Cornelia Barns

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Cornelia Baxter Barns (born September 25, 1888 in Flushing , New York , † November 4, 1941 in Los Gatos , California ) was an American feminist , socialist and political cartoonist.

Early years

Cornelia Baxter Barns, the eldest of three children of Mabel Balston Barns and Charles Edward Barns, was born in 1888 in the then still independent town of Flushing. Flushing is now a district of Queens , a borough of New York City . Her father went to law school first, then turned to the sciences before embarking on a career as a newspaper man with the New York Herald . During his time in New York City, he built a reputation as a writer and poet. The family moved in 1910 to Philadelphia ( Pennsylvania ). Her father then worked there as a theater director. Cornelia studied art.

In addition to the influence of her father on her life in terms of professional orientation in the artistic direction, social change played an important role. As educational opportunities became more and more accessible in the 19th century , women artists became part of the working society. In this context, they also founded their own art associations. Until then, works of art by women were viewed as inferior. As a result, the voices grew louder and more confident in overcoming this stereotype of women. As a result, a new image of an educated, modern and free "New Woman" was created. The artists then played a crucial role in representing the New Woman. This happened through the works they created, but also through their way of life, which they displayed.

artist

"As They Pass By" (cover by Cornelia Barns, The Masses, September 1913)

Cornelia Baxter Barns enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1906 . Her teachers included William Merritt Chase and John Henry Twachtman . She was subsequently named as a member of Robert Henri and his Ashcan School . For her work she received two Cresson Traveling Scholarships from the Academy, which enabled her to travel to Europe for the first time in 1910 and another trip abroad in 1913. She has exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. From 1910 on, she was listed as a painter in the American Art Annual . In her twenties she married Arthur S. Garbett, a British music critic who worked in Philadelphia. Your son was born there. After that, the couple spent a few years in New York City.

The writer Max Eastman was the editor of The Masses , a socialist magazine run by a very talented group of writers and artists , around 1913 . In this context, he said the following about Cornelia Baxter Barns:

"Cornelia Barns, an elf-eyed girl with smooth brown hair, turned up with the picture that was brilliantly comic and not like anything else in the world"

Her artistic style relied on strong chalk lines and an unmistakable comic style in her depictions of presumptuousness, social privileges, male dominance and childlike innocence.

In another work, Max Eastman wrote the following:

"[T] the drawings of Art Young and Cornelia Barns and William Gropper were of their own intrinsic nature comic. Captions here were unnecessary, or were at least a supplemental element - often, in fact, supplied by the editors in the office. "

The American Salon of Humorists exhibition was held at the Folsom Galleries in New York City in 1915 . It was organized by Louis Baury, and Cornelia Baxter Barns was one of 23 performing artists there. She was a relative newcomer to the New York art scene, but rose quickly.

Suffrage and socialism

Caricature by Cornelia Barns. "United We Stand: Anti-Suffrage Meeting," November 1914. Published in The Masses.
Front cover of Birth Control Review, February – March 1918, with caricature by Cornelia Barns, "The New Voter at Work."

From 1913 to 1917 Barns worked for The Masses. Barns was on their editorial board for three years. Art historian Rebecca Zurier commented:

"The closest thing to a feminist statement by a woman Masses editor appears in the cartoons of Cornelia Barns, who refrained from any serious social analysis."

When the publication of The Masses was interrupted because of government taxes, a new magazine, The Liberator , was founded by Max Eastman and Crystal Eastman . In the February 10, 1918 issue of the New York Call , Cornelia was listed as a contributing editor at The Liberator along with the other cartoonists / illustrators Robert Minor , Boardman Robinson, and Art Young. In 1925, The New Masses was heralded as:

"A new radical magazine of arts and letters, without political affiliations or obligations but with sympathy and allegiance unqualifiedly with the international labor movement ..."

Once again, Cornelia Barns was listed as editor.

In the socialist magazines of the time, many caricatures by Cornelia Baxter Barns concerned the issue of women's suffrage and gender equality . As expected, she also published cartoons in suffrage magazines including New York City's Woman Voter and the National Woman's Party ’s Suffragist. One Man - One Vote depicts two immigrant women with young children and next to them a vain man with a stare in a three-piece suit and walking stick. Your front page Waiting, published in The Suffragist in 1919 , was an impressive representation of an infinite mass of strongly built Women, two with babies in their arms, holding a burning torch, waiting for political recognition of the right to vote. In 1918, the second year of the magazine's appearance, Cornelia Baxter Barns and Lou Rogers were listed as layout artists for Margaret Sanger ’s Birth Control Review . Her first contribution was We Accuse Society.

California

Cornelia Baxter Barns moved to California with her husband Arthur Garbett and their young son in 1920. They settled on a ranch near Barns' parents, who had moved to Morgan Hill several years earlier . Due to a lack of employment opportunities, the Garbetts moved to Berkeley, California. Arthur Garbett became program director at a radio station and later had his own radio program. He also worked as a music critic for a newspaper in San Francisco . Cornelia Baxter Barns mainly created illustrations. In 1921, she supplied Sunset Magazine with her own sketches and front pages and wrote a column, My City Oakland, for the Oakland Tribune . Garbett and Barns later moved to Los Gatos, California, shortly before Barns died of tuberculosis in November 1941 . Speculation has circulated that years of using etchings on zinc plates in poorly ventilated studios damaged her lungs. According to other reports, both her paternal grandmother and great aunt both succumbed to the disease. After a flood in the family home, only some of her original works of art could be saved.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Zurier, Rebecca: Art for the Masses, Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1988, ISBN 0877225133 , page 216
  2. ^ A b c Sheppard, Alice: Cartooning for Suffrage, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1994
  3. ^ A b Sawyers, Eugene T .: History of Santa Clara County, California , Historic Record Co., 1922, p. 1111
  4. ^ Charles E. Barnes , New York, State Census, 1892
  5. ↑ 1900; Census Place: Queens Ward 3, Queens, New York , 1900 United States Federal Census
  6. ↑ Philadelphia Ward 46, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1910 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com
  7. ^ Prieto, Laura R .: At Home in the Studio: The Professionalization of Women Artists in America , Harvard University Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0-674-00486-3 , pp. 145f
  8. ↑ Prieto, Laura R .: At Home in the Studio: The Professionalization of Women Artists in America , Harvard University Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0-674-00486-3 , pp. 160f
  9. ↑ a b Petteys, Chris: Dictionary of Women Artists: An International Dictionary of Women Artists Born before 1900, Boston, Massachusetts: GK Hall, 1985, p 45
  10. ↑ a b c Cornelia Baxter Barns (1888–1941) , AskArt
  11. ↑ a b c d e Hanley, Terence E .: Arthur Selwyn Garbett (1883-1955) , Tellers of Weird Tales, May 4, 2011
  12. ^ Philadelphia Passenger Lists, 1800-1945 , Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1883-1945, Ancestry.com
  13. ↑ 1913; Arrival; Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll , New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, Ancestry.com
  14. ^ American Art Annual , Volume 7, MacMillan Company, 1910, p. 91
  15. ^ Eastman, Max: Enjoyment of Living, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1948, p. 407
  16. ^ Eastman, Max: Enjoyment of Laughter, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1936, p. 72
  17. ↑ Baury, Louis: Wanted: An American Salon of humorists , in June 1915, The Bookman: 5250540
  18. ^ Humor has its First Salon, Washington Herold, June 6, 1915
  19. ^ The Liberator is Now on Sale , New York Call, February 10, 1918
  20. ^ A b Radical Magazine Backed By $ 1,500,000 , The New York Times, December 8, 1925
  21. ^ Barns, Cornelia: One Man - One Vote, Woman Voter: April 10, 1914
  22. ^ Barns, Cornelia: Waiting, The Suffragist 7 (19), May 17, 1919
  23. ^ Barns, Cornelia: We Accuse Society, Birth Control Review 1: 5, December 1917
  24. ^ Jose, Donna: Of Interest to Women, Society , San Jose Evening News, July 13, 1920
  25. ^ Daily Radio Programs: Arthur Garbett, talk, Musical Program, Niagara Falls Gazette, July 9, 1926
  26. ^ The Magazines: Sunset, Oakland Tribune, May 29, 1921
  27. ^ California, Death Index, 1940-1997 , Ancestry.com
  28. ↑ Green, Cedric: Bordeaux Etch , greenart.info
  29. ^ Fulton, Antoinette M .: Honeymoon Home Built Century Ago By David Wells is New Bus Station, Burlington Free Press, April 15, 1954
personal data
SURNAME Barns, Cornelia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Barns, Cornelia Baxter (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American feminist, socialist, and political cartoonist
DATE OF BIRTH September 25, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Flushing , New York
DATE OF DEATH November 4, 1941
Place of death Los Gatos , California