Anne Goldthwaite

Anne Goldthwaite
Self-portrait, c. 1906-1913, Smithsonian American Art Museum
Born	June 28, 1869 Montgomery, Alabama
Died	January 29, 1944 New York
Cause of death	Illness
Residence	New York
Nationality	American
Education	Walter Shirlaw at National Academy of Design, Charles Guérin
Known for	Portrayal of southerners

Anne Goldthwaite (1869–1944) was an American painter and printmaker and an advocate of women's rights and equal rights.

Anne Goldthwaite was born in Montgomery, Alabama on June 28, 1869. Her father Richard W. Goldthwaite, served as an artillery captain for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Her family moved to Dallas, Texas and remained there for the majority of her childhood while her father looked for work. Upon the death of her parents, Goldthwaite and her two sisters returned to Alabama to be cared for by various family members. Her aunt presented her to society as a promising young debutante who was destined to become a southern belle. This changed after her fiance was killed in a duel. While visiting Goldthwaite in Alabama, her uncle Henry Goldthwaite was impressed by her drawing and painting skills. To lift her spirits, he offered to support her financially for up to ten years if she relocated to New York City to study art. She enrolled at the National Academy of Design where she studied etching with Charles Mielatz and painting with Walter Shirlaw.

In 1906, Anne Goldthwaite traveled to Paris to explore her interest in the early modern painting styles of Fauvism and Cubism. She met Gertrude Stein while sketching in the Luxembourg Gardens. According to Charlotte Rubinstein in American Women Artists, Goldthwaite explained that Stein "looked something like an immense dark brown egg. She wore, wrapped tight around her, a brown kimono-like garment and a large flat black hat, and stood on feet covered with wide sandals."Stein invited Goldthwaite to visit her home, yet she hesitated due to Stein's "shabby" appearance. But Goldthwaite soon realized Stein's presence in the art world when encountering the extensive contemporary painting collection hung on the walls of her apartment. Meeting one of the most influential pre-war avant-garde persons of the time gave Goldthwaite an opportunity to join the art circle of Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. She later said, "Fate gave me several years in Paris at the most exciting time: during the great reconstruction from art to modern art." During her time in Paris, Goldthwaite drifted to different studios in an attempt to find the right teacher. After much difficulty, she joined a small group of young artists who worked at 86 Notre Dame des Champs. Their work was periodically critiqued by Charles Guerin, a disciple of Cézanne. The group called themselves the Académie Moderne and held an exhibition each spring.