A Houston Artist Abroad - Pt 1: Voyage and Arrival
Emma Richardson Cherry in Brittany, the Loire Valley and Paris, 1925.
Today we begin an epic centennial journey in the footsteps of Emma Richardson Cherry (1859-1954), dean of Houston artists. In June, 1925, Mrs. Cherry took ship for France, the beginning of a sixteen-month odyssey to the art colonies of Brittany, the chateaux of the Loire, the avant-garde ateliers of Paris, and the tourist and art attractions of Spain, North Africa, Majorca, Ireland and England. By the time she returned to Houston in October, 1926, she had seen sites, made contacts, painted paintings and absorbed modern attitudes that would reshape her own art and the art culture of Houston.
Over the next few months, we will repeat her journey, with Emma herself as our guide. This is the story of her adventures in her own words and pictures, supplemented by the words and pictures of those she encountered along the way. Bon voyage. See you in France.
(Note: The sources for what will follow are the letters of Emma Richardson Cherry written from abroad in 1925 and 1926, now housed at the Houston Public Library, the Heritage Society, and various other archival collections; the letters of Clemens Tanquary Robinson, in the Geroid Tanquary Robinson Papers, Columbia University; newspapers; and the World Wide Web.)
Part 1: Voyage and arrival.
Sunday, May 24, 1925 – “Mrs. E. Richardson Cherry, Houston artist, will sail from New Orleans on the La Salle on June 14 for France and will spend several months in Europe. She will be joined by Mrs. Geroid Tanquary Robinson, teacher of French in the Finch School, New York, and together they will paint all summer. Mrs. Robinson is an artist as well as a linguist.” Houston Chronicle.
Sunday, June 7, 1925 – “‘If any of you come over to France this summer and see a painter with a big sun hat and an old dress on, wearing boy’s shoes and looking comfortable, that’ll be me,’ Emma Richardson Cherry told the members of the Altrusa Club at their luncheon Wednesday. Mrs. Cherry was answering the roll call on plans for the summer …” Houston Chronicle.
Sunday, June 14, 1925 – The SS De La Salle, an ocean liner of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (French Line), departs New Orleans with Emma Richardson Cherry on board.
Sunday, June 28, 1925, 5:00 p.m. – Le Havre, France – “The La Salle is expected tonight at five,” in the words of Clemmie Tan, who is at the dock to meet the paquebot and “Cheriza” (i.e. Clemmie’s nickname for Cherry). “A little autobus joggles” them and their belongings to La Grande Hotel de Normandie “which is really a little hotel – very comfortable … [a] cute little room with its high bed surmounted by an enormous “pouf” (very fat eiderdown) … spic and span with white curtains over long French windows, looking out on the bobbing boats … the little balcony mak[ing] me feel like Juliette, but one can’t be Juliette without Him. … A nice corpulent garçon has served me a cup of coffee as big as the Atlantic Ocean, with petite-pain and beurre frais. C'était bon!” Clemmie Tan Letter #1, to her husband, Geroid.
To be continued …
I love this new topic and look forward to the journey with Emma Richardson Cherry.