"The Idle Hour Club"

  • Details

    Black Folk Art, African American Americana

  • Biography

    Blanche McVeigh (1895-1970)

    Blanche McVeigh was recognized not only as a fine artist, but also as an excellent fine arts instructor specializing in graphic arts.  McVeigh earned a national reputation for the excellence of her work.

    McVeigh was born in St. Charles, Missouri and grew up in Fort Worth, Texas.  She taught school for a number of years before attending the School of Fine Arts at Washington University, St. Louis (1919-20).  In addition, she attended study at the Art Students League of New York.  She also attended summer sessions at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts at Chester Springs where she studied with Daniel Garber.

    McVeigh studied under Doel Reed in Stillwater, Oklahoma.  In 1931, McVeigh along with Evaline Sellors and Wade Jolly established the Fort Worth School of Fine Arts where VcVeigh taught etching and figure drawing until the school closed in 1941.  McVeigh was the manager of the print department and the drawings and etchings gallery of the Collins Art Company and then opened a frame shop in Fort Worth.

    Blanche McVeigh died in Fort Worth and was buried in the city.  Affiliations for McVeigh included Allied Artists Club, Fort Worth; California Print Society; California Society of Etchers; Chicago Society of Etchers; Connecticut Fine Arts Association; Dallas Print Society; Fort Worth Art Association and the Southern States Art League. Exhibitions included the International Print Exhibition, Chicago; National Exhibition of American Art, Rockefeller Center, New York; Greater Texas and PanAmerica Exposition, Dallas, and the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, New York.

    Source:
    John and Deborah Powers, Texas Painters, Sculptors and Graphic Artists