AN AMERICAN IN PARIS

The Estate of Catherine Denkmann Wentworth Paris, France & Santa Barbara, California

Subtlety, eloquence, gravitas, finesse, mastery and gracefulness have all been used to describe the prowess of Catherine D. Wentworth’s brush strokes. While she displayed a remarkable artistic ability from a young age, particularly in drawing and sketching, no one could have predicted she would cement herself as one of the world’s most acclaimed – and Paris’s most treasured – artists during the height of her fame in the 1920s.

Born in 1865 in Rock Island, Illinois, she was one of seven children of the influential Catherine Bloedel Denkmann and Frederick C.A. Denkmann, the president of Weyerhaeuser & Denkmann Company, considered to be the “lumber kings” of the time.

After graduating from Wellesley College and receiving her early training at the Art Institute of Chicago, Catherine moved to Europe to study with several artists, including Carl Marr in Munich and at Académie Julien in Paris, where she became the first woman to be awarded first prize in the school’s annual competition. In her later work, the great French painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau would remain one of her masters. Considered to be a direct and truthful artist, Catherine’s intimate works notably captured the unaffected gracefulness of feminine features ▶ and just as poignantly depicted portraits of men – all works remarkable in the artist’s beautiful handling and eloquence of her subjects’ hands. Additionally, her subtle use of somber color, marvelous use of lighting and finesse in portraying the delicate lines of the human figure set Catherine apart as both a draftswoman and colorist.

The excellence of Catherine’s technique, the adherence to the masters’ sound tradition, the scope of her brush and the simple yet powerful depiction of her subjects quickly won her the unstinted commendation of critics on both sides of the Atlantic.

Despite having studios in both Paris and New York City, Catherine produced almost the entirety of her work in Paris. It was here that Catherine gained fervent recognition among the great colony of world artists that called the City of Lights home in the early 20th century.

In the words of one of France’s foremost art critics, M. Arséne Alexandre, “Catherine is one American whose painting all Paris respects.” Needless to say, she quickly became an adopted and highly respected Parisienne.

In 1925, Catherine held a highly celebrated exhibition at the famous galleries within the hotel Jean Charpentier, displaying an impressive 32 portraits, 18 other paintings and 11 pieces of sculpture.

Her portrait of Léon Melchissédec, the great singer of France’s National Opera, was considered one of the finest and noblest of Catherine’s works and was eventually purchased by the French government to be hung in the museum at Clermont-Ferrand in central France, Melchissédec’s birthplace. Examples of the artist’s portraiture are also found in Muséum de Toulouse’s permanent collection.

Following the death of her husband of more than three decades, Edward S. Wentworth, an opera singer and son of a prominent Boston family, Catherine purchased an oceanside estate and resided in Santa Barbara. A member of the New York Society of Women Artists and an officer of Académie des Palms, Paris, Catherine continued to travel, nourishing her interest in painting and further exhibiting her work, including at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, until her passing in 1948.

NOAG is honored to offer the Estate of Catherine D. Wentworth, including French furniture, silver, decorative arts and fine carpets.