Beatrice Fenton

American sculptor and educator, 1887–1983

BiographyBeatrice Fenton (1887–1983) was an American sculptor and educator born in Philadelphia and was best known for her garden and fountain sculptures. Fenton studied art at the School of the Philadelphia Museum of Art where she was taught by Alexander Stirling Calder. From 1904 to 1912, she studied with Charles Grafly at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.

In 1926, she became the eleventh member and first sculptor in "The Philadelphia Ten"--a group of women artists formed in 1917 to promote and exhibit their work. "The Ten" exhibited until 1945, eventually expanding to thirty painters and sculptors. Fenton was active with the group until at least 1929. Her work was also part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Fenton succeeded Samuel Murray as instructor in Sculpture at the Moore College of Art and Design (formerly the Philadelphia School of Art for Women), where she taught from 1942 to 1953.

Her father, Philadelphia ophthalmologist Dr. Thomas H. Fenton, is the subject of a painting by Thomas Eakins in the Delaware Art Museum’s collection. Beatrice Fenton sold this portrait to the Museum. She was also painted by Eakins. Her portrait, known as The Coral Necklace (1904), is in the collection of the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio.

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