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Hestia Mural 35th Anniversary Lecture Series

Picture
Every Delicate Shade Imaginable:
The Adventurous Lathrop Artist-Sisters (and Their Black Sheep Brother)
Speaker:
Date:
Location:

Eve Kahn, Antiques Columnist, New York Times
Saturday, November 7, 2015 at 2 pm
Historic Northampton, 46 Bridge Street, Northampton


New York Times antiques columnist Eve M. Kahn will cover what's known and what's still mysterious about the Lathrop sisters - three women artists who had impressive resumes but left little paper trail.

Picture
Hestia Mural Figure 4: Susanne Lathrop
Clara Welles Lathrop, Bessie Stebbins Lathrop and Susanne Lathrop ran an artistic salon in Northampton, attracting speakers as renowned as the art historian Bernard Berenson.  They traveled widely from Venice and Norway to Nova Scotia.  They exhibited their work from Paris to Indiana and they taught art at numerous western Massachusetts institutions including the Clarke school for the deaf.  They are buried side by side in the Bridge Street Cemetery. 
Picture
Susanne Lathrop, circa 1885
They would be largely forgotten now if Susanne were not immortalized on the Hestia Mural.

The sisters were born in Savannah, where their father Henry was a dry-goods merchant. Their mother, Clarissa Stebbins Lathrop, was the daughter of Daniel Stebbins, a pioneer of silk cultivation who grew mulberry trees and raised silkworms on his Bridge Street property in Northampton.  The family spent the Civil War and its aftermath in Montreal (the family fled under a cloud of suspicion of aiding the Confederacy).  They all eventually studied at Smith College.
 

Picture
In the Studio of the Lathrop Sisters
Clara Welles Lathrop (1853-1907) trained in Paris and at the Art Students League and Pratt Institute in New York. She taught at various girls’ schools including Miss Hall’s, she painted in artists’ colonies in Holland and Cornwall, and she exhibited watercolors and oil paintings at major venues in Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Indianapolis, Springfield, New York and Paris. She was best known for her scenes of Dutch women and interiors and bouquets of flowers. In 1906, she became second in command of Smith’s art department under Dwight Tryon. After she died suddenly of meningitis, during commencement celebrations in 1907, she was praised for her selfless hard work and “grace of refinement.” A handful of her works survive, including her 1893 world’s fair contribution, a portrait of a Dutch girl flower seller, (at Smith) and her pastel portrait of Emily Dickinson’s sister-in-law Susan (at Harvard).
PictureBessie Lathrop
Bessie Stebbins Lathrop (1854-1930) became a leatherworker and woodcarver.  She studied at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art and with the sculptor Karl von Rydingsvard. She taught her craft at the Clarke Institution (later the Clarke School for the Deaf).  She exhibited a carved panel at the 1893 world’s fair.  She set up her own shows in various venues including the Waldorf-Astoria, and she documented family history with gifts to the Forbes Library of Stebbins archives and silk samples. One of her few known surviving works is a German-inspired triangular chair now at the Emily Dickinson complex. At right, is a photograph of the studio with carved furniture, likely by Bessie Lathrop.

Picture
The artists' studio with woodcarvings in the manner of Bessie Lathrop
Picture
Susanne Lathrop (right) in her studio
 
Susanne Lathrop (1860-1938) trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and in Paris, where she studied under William-Adolphe Bouguereau at Julien's Paris studio. Following her stay in Paris, Susanne returned to Northampton and taught at the Clarke Institution, the Mary A. Burnham School and at Smith College. She exhibited at venues in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Boston, and she illustrated publications including histories of the Northampton region and an acclaimed children’s book, In Mythland, a book of Greek myths adapted for children by M. Helen Beckwith. One of her reviewers raved: “The beauty-loving gods would approve of such representation.”



Since 2008, Eve M. Kahn has been the Antiques columnist for the New York Times, covering topics ranging from Egyptian animal mummies to 1970s subway station murals. Her biography of the Lathrop sisters' friend, the Smith teacher and painter Mary Rogers Williams (1857-1907), is due out  in 2017 from Wesleyan University Press.
HISTORIC
​NORTHAMPTON
46 Bridge Street
Northampton
​Massachusetts 01060
[email protected]
​413-584-6011
Museum Hours

Historic Northampton is temporarily closed in May and June 2025. Next exhibit:
Slavery and Freedom in Northampton, 1654 to 1783.


For upcoming events and programs, see the  Events Calendar.
​

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  • About
    • About Historic Northampton
    • Hours and Directions
    • Volunteer
    • Board-Staff
    • Legal/Financial
  • Programs
    • Upcoming Programs
    • Past Events at Historic Northampton >
      • Past Programs 2025
      • Past Programs 2024
      • Mill River Flood 150 Commemoration >
        • Mill River Flood 150 Commemoration Events
        • Mill River Flood Introduction
        • Mill River Flood Lives Lost
        • Mill River Flood Commemoration Markers >
          • \\\\\\\\Williamsburg Mill River Flood Markers
          • Skinnerville Mill River Flood Markers
          • Haydenville Mill River Flood Markers
          • Leeds Mill River Markers
          • Florence Mill River Markers
          • Northampton Mill River Markers
        • Mill River Flood Who Was Responsible
        • Mill River Flood Guided Walks to the Dam Ruins
        • Mill River Flood Memorial Tree Project
      • Past Programs 2023
      • Past Programs 2022
      • Past Programs 2021
      • Past Programs 2020
      • Past Programs 2019
    • MCC Card to Culture at Historic Northampton
    • Help I am not receiving email announcements
  • Explore
    • Collections & Research
    • History at Home >
      • Videos
      • Interactive Witch Trial
      • Paper Dolls
      • Hidden Histories
      • Scavenger Hunts
      • Coloring Pages
      • Brain Teasers
      • Peg Doll Hunts
      • Jonathan Edwards Prayer Requests
    • Properties >
      • Parsons House
      • Damon House
      • Shepherd House
      • Shepherd Barn 2020
      • The Bridge Street School Sprouts
    • Educational Websites
    • Historic Highlights
    • COVID-19 Stories >
      • Vaccination Photos
      • Submit Your COVID Story
      • Children React
      • Family and Neighborhood Fun
      • It's a New World
      • Hope and Togetherness
      • Images
      • How Illness Feels
      • Brings Forth Memory
      • Blessings and the New Busy
      • Fear and Worry
  • Indigenous Native History
    • Native Histories in Nonotuck
    • Nonotuck Histories Essay by Margaret M. Bruchac
    • Recovering Nonotuck Histories Photo Essay
    • Profiles of Native People
    • Extended Biographies of Native People
    • Nonotuck to Northampton Maps
    • Native LIves Bibliography
  • History of Slavery
    • About the Slavery Research Project
    • Black Enslaved People
    • Free Black People
    • Native Enslaved People
    • Enslavers of People
    • Relationship Map >
      • Relationship Map Family Groups
      • Relationship Map Enslavement
      • Relationship Map Indenture
      • Relationship Map Legal
      • Relationship Map Commerce
      • Relationship Map Foster or Guardian
      • Relationship Map Social Connections
    • Timeline of Slavery in Northampton
  • DONATE
    • Donate to the Spring Appeal
    • WAYS TO GIVE >
      • Monthly Donation
      • IRA Giving
      • Stock Giving
    • Join the Email List
    • Donate to the Collection