Lilla Cabot Perry
(1848-1933)

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Lilla Cabot Perry was an American, Impressionist painter of portraits and landscapes. Perry was born in Boston to a wealthy family. As a child Perry was exposed to music, art and literature. Perry’s family would entertain distinguished guests including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Louisa May Alcott. During the Civil War Perry’s parents were active abolitionists, housing soldiers and protecting slaves in their fight for freedom.

Perry married a Harvard scholar and gave birth to three children before initiating her career as an artist. In 1884 Perry started training as a painter with Alfred Quentin Collins. Perry received a foundation in the arts from Collins but was more inspired by Impressionist painter Robert Vonnoh who practiced plein-air painting in France.

In 1885 Perry received formal training at Cowles Art School in Boston, where she continued to develop technically and conceptually as a painter. A few years later Perry moved with her family to Paris. In Europe Perry was able to study from master paintings at the Louvre and Prado and enroll in painting courses at the Academie Colarossi and Academie Julian. Perry showed success as an artist in Paris, exhibiting in the Salon of the Société des Artistes Indépendants. The accepted paintings included a portrait of her husband and a portrait of one of her daughters.

In 1889 Perry decided to move to Giverny, France to study with Claude Monet, who she found greatly inspiring. Perry spent nine summers in Giverny painting with Monet.

In 1889 Perry and her family returned to Boston, where the art community was less interested in the Impressionist movement. Perry made it her goal to popularize Impressionism by giving lectures and organizing exhibitions.

In 1893 Perry was selected to represent Massachusetts at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. Perry showed seven paintings at the Exposition. In the following years Perry exhibited regularly in Boston and in Paris at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts at the Salon de Champ de Mars.

Perry followed her husband to Japan where she lived for three years. In Japan Perry was greatly inspired by Asian prints. Perry returned to Boston from Japan more popular then ever. Perry was awarded a bronze medals at the International Louisiana Purchase Exhibition in St. Louis and at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, California.

In 1913, Perry helped to form the Guild of Boston Artists, which opposed modern, avant-garde trends. Perry was an influential force in popularizing Impressionist painting in the United States. Do you think you own a painting by Lilla Cabot Perry? Contact us. We are the Lilla Cabot Perry experts.