Laura Wheeler Waring (American/Pennsylvania, 1887-1948), "St. Jean", oil on canvas, signed lower left, titled on stretcher, inscribed en verso, 30 in. x 36 in., framed, overall 35 in. x 41 in. x 2 1/8 in. Note: Laura Wheeler Waring was born in 1887 in Hartford, Connecticut to a pastor father and a teacher and amateur artist mother. After demonstrating artistic promise in school, she attended the prestigious Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. When she graduated in 1914, she received the A. William Emlen Cresson Memorial Travel Scholarship which led her to studying in Paris. This trip and subsequent visits to Paris greatly influenced her work. After returning to the United States, Wheeler Waring became a teacher at Cheyney Training School for Teachers, an all-Black school in Philadelphia where she established and chaired the art and music departments. In 1928 the Harmon Foundation put together a showcase of prominent artists of the Harlem Renaissance which featured Laura Wheeler Waring?s work. Following this exhibition, the Harmon Foundation requested her to complete several more portraits to include in their 1944 traveling exhibition which featured portraits of contemporary African Americans and their accomplishments. The success of the exhibition led to Laura Wheeler Waring becoming well known for her portraiture. Wheeler Waring died in her Philadelphia home in 1948, and several of her portraits are on display at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.Ref.: ?Laura Wheeler Waring.? Connecticut Women?s Hall of Fame. www.cwhf.org Accessed May 2, 2024.

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