Lillian Genth (1876 - 1953). Lillian Mathilde Genth was an American impressionist artist. She is best known for her depiction of female nudes in landscape settings. However, in the middle of her career she swore off painting female nudes and began painting more conservative paintings inspired by her travels. In about 30 years Genth appeared in 233 exhibitions, and while well renowned for her paintings while alive, her story and artwork have been lost in the retelling of American art history. Lillian Mathilde Genth was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Matilda Caroline Rebscher and Samuel Adam. Genth began her art career by attending the Philadelphia School of Design for Women in Pennsylvania on scholarship. During her schooling years she worked to help support herself as a dress designer. At the Philadelphia School of Design for Women her primary teacher was Elliott Daingerfield. Daingerfield greatly influenced her style, which can be seen in the similar tonalist and coloristic qualities of her landscape scenes. Genth graduated from Philadelphia School of Design for Women in 1900. She received the William L. Elkins European fellowship for attainment in art from the Philadelphia School of Design, which sponsored her to paint in Europe for a year. During her time in Europe, Genth first settled in Paris, France in October 1900 where she enrolled in art classes at the Academie Carmen, an art school run by James McNeil Whistler. Whistler became a large influence on Genth's work and she was known to be a favorite pupil of his. During one of Whistler's visits to the school in 1900, he was so impressed by Genth's work that he gave her a paint palette; an honor that she used and treasured for the rest of her career. This was an incredible compliment from Whistler, who rarely accepted women painters. Genth's style is typically attributed to Whistler because of her paintings' tonalist qualities and because he taught her to see her paintings as a whole instead of in individual parts. After the Academie Carmen closed in 1901, Genth stayed in Europe for three more years. During this time she worked on painting landscapes, genre scenes, and waterfronts; her nudes would not begin for a few more years. In 1904 Genth returned to the United States and was living in New York City. It was at this point that her career began to flourish. In 1904 Genth showed at three exhibitions: the National Academy of Design, Art Club of Philadelphia, and Worcester Museum. In October of that same year she appeared in her first individual show at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Also in 1904 Genth received the Mary Shaw Prize for the best landscape in the show for her work Peasant Houses, Normandy at an exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Critics and the general public began noticing and appreciating Genth's work during this beneficial year. Through the next couple of years Genth continued to show at the nation's most important art galleries, museums, and art clubs. In 1906 Genth developed her interest in the female nude. She quit drawing her European-inspired landscapes and focused on the female form. She quickly developed skills in drawing the nude female form and established her style that depicts nude females in landscape settings. When Genth was asked why she changed her form she responded, Because to me the most beautiful thing in the world is the human figure outdoors. In Brittany, one day I took a model out and posed her in the open and I was at once filled with resentment at all the beauty I had been missing. The conservative Victorian society was not ready to accept Genth's nude figures and at first her paintings were often rejected by exhibitions and advisors told her to abandon her new iconography. However, Genth, known for her fierce personality, persevered through these setbacks. In 1908 her painting, The Lark, won her the Shaw Memorial Prize at the 83rd Annual Exhibition of the National Academy of Design. The Lark depicts a full female nude strolling through the woods with her head turned looking toward the sky as if she just heard a lark, as the title suggests. This painting successfully demonstrates Whistler's influence on Genth through the integration of the nude form and the landscape. The success of the painting relies on the focus of the painting as a whole to make the nude form grounded in the landscape instead of looking out of place. Also in 1908, Genth was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate. She was the youngest woman ever elected to this position at the academy. From 1910 until 1929 Genth appeared in at least 164 exhibitions. During these years she experienced a lot of success, popularity, and wealth.