Eva Scott Fényes

Eva Scott Fényes
Born
Eva Scott

November 9, 1849
New York City
DiedFebruary 3, 1930 (aged 80)
Pasadena, California
NationalityAmerican
Known forWatercolor

Eva Scott Fényes (formerly Muse; November 9, 1849 – February 3, 1930)[1] was an American painter known for watercolor landscape of the American West.[2] She was also known for her philanthropic activities.

Biography

Eva Scott was born on November 9, 1849, in New York City as the only child of Leonard and Rebecca (Briggs) Scott. She attended Pelham Priory School, the first girls’ preparatory school in the New York area, where she received her first art training. Around 1868 or 1869 she traveled through Southern Europe and Northern Africa with her parents and spent six weeks in Egypt, where she received art training from Sanford R. Gifford.

On November 19, 1878, she married Lieutenant William S. Muse, US Marine Corps, Fort Monroe, Virginia, with whom she had one child, Leonora Scott Muse Curtin (1879–1972). In 1889, Eva and her daughter came to Santa Fe, New Mexico.[citation needed] Eva filed for divorce from William Muse in the district court of Santa Fe County in June 1890.[3]

In 1895, she traveled to Egypt again, where she met her second husband, Hungarian nobleman Adalbert Fényes de Csokaly. They married in Budapest in 1896 and returned to the United States.[4]

Fényes and her husband settled in Pasadena, California.[2] She commissioned Robert D. Farquhar to design a house, known as the Fenyes Mansion, and now the home of the Pasadena Museum of History.[5] Fényes was a member of the Landmarks Club of California, the Pasadena Music and Art Association, and the Southwest Society. She also served on the board of trustees of the Southwest Museum.[6]

Though never a professional artist, Fényes was an accomplished watercolorist. With the urging of Charles Fletcher Lummis she created over 300 landscapes which often included Southwest architecture features such as missions and adobe structures.[6][4][7]

In 1926, Fényes, her daughter, and granddaughter built a home in Santa Fe, Acequia Madre House. The house was established as a nonprofit organization with support by the Paloheimo Foundation. Museum director and historian J. Revell Carr was hired to develop a strategic plan, and in July 2012 the house and outbuildings on three acres were designated a museum by the Santa Fe Board of Adjustment.[8] In 2013 the house also became home to the Women's International Study Center.[9]

Death

Fényes died on February 3, 1930, aged 80, in Pasadena, California.[10] Her watercolors and sketchbooks are in the collections of the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles, the Pasadena Museum of History and the Acequia Madre House in Santa Fe.[6]

  • The Mission of San Gabriel Arcangel, circa 1900
    The Mission of San Gabriel Arcangel, circa 1900
  • The Belfry and Bells of Mission San Gabriel Arcangel, 1902
    The Belfry and Bells of Mission San Gabriel Arcangel, 1902

References

  1. ^ Biography, oac.cdlib.org. Accessed March 16, 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Eva Scott Fenyes". AskArt. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  3. ^ "Round About Town". Santa Fe Daily New Mexican. No. 105. June 24, 1890. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b Gibbons, Cuyler (May 3, 2016). "The Evolution of Eva Fenyes". Pasadena Magazine. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  5. ^ "Fenyes Mansion". National Trust for Historic Preservation. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  6. ^ a b c "Eva Scott Fényes". Autry’s Collections Online. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  7. ^ "Three Wise Women". New Mexico Historic Women Marker Initiative. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  8. ^ Weideman, Paul (June 21, 2013). "3 Wise Women: The life and legacy of Eva and the Leonoras". The Santa Fe New Mexican. pp. 28–30 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "A World at Home". Women's International Study Center. Archived from the original on June 25, 2021.
  10. ^ "Fényes, Eva Scott, -1930". LC Linked Data Service. The Library of Congress. Retrieved July 17, 2020.