Florence Prince Ewing (1888 – 1971)

Manayunk Fountain & Silverwood Sts, 1938, oil on canvas board, signed and dated lower right, titled and dated verso, 20 x 16 inches

$3250

Although Florence Prince Ewing’s paintings explored a wide variety of subjects, her best works like the present canvas depicted the Philadelphia suburb of Manayunk. Writing of Ewing’s entry to the Plastic Club’s 1945 annual exhibition, The Philadelphia Inquirer commented approvingly, “Florence Prince Ewing shows herself painting on one of her favorite hillsides overlooking the Schuylkill landscapes which she managed by some magic, to make so Italianate.” Unlike her fellow Plastic Club member, Fern Coppedge, Ewing’s style was not fully impressionistic and possessed greater delineation and exactitude, making it more consistent with American Scene aesthetics of the 1930s and 40s. The brightly colored pigeon coup and laundry in the foreground of Manayunk Fountain & Silverwood Sts and factory smokestacks in the distance add an air of Depression Era authenticity to the composition.

Ewing was a Pennsylvania-based painter and printmaker who worked primarily in the Philadelphia area. She graduated from the Philadelphia School of Design (Moore College of Art) and often exhibited in the eastern part of the United States, including at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the National Gallery (Washington DC), and the Woodmere Art Museum. She was a founder and director of the Manayunk Art Center and was a member of the Plastic Club of Philadelphia, one of the first all-women’s visual arts organizations in the United States, which counted Cecilia Beaux and Jessie Wilcox Smith among its members. Ewing’s entries to the Club’s exhibitions drew praise from critics and jurors alike. The Philadelphia Inquirer included her paintings among the best entries in exhibitions each year between 1941 and 1950. Her entries to the Annual Sketch Class Show won first prize in 1941. The Women’s University Club hosted a solo exhibition in 1955 and the Manayunk Art Center honored Ewing with a posthumous retrospective in 1971.