The daughter of Richmond Mayor, Lewis Stubbs, Mrs. Cathell made her career painting patented roses for the Joseph H. Hill Company. Her early training began with her mother who was a leader in the early art movement in Richmond and an accomplished china painter and miniaturists. She studied art at the Cummings School of Art in Des Moines, Iowa after graduating from Earlham College. She had lessons in design from Dr. Denman Ross of Harvard University as well as lessons from Richmond Group artists, including John E. Bundy, John King and Randolph Coates.

After living in Iowa for eleven years with her husband, Rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, she worked for author and poet William Dudley Foulke from 1910-1935 as a literary secretary. A fractured hip, which eventually confined her to a wheelchair, did not stop her from painting still lifes. According to her own recollections, she painted over three hundred and fifty still lifes during her career. Of all her accomplishments, she believed that the most important thing she had ever done was to paint a series of “rose portraits” for Mr. Hill’s new roses that originated from his own seedling house.

Born: 1867
Died: 1955

Preferred Media: Painter

Additional Information & Images:

• Article on the Bookplate of Morrisson-Reeves Library [Image]

Sources:

• ___The Ealhamite. April, 1939. p. 15

• Palladium-Item, November, 1955. obituary.

• Palladium-Item, June 19, 1979. Since 1932 Joseph H. Hill Co. has been given 75 rose patents.

• Lauter, Flora. Active Indiana Artists, 1940. Spencer, Indiana; Samuel R. Guard & Co., Inc. 1941.

• Newton, Judith Vale and Carol Weiss, A Grand Tradition: The Art and Artists of the Hoosier Salon, 1925-1990. Indianapolis, Indiana: Hoosier Salon Patrons Association, Inc., 1993.

• Newton, Judith Vale and Carol Weiss, Skirting the Issue: Stories of Indiana’s Historical Women Artists. Indianapolis, Indiana: Indiana Historical Society Press. 2004.

• Kathleen Postle Archive, Richmond Art Museum; Letter from Edna Cathell, 1943.