Jae Turner

I successfully defended my dissertation titled “Mary E. Hutchinson: The Absence of an Oeuvre” yesterday!  For more about Hutchinson, see my digital catalog of her work at http://meh.omeka.net.

The owner of Mary E. Hutchinson’s “Young Girl in Blue” contacted me over the weekend through this blog.  Hutchinson exhibited the painting as an emerging young artist in a 1933 group show at the Midtown Galleries.  It was her first work to really grab the attention of New York art critics.

Thanks to the current owner, we now also know that it is a portrait of a young Evelyn Manacher Draper (1911-1999).  She was an operatic soprano who pursued a teaching career (10 years at Julliard followed by 27 years teaching voice and related courses at Stanford University).  I have also learned that Draper wrote the libretto (or words) to a 1950s comic opera, “A Game of Chance.”

To see the painting visit my digital catalog of Hutchinson’s work at http://meh.omeka.net.