1889

The Union Club of Cleveland, by gift of Harry E. Hayes, 1896

Canadian-born painter John Kavanagh was active in Cleveland, Ohio beginning i n1872. He first worked as a hand-colorer of photographs and did portrait drawings that he exhibited in the City Hall of Cleveland. He shared a studio with Frank Tomkins, and traveled with him to Munich, attending the Munich Academy for two years and winning a bronze medal. He was also recognized by King Ludwig of Bavaria and had a special invitation to the King’s palace.

In 1884, Kavanagh returned to Cleveland and did crayon work and private art tutoring. One of his pupils was Theodate Pope, the 18-year old daughter of A.A. Pope, a Union Club member, wealthy industrialist and collector of European paintings. Theodate, who later became the sixth woman to be a licensed architect in Connecticut, learned of Kavanagh’s wish to study in Paris, and persuaded her father to support him financially for study abroad. As a result, Kavanagh spent three years in Paris, 1886-1889, as a student of Gustave Boulanger and Jules-Joseph Lefebvre at the Academie Julian and exhibited at the annual salon. At the 1889 Salon, Washer Women represented Kavanagh at the height of his skill. Its subject matter is characteristic of the period in which the rural peasant life was presented with a nobility and sincerity previously reserved for historical and mythological subjects. Washer Women was also exhibited in 1893 at the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition. The painting entered the collection of the Union Club of Cleveland in 1896, the gift of Harry E. Hayes, a descendant of the U.S. President, who most likely purchased it directly from the artist.

When Kavanagh returned to Cleveland from Europe, he was much lauded for his artistic accomplishments, and was elected President of the Cleveland Art Club. Nevertheless, despite his success abroad, his market was not strong in Cleveland. By 1897 he was suffering badly from tuberculosis, and gave up painting. The next year he sold the items in his studio by lottery, paid his debts with the proceeds, and died twelve days later at age forty-five.