Mabel May Woodward

'A prominent woman artist of turn-of-the-century Rhode Island, Mabel May Woodward was a notable American Impressionist painter known for her idyllic beach scenes and pensive portraits painted en plein air. Woodward spent ten years of her childhood in San Francisco before returning to her state of birth, Rhode Island, where she attended the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and graduated in 1897. The following year, Woodward studied under William Merritt Chase and Frank Vincent DuMond at the Art Students League in New York. An extensive traveler, Woodward painted in Europe as well as throughout the United States in cities such as Taos, New Mexico, and Charleston, South Carolina. She often summered in Ogunquit, Maine, where she studied under Charles Woodbury and Arthur Wesley Dow, but spent at least one summer at Shinnecock, Chase’s school on Long Island.

In 1900, she returned home to Providence and began teaching at RISD, a career which lasted for over twenty-five years. During her tenure at RISD, she taught Action Classes which considered the human figure a moving machine rather than a static object. Woodward was involved in several organizations, including the Providence Watercolor Club, Provincetown Art Association, Rockport Art Association, and Ogunquit Art Association, among others; additionally, she was elected the first woman President of the Providence Art Club.

Her work has been shown at the Tampa Museum of Art, the Huntsville Museum of Art, Newport Art Museum, and Montclair Art Museum. The Benton Museum and the El Paso Museum of Art have works by Woodward in their Permanent Collections, the latter of which holds over 27 of her works." [Source: Unknown and currently being researched.]