Church, London, on 12 April 1818.

Her father was born in 1790 and began working as an architect at age 19. He worked primarily in municipal commissions, like the Mint of the City of Cassel, which he designed and built when he was 19. He was injured during the Revolution of 1830 on the same day that his son Philip was born. The family then went to London, where Gengembre worked as an architect for Charles Fourier. He returned to France and continued his work as an architect, designing communal schools around France. The family moved to the United States and adopted the surname Hubert, because of difficulties in people pronouncing their French surname. After moving to Cincinnati, Ohio, he settled in Manchester, Pennsylvania. By 1863, he had designed the Allegheny City Hall "pro bono". He stopped speaking English in protest after he was offered a share of the graft of over-inflated construction costs. The Gengembre family lived in Paris during the early years of Sophie's life, where her father was acquainted with artists, inte