Lot 169: Mary Jett Franklin O/C Exhibited Painting, Southern Artist

Mary Jett Franklin (American/Georgia, 1842-1928), La Toilette, oil on canvas painting depicting a young girl with blonde hair washing her hands in a bowl at a table, c. 1895. Signed lower right, “Mary Franklin / Paris.” Unframed. 39 1/2″ H x 31″ W. Exhibition History: Salon de Champs-de-Mars, Paris, 1896 (illustrated in the catalog as no. 536, p. 67); American Woman’s Art Association Annual Exhibition, Paris, 1897. Artist Biography: This is a very rare example of work by Mary Jett Franklin, an Athens, Georgia-born genre and portrait artist who attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She traveled to Paris in 1889 to continue her art education at the Academie Colarossi, one of the few art schools to accept female students at that time. Franklin’s paintings were exhibited in the PAFA annual exhibitions in Philadelphia, the National Academy exhibitions in New York City, and numerous exhibitions in Paris, including the Salon de Champs de Mars, the Salon of American Women Artists, the National Exposition de Montelimar, and the Societe des Artistes Independants. In 1924, Franklin returned to Athens, Georgia, where she spent the remainder of her life teaching at the University of Georgia and the Lucy Cobb Institute.

CONDITION: Approx. six small punctures up to 1″ in length: upper right background (2); subject’s upper arm; table edge (2). 1/2″ flake upper left quadrant, background; 2″ area of exfoliation upper left corner. Craquelure throughout. Several pale drip streaks across the length of the canvas affecting subject and table. Scattered small spots of grime, particularly at lower quarter, and losses to canvas at perimeter where it wraps around the stretcher. Wide creases to center indicating canvas was rolled or folded at one time, and stretcher marks to canvas.